Not exactly a new subject, but...

J. Jericho

... to buzz or not to buzz? Do we buzz when we whistle? Do we buzz our lips to generate a tone when playing a flute? When we rub the wet rim of a clean wine glass does our finger buzz? These all involve activating a standing wave. Air is involved. Can we relate this to producing sound on a brass instrument? If so, how?

Kehaulani

I had an associated thought this evening which kind of addresses some of this.

All those people who want to split hairs or micro-analyse the elements of trumpet playing. . . without this sophisticated physical knowledge, how did guys like Bernie Glow, Maynard, Bud Herseth, Vince Cichowicz, Conrad Gozzo and others ever get along? Does anyone know anyone who plays Carnival of Venice any better than Don Jacoby?

The flute analogy doesn't point out that the vibration that produces the flute's sound comes from air vibrating over the the lip plate.

I think some of these questions just depend on how buzz is defined. My definition is a sound that is produced by the lips.

J. Jericho

@Kehaulani said in Not exactly a new subject, but...:

I had an associated thought this evening which kind of addresses some of this.

All those people who want to split hairs or micro-analyse the elements of trumpet playing. . . without this sophisticated physical knowledge, how did guys like Bernie Glow, Maynard, Bud Herseth, Vince Cichowicz, Conrad Gozzo and others ever get along? Does anyone know anyone who plays Carnival of Venice any better than Don Jacoby?

The flute analogy doesn't point out that the vibration that produces the flute's sound comes from air vibrating over the the lip plate.

I think some of these questions just depend on how buzz is defined. My definition is a sound that is produced by the lips.

Whistling is a sound produced by the lips. Since some say that we don't actually deliberately buzz our lips when we use a mouthpiece to a sound on a trumpet, are we doing a form of whistling when we play, rather than actually buzzing? I'm thinking of the process whereby we play a note, remove the mouthpiece, and no sound other than a vague movement of air results. Or is it not a vague movement of air, but rather a specific one? Does the air sound through the mouthpiece alone change with the partial being played?

@J-Jericho said in Not exactly a new subject, but...:

.. to buzz or not to buzz? Do we buzz when we whistle? Do we buzz our lips to generate a tone when playing a flute? When we rub the wet rim of a clean wine glass does our finger buzz? These all involve activating a standing wave. Air is involved. Can we relate this to producing sound on a brass instrument? If so, how?

If memory serves me, the lips buzz (oscillate) sympathetic to the standing wave.
Maybe the wine glass gives off a sound sympathetic to the rim being rubbed. Sorry, not skilled in wine glass science.
There are also videos on YouTube that go into the physics of it that's pretty interesting if you're in to that sort of thing. Hope this helps

Kehaulani

Well, I'm out of this one, too. Gotta go practice my buzz.