James, I read what you wrote. I understood what you wrote. I just don’t agree with you.russiantuba wrote: Fri Sep 11, 2026 6:39 am JC,
If you actually read my post, you would realize that I was giving my experiences, discussions and research I have had on the topic, mentioning my strong background with buzzing, why I pulled away, and even taught it for a while when I did.
Buzzing is a controversial opinion in the brass world. I remember when Christian Lindberg announced he didn’t buzz and seems against it, there were attacks on his pedagogic mockeries. Many people I have met who don’t buzz have been closeted until more recently on the topic because they have been attacked on the topic.
This goes the same in many fields, even science, where people accept something as a truth, a fact, a requirement. Buzzing is sure that. A teacher would say you must buzz this, it makes you better, and anyone who challenges it would be bad. I know this because I was once one of those people. All my professors buzzed, other mentors and pedagogical schools I follow seemed to enforce it.
It was in fact, when my best friend got focal dystonia and went to Jan Kagarice, again the foremost expert on the topic, who mentioned it was a unhealthy practice, that caused me to think about what buzzing does and if it is needed, and though I still defended it and thought the same as you, I tried not doing it. I heard such improvements in his playing. Then, I had positive improvements in mine. Do you personally know or interact with someone who has focal dystonia? It is something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy, seeing their strong ability take a total dive, and not only that, the mental and personal frustrations that arise from that. I know Jan studies it from the neurological level, and if I recall correctly, it causes certain triggers associated with dystonia. Again, it might not cause it with someone.
Pedagogically, I stopped teaching it because I believe there should be natural flow and input should feel as natural and the same as playing.
I’ve gotten used to it by now where I present something with buzzing, and those who swear by buzzing are triggered by it. I’ve been on both sides, and I feel it is equally important to give the opposing view so others are informed and can decide to make their own views. There is a euphonium player I know who studied with Kleinhammer, and when someone says something or plays something not as Kleinhammer would have said or done, he claims they are wrong and misinformed. Part of collectively growing as a person, but more so as a musician, is learning about multiple ways of doing things that work for several people and being aware of them.
Have you ever read David Vining’s The Breathing Book? I read it this past summer, and he debunks several myths from a scientific standpoint. Some I still teach, others I’ve adopted over the years through research, and some of those I’ve mentioned and received similar responses as this thread. I should warn you, if you are triggered by someone not buzzing, this book might need a warning label.
In fact, I recall you are in Ohio. I would love to meet up with you and discuss more and even give you the breathing book copy I have.
You have got to stop this business of telling people they “didn’t read” your post every time they push back on something you say. You do it constantly, and after a while it comes off as awfully entitled. It’s as if you think the only possible reason somebody could disagree with you is because they’re too stupid to understand what you wrote.
Come on.
People can read every word, understand it just fine, and still think you’re wrong.
And this “you’re triggered” stuff is getting pretty old too. At some point it starts sounding a little lunatic. Not because you don’t like buzzing. Nobody cares if you buzz or not. It’s because you seem unable to accept ordinary disagreement without turning it into some story about the other person not understanding you.
Now, I’ll give you this: buzzing is not mandatory. Never has been. Plenty of wonderful brass players hardly buzz at all, and plenty of wonderful teachers don’t make much use of it. Fine. No argument there.
But then you go from that perfectly reasonable point to talking about buzzing as though it’s some sort of unhealthy neurological hazard, and that is where you lose me.
If you’re going to start bringing focal dystonia into it and calling buzzing an unhealthy practice, then you need more than stories about somebody you know, or what one teacher said, or what Christian Lindberg does. That’s not science. That’s anecdote.
Your friend stopped buzzing and improved. Good. I’m glad he did. Maybe buzzing was bad for him. Maybe it was part of the problem. Maybe stopping it helped him reset. All of that is possible.
But that does not mean buzzing is unhealthy for everybody else.
Same thing with you. You say you stopped buzzing and played better. Fine. I believe you. But your personal experience is not a universal law of brass playing.
And this habit of throwing out names Rocco, Kagarice, Vining, Lindberg like the discussion is supposed to end there doesn’t help your case. These are respected people, not tablets from Mount Sinai.
If there is actual neurological research showing that ordinary mouthpiece buzzing causes focal dystonia, contributes to focal dystonia, or is broadly unhealthy for brass players, then put it on the table. I’ll read it.
But if there isn’t, then quit talking as if the matter has been settled.
That’s the problem I have with your argument. You spend a lot of time complaining about dogma while sounding pretty dogmatic yourself.
And as for your suggestion that we meet up since we’re both in Ohio, I’m going to pass on that. I’ve had quite a few people in the community warn me, very plainly, to keep my distance from you. I don’t know every side of every story, but when that many people independently give me the same advice, I’m going to heed it. There’s no reason for this to go beyond a disagreement on a forum.
Buzz if it helps you. Don’t buzz if it doesn’t. Teach it, don’t teach it. Fine. But stop acting like anybody who disagrees with you didn’t read what you wrote. We read it.
We just don’t buy all of it.
