The effect of lip-slur practice on increasing pitch range in brasswind instrument students

Lip-slur exercises comprise part of the practice routines of many professional and serious amateur brasswind players. There are several reasons why so many players practise lip-slurs. One of those reasons is the belief that lip-slurs contribute to the development of the brasswind high register. This study argues that while there is a vast amount of anecdotal evidence from many authors widely deemed to be influential in the form of method books or writings that lip-slurs can contribute to the development of the brasswind high register, there has been little research to support this widely held belief. This study used a matched subjects control group pre-test/post-test design to test a researcher-designed lip-slur teaching program aimed at subjects in their second to fifth years of brasswind study. The subjects were in school years eight, nine and ten. The pre-test and post-test was a researcher-designed high register test utilising a chromatic scale. In order to account for family variables which might influence the experiment, a questionnaire was developed and various statistical procedures used to calculate the effect of family background. The results of this study indicated that lip-slurs play an important role in the acquisition of the high register by brasswind students. The degree of importance is dependent on various factors. From this study, it appears that a major factor is the ceiling effect. Students who scored low to medium pre-test scores gained greater initial benefit from the inclusion of lip-slurs in the teaching program than those who had high pre-test scores. The students on whom the ceiling effect acted most were those who achieved high pre-test scores. This study concluded that low achievers can gain rapid short term advantage from lip-slur practice, while for high achievers, the inclusion of lip-slurs in the daily routine could lead slowly to long term gain.

Grantor dc:publisher

Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia

Year dc:date

1998

Author dc:creator

• Benton, Robert L.

• Practicing
• Music
• Brass instruments
• Instruction and study
• Methods.

Repository record dc:identifier

https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/988

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ro.ecu.edu.au:theses-1989