Archived under: Accuracy, Lists & FAQs, Teaching | Breathing, Clams, Descants & Triples
Eight Ways to Improve Your Accuracy
I recently heard it said that readers love articles that are based on lists. There are many ways to work on accuracy, but these eight are all important elements to focus upon.
1. Buzz more often on the mouthpiece alone. When you miss something, buzz it on mouthpiece right away, you will quickly see why you missed it, the centering is off.
2. Center the pitches better. There is only so far off center that you can be or you will chip the note.
3. Tune your horn again after you get your centering worked out better. Modern double horns especially basically have no bad notes. The horn can be very nearly perfectly in tune with itself which allows you to aim always at the center of the pitch.
4. Warm-up better. There are many possible routines. For example The Brass Gym for horn is great for working out better pitch production, intonation, and accuracy.
5. Use great air. Too many horn players get by “under the radar” with poor breathing. Don’t be one of them.
6. Be sure you hit a good hand position. This impacts the stability of your horn, especially in the high range.
7. Think about using a descant horn sometimes. It is not cheating to think about using a descant horn, different fingerings, or even a different mouthpiece. More on descant horns.
8. Play with confidence. Sure, nobody likes making the giant clam but on the whole you will be more accurate if you go for it confidently.
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