Why Doesn’t The Air Go Out My Nose?

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I have been asked through the years, “Why, when I play a note on a brass instrument, doesn’t the air come out my nose”€?

Rather than explain the function of the flexible pallet, it is much easier to use an visual illustration and for that reason, please view the following videos.

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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One thought on “Why Doesn’t The Air Go Out My Nose?”

  1. Francesco

    Hello Bruce,

    thanks for posting this. Besides noticing that the passage to the nasal cavity is closed while producing the sound, it seems to me that the player moves the tongue very little when varying the pitch. I’m not referring to articulation: that can be clearly seen; particularly striking is the double tonguing. Here I refer to the tongue not raising towards the palate when the player plays high notes (see e.g. after 1:40). I may be wrong: after all the tip of the tongue makes little contrast in an X-ray film, but I recall reading fairly harsh polemics on the net about the role of the tongue for high notes – people stating that using a “hiss” sound configuration is just a myth. I’d like to know what you think of this issue.

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