Once you have gotten a good buzz with your lips, it is time to place the mouthpiece on your lips. Hold the mouthpiece by its shank as close to the end as possible. This helps to prevent you from using pressure whenever you buzz. You should try to use as little pressure as possible when you play because damage to the lips can be done through the use of pressure. When you place the mouthpiece on your lips, try to place it as close to the center of your lips as possible with about 2/3 of your top lip and 1/3 of your bottom lip on the mouthpiece. Make sure that wherever you place the mouthpiece, that it feels comfortable to you. The way that you position the mouthpiece on your lips is called your embouchere. Your embouchere is as vital to your trumpet playing as buzzing is. A strong embouchere will help you out a whole lot in the future whenever you play for extended periods of time. I'll discuss later in further detail on how to strengthen your embouchere. Once you have established the placement of the mouthpiece, you are ready to buzz into the mouthpiece. Now, all you have to do is focus your buzzing techniques into the mouthpiece. Work on getting a buzz that has a clear tone and is not constricted. The main key to buzzing is to keep everything relaxed and not tense so the air can flow freely. The following sound clip demonstrates first a buzz with just the lips, and then on the mouthpiece.

Buzzing is a key element to trumpet playing because it helps to improve a player's tone and overall performance. One exercise for beginners is called the Buzzsaw Blues. All it involves is playing the same note four times in a row as whole notes. Try to hit a pitch that is easy for you to hit. As you hit that note consistently, it is time to start trying to hit others. To produce a higher note, focus your air more downward into the mouthpiece and blow more air. To hit a lower note, relax your embouchere and flip your lower lip into the mouthpiece and, again, blow more air. To hear a recording of the Buzzsaw Blues, press the audio clip.

Another exercise that even many professional trumpet players do is called the Fireman's Siren. This involves buzzing on the mouthpiece and going into the higher and lower ranges. Just like the Buzzsaw Blues, you start out on a middle pitched note, but the difference comes when you start to bend the pitch of the note higher and higher until you reach the highest note that you can hit. Once you reached that, you then go all the way back down to the lowest note you can hit. To hear a recording of the Fireman's Siren, click on the audio clip.

Fireman's Siren Buzz

As you can hear, the sound produced, sounds very much like a siren. These exercises, when done correctly, will help to increase the range of your notes and improve the overall sound that is produced when you play.