For The Beginner
Try it for ten minutes a day. Range is not important during lip buzzing. Follow the lip buzzing with ten minutes of mouthpiece buzzing, using your regular embouchure
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- B. Set a constant time each day for your practice session.
Try it for ten minutes a day. Range is not important during lip buzzing. Follow the lip buzzing with ten minutes of mouthpiece buzzing, using your regular embouchure.Donovan Bankhead-Reducing PressureHere is my take on the whole "using too much pressure" thing. If you don't like it, fine, do something else.
because other aspects of our playing are inadequate. Usually those areas are proper breath support and embouchure development. Bob Odneal once told me why we use pressure: Because it works, to a degree. He went on to explain that the lips are like a Glazed donut (ala Homer Simpson "Hmm...donuts") that is squished between two pieces of plate glass. What happens to our beloved donut? The hole in the center becomes smaller because the dough has been flattened. The donut gets flattened outward as well as the hole getting smaller.
brass mouthpiece and your teeth (two very hard surfaces). The aperture (the hole between our lips that occurs when we blow through our embouchure) becomes smaller as more pressure is added. The problem with using this extra pressure is that it damages our lips and causes cuts, swelling, bruises, and even in some cases loose teeth!
surrounding the lips and face rather then controlling the aperature via our biceps :) This is done by utilizing the corners of the mouth to tighten and make the aperature smaller. I've found that "pinching" the lips together doesn't work well as the sound tends to get smaller and harder to control. The corners method allows the blood to flow through the lips by letting us use less pressure. Notice how I said "let us use less pressure". Properly using our corner muscles alone will not automatically reduce mouthpiece pressure. We must add one more ingredient: Air flow. Air flow has been argued to be the most important aspect of trumpet playing, and I would agree. If you have a mediocre/bad embouchure, but great air support, then you will be an okay player. If you have a terrific embouchure and lousy air support, you will be a lousy player. The hard part is that it is hard to have a terrific embouchure and lousy air support, the two tend to go hand in hand :) My idea of our breath support system is that it is one in which the lungs function only to draw in as much air as possible as quickly as possible and to expel that same breath as quickly as possible. So, when I breath I allow the lower stomach to expand, then when I play, I suck it in like I'm trying to appear skinny :) This is has some links to the Bobby Shew "wedge" breath, but without all of the extra tension. Not to say that the wedge breath doesn't work, but for general playing, it isn't neccessary (IMHO). Once these things are properly in place, we are ready to reduce the pressure. This is done just by making a conscious effort to reduce the pressure on our chops. Often times it is now realized that when playing with proper air support and aperature control we don't _need_ all of that pressure. We only need enough to keep the air from escaping from around the mouthpiece.
1. Warm Up. When your lips get stiff, Rest. a. Start by buzzing the mouthpiece. Hold onto the mouthpiece shank (this is to ease the pressure) Do a gliss. You may have a gap in your range, so work on fattening up the sound. b. Put the mouthpiece in the horn and play long tones on the Dominant 7th chord 1-3-1, 1-3-5-3-1,... Play this in all twelve keys. c. Remember to bang the valves down. 2. Studies. Work on a study each day. Every two days learn a new scale. Try something hard or new for five to ten minutes. Create situations that require endurance when practicing. Use your air! 3. Practice something you enjoy. Something musical.
AVOIDING BAD HABITS By: Mark Van Cleave
When you practice, you develop muscle memory or reflexes. These reflexes are what you draw from when performing or playing music. When you are playing music, you do not have enough time to think about all of the physical mechanics involved. You can only think about the music...what you sound like. The reflexes that you draw on while playing are developed during the practice session. Everything that you play builds reflexes...good ones and bad ones. While practicing, you must be careful not to build undesirable reflexes. Practicing while tired (mentally or physically) can lead to bad habits or reflexes being learned. Unlearning a bad habit takes much longer than learning a good habit. Remember: How you practice is how you will play. If you practice forcing the upper register because you are tired, you will only be learning how to force out high notes (not play them). When you are tired or distracted - DO NOT PRACTICE! Wait until you feel like practicing. Do not make your practice session a bad experience by forcing yourself to practice. When practicing something as difficult and challenging (mentally and physically) as range, the opportunity for developing bad habits is very good. You must concentrate even harder than with normal (safer) practice. Never practice past when you feel physically comfortable. If your chops need a break...take one. Know when to stop! There are many Trumpet Jocks out there that can play the trumpet well but cannot play any music that is worth hearing. It is easy to get caught up in the business of high notes or the higher, faster, louder syndrome. Try to remember that ultimately the trumpet is part of the MUSIC business (not the trumpet business). The creation of good music should be your ultimate goal. Download 267.92 Kb. Share with your friends:
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