What You Should Know In Order To Improving Your Tone Quality (Part #1)

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I Never Wanted to Be An Old Trumpet Player-
“And Now I Are One”!

Tone is something every musician should be concerned about for it is the only product we have to offer our listeners. Some tones are small and intimate, such as Miles Davis. Some tones are intensely focused and centered as in the case of Rafael Mendez. To say a person has a beautiful sound seems to be the ultimate compliment but this beautiful sound may not be appropriate for a horn player in a Rock and Roll band. Rather than debate the question of what is a good sound and what is a less than satisfactory sound, I would like to refer to the sound most players should strive for; and that is a more focused sound.

What is a focused sound or tone quality, why is it important and how does a player gain more focus to his/her sound? To more fully understand what constitutes a focused sound, let me share with you some visual/audio aids which should more fully illustrate what we are discussing.

What does a focused sound look like and how does it compare to other tone qualities?

Visual representation of three different embouchure settings.

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Example #1

This example was produces with an excessively loose embouchure and is noticeably flat in pitch.

Example #2

This example was produces with an excessively tight embouchure and is noticeably sharp in pitch.

Example #3

This example was produces with a focused sound and is in tune.

Discussion of the same three embouchure settings.

Terms used

Peaks (highest points in each illustration)

Valleys (lowest points in each illustration)

Contours (general shapes of peaks and valleys)

Primary peaks and valleys (the highest and lowest changes)

Secondary peaks and valleys (similar to primary peaks and valleys but with less amplitude- in this case I am referring to increase distances rather than dynamic change)

Example #1 (Too Loose)

Notice that the primary peaks are very similar to those in example #3 although the peaks drop off more slowly than in #3.

The secondary peaks and valleys are also similar to #3 but do not dip as low nor rise as high as those in #3.

The secondary peaks do not rise above the center line and the secondary valleys do not dip as low as in example #3.

Example #2 (Too Tight)

This is by far the most dramatic change in tone of the three.

Each peak is drastically more rounded.

The biggest difference in this example is the action between each peak and valley.

The majority of the tone is centered close to the base line with very little contrast in highs and lows as in the case of example #1 and #3.

Where as in the case of examples #1 and #3 the middle section is relatively constant, in example #2 this is where most of the tone is located which is caused by the overly constricted embouchure and few overtones are present.

Example #3 (Focused)

#3 is very similar to the characteristics of #1 but the difference tends to be in the more vertical drop from each peak and the extended depth of the valley sections.

The peaks of #3 are also higher than those of #1. Some may attribute that difference to the dynamic (decibels) difference in the recording but I was very careful to match the dynamic representation of each example.

Recorded examples-

Now that you have seen what a focused tone quality looks like as well as hear the differences among the three, in our next post we will show you how to form a more focused embouchure and gain its correspondingly focused sound.

Bruce was a member of the faculty at the University of Northern Iowa, School of Music in Cedar Falls from 1969 until his retirement in 1999. He has performed with many well-known entertainers such as Bob Hope, Jim Nabors, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, Anita Bryant, Carman Cavalara, Victor Borgie, the Four Freshman, Blackstone the Magician, Bobby Vinton and John Davidson.

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6 thoughts on “What You Should Know In Order To Improving Your Tone Quality (Part #1)”

  1. samuel

    Thank you so much this is coming to me at the right time

    • Bruce Chidester

      I hope you can get something out of my meanderings.

  2. Jack P.

    Very good! Can’t wait for part 2. I a beginner and still trying for a good sound. I record myself but I think I sound worse when I play it back then when I’m actually playing.
    Thanks a lot for this!

    • Bruce Chidester

      Many things are involved when actually making sounds as you might know. Even our voice sounds different because of sympathetic vibrations in our skull. Only after putting some reverberation on my recordings am I satisfied.

      The room you are practicing in will make a big difference also. Try playing in a very bright room like a tiled bath room. You’ll like the sound much better although you might have a lot of people looking at you strangely.

      I hope you will enjoy our next issue for we will get into how to improve tone.

      Stay well and live long.

  3. Wildan Abdat

    hi Bruce,
    thanks for this post. I’ve been struggling with this topic since a long time. I never had a private mentor before. Playing with ensemble formation such as Big Band is quite a fight for me. My conductor said that commonly the unstable pitch are the usual problem for our Big Band .

    Other than embochure related, is there any possibilities unstable pitch come from other issues? for instance i think my arms too much releasing tremor, is this health issue? i can’t wait to follow the series!

    Cheers

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