OcToBrass
 
  "When you can't take your horn, take OcToBrass"

The concept behind OcToBrass is to provide a fun and effective lightweight embouchure development device that closely matches your mouthpiece rim size and horn resistance and is small enough to fit in your pocket or purse.

If you are a professional or semi-professional horn player with occasional time lapses in your quality, dedicated practice schedule:  OcToBrass is your answer.  Let me share with you the OcToBrass story:

My name is Dave Chamberlain, the eventor of OcToBrass™.  I'm a feelance trombonist in the San Diego area.  Currently I have a chair in two working big bands and a position in a small horn section which hires out to rock cover bands.   My day job (or calling) is a 60-hour a week blessing.  I'm the pastor of a church in Chula Vista. 

My trombone is left set up on a stand in my home office and affords me the ability to grab it and barely get warmed up when there is a holy interuption and something that needs my attention.  In my life, work and family must come first, but how can I keep my embouchure up so I can play four-45 minute sets?
     
Years ago I started keeping my mouthpiece with me, especially at conferences, family outings and vacations.  Of  course, while buzzing, I would have to hold a finger over the shank hole to induce some sort of back pressure so I could hit pedal tones.  I purchased Mario Guarneri's BERP which has helped my mouthpiece buzzing because I could then dial in the needed back pressure.  BERP is a great buzzing device which is attached to your horn allowing you to buzz a passage while holding your horn.

OcToBrass was invented quite by accident.  The story goes like this:  Every six or seven weeks I take my little sailboat "Mini" out for three days to relax and get my head straight.  I take my favorite G&W stainless steel mouthpiece to get some buzzing in because my boat is too small to take my horn.  Where does the ocarina come in?  Fipple whistle musical instruments have always intrigued me.  Because of their small size, I have several varieties onboard.  I love playing them so I always have a Recorder, Penny Whistle or Ocarina around.  Ocarinas are very handy on a sailboat, bicycle or in a backpack because they are small. 
       
After sailing to a destination, I would set the anchor, get some food cooking and play an ocarina and buzz on my mouthpiece.  Well, several years ago, I was sitting in the cabin of my sailboat in Glorietta Bay waiting for my food to cook.  My trombone mouthpiece was in my left hand and in my right hand was my "G" Italian 1877 ceramic ocarina.  I think while I was daydreaming I held my horn mouthpiece shank up to the mouthpiece of the ocarina.  I instinctively buzzed and found that the breath from my buzzing mouthpiece had enough force to activate the whistle on the ocarina.  Hey, that's cool!  I had to somehow attach my mouthpiece to the ocarina, so both hands would be free to finger different notes on the tone holes.

I had some bamboo fondue sticks lying around along with some black duct tape.  A few minutes later I had a new musical instrument which was fun to play, portable, robust and with the ability to keep my chops in top condition.  The unique feature of this new instrument is its ability to play two distinct notes at one time.  One note is produced by the ocarina.  Your fingers and thumbs control the pitch by opening and closing the tone holes.  The other note is produced by the buzz of your lips in the mouthpiece.  This affords the ability to play either in unison or harmony.  I was hooked.  I can now give my embouchure a healthy workout ....anytime ....anywhere. 

Chasons Music
Dave Chamberlain
102 Shasta Street
Chula Vista, CA 91910
seafarer@cox.net
dave@chasonsmusic.com
chasonsmusic.com
octobrass.com