DJ told me to ask you my question! I play tenor sax/pit, but I really want to learn mello. If I audition for Surf this year, Bob said if I don't make front ensemble he could pretty much promise me a spot on the brass line. How hard is it switching from a wind to a brass instrument?

Hi! Learning brass from woodwind (specifically saxophone) has it’s easy parts and hard parts. The easy part: since you’re so used to complex finger dexterity from sax, the 3 valves on brass are CAKE. The hard part: buzzing / lip slurs. This takes some time to get used to and especially to master. Since you’re used to just making the reed vibrate, making your lips vibrate while also controlling and manipulating them to change pitches is difficult. What I did was practice on the mouthpiece as much as I could, buzzing along to music or just doing sirens (glissing as high as you can then to as low as you can). Lip slurs take a lot of practice when they’re new to you; it’s all in the aperture mainly. The best advice for those is just practice, practice, practice until those muscles in/around your mouth get more and more used to it. Aside from playing, the whole holding-your-horn-in-front-of-you without a neck strap can be a little tough, especially in playing while marching. When I first started, I wasn’t used to not having a mouthpiece that went directly into my mouth, so it kept on sliding around my lips when I tried to play. This also takes practice, both in air control, horn carriage control, and marching technique. All in all though, it has its challenges but it’s totally do-able. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask!