RODDY o-iii<O
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How Big Is Yours?? : ) Totally unlike the 10 min efficiency test this one should be done AFTER you've done your own warm up!! This 'just' might help you find out just how big your aperture really is! When I "hit upon" this test for myself I thought it might be fun to measure myself against that icon of the Brass world H.L.Clarke to give me some idea how good my breath control / lung capacity was. Still a skeptic?? --so was I !!
IT WORKED FOR ME!!!--IT 'MIGHT' FOR YOU!! --GIVE IT A TRY!!! I also think that lots of people possibly don't use the method books they own efficiently..this is something else to think about perhaps!! Try the test below, it's in the Arban pg.13 ex.11 and if you have any questions email me... Rod o-iii<O 24 measures (bars) in one breath. Then chatting with friends online I got to thinking it ought to be easier 8va!! --IT WAS! (same Mpc / Bb Tpt - draw your own conclusions...) HLC 8va 28 measures (bars) in one breath. GOOD LUCK!! --RELAX!! --ENJOY THE PUZZLE!!! |
Maynard Ferguson says.....
"I tell everyone, young and old alike," he said, "to go out and get a couple of books on Hatha Yoga, and read the parts about breath, or prana. The Indians call prana 'the life force,' and sometimes we forget that if we weren't breathing, we'd be dead.
There's nothing superstrong about my lip, but there is about my range and stamina.
That comes from my breathing."
To aid in this coordination, Ferguson offers students various body and lip positions, which combined with the proper air stream aid in producing desired high notes.
His own daily practice regime varies from reading exercises to playing along with records, and his pre-concert warm up is surprisingly brief. "I'll hit a few lip trills," the man famed for his version of Gonna Fly Now, from the movie Rocky, indicated, "maybe a few slurs.
While I don't practice upper register, I might hit one high note - one super high note that is.
But what I want is my air and coordination more than my lip.
This coordination allows you to play delicately as well as powerfully. The thing is, we all have this coordination inside us, we just don't know how to teach it."
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Bill Adam says...
Now the taking of the breath, of course, is one important facet, and we must remember that we have to remain very relaxed. If we have to muster strength to get our air in, we're getting into the area of strife, because tension sets in.
Any time we have tension in our system we are running into problems getting that air out.
Now we shall go on to the embouchure. I am convinced that the most workable embouchure is one that has the area behind the mouthpiece in a state of resilience and quite relaxed.
At the mouth area outside the corners of the mouth there is firmness, but not a real tightness, and this feels like a warm tension. The trumpet muscles, or the buccinator muscles, are the muscles we utilize when we are getting ready to spit. The muscles should form a passageway for the air to be accelerated through the lips and through the horn.
If we can retain the resilience and relaxation of the embouchure, we make it possible for our air to get through the lips and the horn without too many restrictions. The more we can cut down on the resistance of the air stream, the better the tone will be, and also the easier the horn will play.
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James Morrison says...
Recovery after a performance is not really a problem because as I make sure I don't kill myself in the first place.
I would guess that the main thing that needs recovery after your performance is your lips - this means that they are doing too much of the work.
The main thing to think about when playing is AIR, not embouchure.
The delivery of huge amounts of air under pressure is what makes that big sound that we all want and gives you plenty of high chops without running out of technique half way through a gig.
You can't deliver air like that if you are tense, so you have to take in the breath in such a way that you stay relaxed and then "push" the air out with increasing force as you go up.
REMEMBER, start relaxed, usually when people take a "big" breath they tense their muscles (especially in the upper body) and raise their shoulders etc. You must remain very loose if you are to get a really good breath and then gradually increase the "pressure" as you use the air.
The best way to feel what this is like is to blow all the air out of your lungs and then wait a few seconds until you really feel that you "need" air. Then just relax - you will get the deepest most relaxed breath you have ever had, this is the way it should feel every time you take a breath to play.
If you start playing this way you should very soon increase your RANGE and ENDURANCE.
The extra air control you'll have will make available to you a more "accelerated" airstream that allows you to do less work with your lips.
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Charles Decker, Trumpet Professor
Tennessee Technological University
Higher pitches or frequencies are the result of faster vibrations.
Faster vibrations will occur only if air is moved more rapidly through a smaller aperture. A smaller aperture is created by setting firm corners and puckering the center of the lips slightly inward to compress the size of the aperture.
To produce a sound an octave higher, the frequency must double, and this requires significant air energy.
Many trumpeters would benefit significantly from practicing exhalation exercises that focus on moving the air flow rapidly using the strong abdominal muscles to comfortably, but energetically propel the air.
Leave the instrument in the case when you do this; it is a breathing exercise, not a playing exercise. Remember the two key words here -fast and firm. The faster the air flow, the firmer the corners.
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Vincent DiMartino writes...
To me, the embouchure is more than just lips or face muscles. It is the balance between the supported air column, the muscles of the lips and the tongue position.
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Bill Knevitt says....
..do all you can to strengthen your lip, and when it becomes as strong enough to pull a freight train, you will find to your dismay that it will not help you play high notes.
It is the frequency of the lip vibration that causes you to play a high note, and this frequency is due to factors FAR more important than the strength of the lip.
Do you need big muscles in order to play the trumpet well? OF COURSE NOT!
Do the BLOWING muscles have to be well developed? THEY SURE DO!
I refer you to pages 16/17 of "Brass playing is no harder than deep breathing" by Claude Gordon.
Herbert LClarke the greatest authority of all time. In his book "Setting Up Drills", he identified 7 basic physical elements that must be developed in order to play correctly.
And WIND POWER is the most important of all.
These principles are the same ones used to produce every note on the horn, not just high notes. High notes are inevitable if practiced correctly.
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Jim Manley says...
I was lucky enough along the way to get some advice from Lin Biviano, Cat Anderson, Roger Ingram and the teacher that really put a light on things, Bobby Shew. If you ever get a chance to hear him play make the trip. If you ever get a chance to take a lesson with him-do it! Some players have a natural ability to play the trumpet easily - the are few and far between. The rest of us fall into the category of having to learn to play.
The best advice I can give is to play as relaxed as you can and don't fight the resistance of your horn (or the notes).
Open up and let the air do the work.
Of the player I have seen who come through St. Louis to take a lesson there is usually way too much tension in their playing and they overblow the horn.
There is a fine balance between the air you use and the resistance of any given note.
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"I firmly believe that it was this sound advice which really cured me, for this easy playing required taking a full breath upon beginning to play, then breathing deeply and without strain. In later years I developed an unlimited breath control." -- Herbert L. Clarke [1886]
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