I intended about a month ago or so to write an article sharing some insights I had gleaned from my own efforts and from what I had read in some of the entries on the TPIN site. Sadly, I did not get to it until now and have forgotten exactly what it is I wanted to convey. However, in my efforts to locate what it was I wanted to share, I came across some other thoughts that will hopefully be useful.
One of the finest trumpet players alive today, Jon Faddis, talks about how your stance is extremely important when approaching the upper register. He states, that you should stand as tall as possible, as if someone had a string pulling your head up. I couldn’t agree more, if I try to play in any other stance, my range and endurance suffer. My thought on why this is so has to do with how our breathing apparatus functions. My approach also involves pulling the chest up high and the feet placed a bit further than shoulder width apart, with a slightly squatty stance as well. Jon also stresses the importance of being able to hear in your head what it is you want to play in the upper register. Moreover, he emphasizes listening to other masters of the stratosphere, such as Maynard Ferguson and Dizzy Gillespie. Of course, the TrumpetDude strongly suggests you listen to Jon Faddis!
The great teacher, Arnold Jacobs added to this aspect of playing by focusing on the size of the air column too. He said in almost every instance when players came to him wanting help with their embouchure, he would end up pointing out that they simply were not supporting the embouchure with enough air, that the air column was too thin. This brings me to my other aspect of playing well. Our throats must be open WIDE!! An open throat is imperative to achieving the large air column necessary to play well in any register, to have endurance, and of course, to be able to play high notes. Much of this, of course, is MENTAL. Trumpet playing is a physical sport but one that is done with more mental energy than say weight lifting. If the mind is not right, the body will NOT follow. Sometimes we are just too tired to concentrate properly, other times we are just too UPTIGHT. When we are uptight, because of performance anxiety or just because we are stressed about whatever, our throats close up, it’s just a natural bodily reaction to the stress. So, one approach that Arnold Jacobs taught was to think and ingrain in your head OH for inhalation and TOH for exhalation without any hesitation in between. OK, what do the chops do? They vibrate and the mouthpiece captures the vibrations. Nothing more. Nothing less.
In sum, to play trumpet well, you must have your MIND right, your AIR full and unrestricted and your CHOPS vibrating! Sounds easy enough, but of course some days you just want to throw the horn out the window because you just can’t get it right. Well, perhaps it’s good that I delayed the writing of this article. Because, what I came across may help all of us with achieving the sweet spot in our playing everyday!
A trumpet player named Glenn Bengry wrote a brief piece on TPIN putting forth his distillation of what his friend Emil Gowatch gleaned from the infamous Raphael Mendez. Mr. Bengry says, ‘the chops come to the mouthpiece, not the mouthpiece coming to the chops.’ I think that is so very true, although, invariably, as impatient people we confuse this.
I believe the warm up approach that Mr. Bengry describes has a great deal of merit and should be tried in anticipation of implementing the other notions of playing issues I have presented above.
Glen says, “Blow gently through the mouthpiece, lips in a general mmmmmmm position but very loose, mouthpiece very lightly touching the lips (barely) NO SOUND YET, all you impatient trumpeters, WAIT. You don’t want to get a sound until you’ve blown in this fashion probably between 10-20 times give or take a little. (Mendez says to blow 2-3 minutes just air) You want the air to FLOW THROUGH the mouthpiece as easily as any exhalation Repeat this step with a VERY SMALL increase in air speed. Hold the lips together a LITTLE more firmly. Each time, you will be a little faster and firmer. the lips will gradually begin to gently “grip” the mouthpiece with somewhat equal contact around the whole circle of the mouthpiece. The mouthpiece does NOT hold the lips in place (our biggest hurdle perhaps). The mouthpiece “catches” the vibrations. So the chops come TO the mouthpiece, not the mouthpiece TO the chops (and usually too much against the chops). The trumpet beast makes us press too hard. The horn is only a resonator and amplifier essentially. It amplifies what it catches from the lips. At some point as you make these tiny adjustments the speed and firmness will be at the point where a vibration will spontaneously happen. It may only be a short vibration, which will disappear right away. You are now extremely close to a balance/efficient point. Now speed up your air a little more and you will likely get a longer buzz (it’s tempting to abandon your perfect spot and immediately go back to the “old way”. Resist if you can. Once you get here, you are real close to YOUR magic spot. You should now be real close to being able to maintain this easy, flowing, light pressure sound as a long tone. See if you can maintain the balance between air speed, embouchure firmness and mouthpiece contact/pressure. This is the basis for your own tone production balance (you have to find that spot every day).”
Keep jamming fellow Trumpeters!!
Trumpetdude
I could not agree more with this knowledge. In my playing, the biggest thing that has assisted me in sound, range, flexibility, expression has been the use of the vocal approach. People must sing in thier heads every single thing that comes out of the horn. I mean this exactly. Take the horn off your faces and sing what your trying to play. You are so right it’s scary. The mind must be right, but the right mind is the one that is singing. I find this helps take the trumpet-torture out of the eqation. When I think about singing through the horn, I do breathe correctly, my throat has no chioce, but to be open, my lips are playing the circumference of the mouthpiece hanging off the rims buzzing crazy creating a huge sound and great tone. That’s not to confuse this with a loud sound. A huge sound and great tone have nothing to do with volume. Singing allows me to be able to play very softly, but with a huge sound and tone.
Also, when I’m singing through the horn I find I’m not blowing anymore, but pushing the air past my lips, through the horn almost like I’m heating-up the bell with hot inner-costal air. Like fogging-up the mirror. In fact, water beads “bead-up” on my bell and as I’m playing in front of the mirror, it begins to fog-up. Literally fog-up. There is a significant difference hearing a player who is and who is not singing through the horn. My articulation has even improved because of singing through the horn.
Symphony, lead-plaer, or jazzer. Singing gets it done. Do people think Clifford Brown, or Miles Davis were simply getting lucky? Man, you just can’t play that stuff if your not singing it through your head. Where do people think all that music came from. Listen to old Harry James, or Louis Armstrong recordings and try telling me they were’nt singing through the horn. You mentioned the great Jon Faddis. When he plays he’s literally talking to you. His singing mind and his horn are so connected he’s free. That soaring feeling of freedom where any and all ideas are right at his fingertips whenever he commands them.
Anyway, I’ve found that singing is the only thing that works for me. The vocal approach stops the blame-game with myself too. It’s not my horn, not the mouthpiece, not the room, not,”I just can’t do it” not the angle off my face, not I’m tired, or sick, or any other problem. It’s me who’s wrong. I’m out of tune, I’m not playing the circumference of the mouthpiece, my throat is not open, I’m allowing the horn to control me. Well, if my singing mind is not connected she will drive me into the ground like a railroad spike without mercy. It will be a long night for sure. But, If my singing mind is connected, than I can play with freedom and beauty. After 30 yrs of struggle I’m finally on a good path of intense learning and growth and I’m going to continue this path because I’m convinced it’s the only thing that has worked to truly improve my playing. The more I learn how to connect the vocal approach to my horn the less the horn become a barrier. Over the past months I’ve added double G’s, A’s onto my register and this morning during my practice time was able for an extended period of time scream Double C’s. I was singing them in my head and before I knew it they were screaming out the horn. I scared my wife for god’s sake. She asked me what I was doing differently. I told her…Honey, I’m just in here singing!! I’m not afraid any longer. if I’m not able to do it on any other day it means I’m simply not connected with my singing voice. it means I’m messed-up in the head and need to get it straight. It means I’m still trying to play the trumpet, focused on the trumpet, thinking about my chops, my breathe and a bunch of other crap and Not on singing, sound and music. Man, sooner, or later we all need to do something different to get better results. Insanity is doing the same behavior over and over, but expecting a different result. I just can’t live like this anymore, or approach the horn this way anymore. Seriously playing the vocal approach has changed the way I think about and approach my life in general. It’s made me more natural, clear and simple. It’s taken away all my lame excuses and reasons why I can’t do something. I find that the vocal approach is the bottom line.
A most amazing example of what I’m talking about is the recording of the great Allen Vizzutti “The Carnival of Venus”
If you don’t know this recording. May I humbly suggest it. It’s simply an awsome display between the marriage of technical facility and musical artistry. It’s a perfect example for the connections between the vocal singing mind and the trumpet.
If you’re slightly curious, please check out my first CD studio recording and some live recordings as well at http://www.kevingeorgemusic.net
Thanks so much,
Kevin