How I Got My High Range - an Exercise and a Philosophy
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- Опубліковано 26 лис 2023
- I get a lot of questions about how I play my super high notes, so I wanted to make a video taking you all through the process, and the thoughts behind not only how, but why, I work on the extreme upper range.
#StephensHorns
#LongIslandBrass
#trombone
It's amazing how our bodies can adapt to do something. As you said, it's just a matter of time for the body to understand the air flow for each note
Awesome, great video and approach! Thanks for sharing 😊
Thanks so much Peter! I hope you and Constanze have a good US tour!
Great exercise- the two Octave arpeggios! I double on bass trombone, but lately have needed to play lead tenor and first trombone is a festival ensemble. This entire video was very helpful, and has really helped my higher register!
I find that when playing high for a prolonged period of time, I have trouble playing in the low range again. So I really need to work on connecting the high register to the low register. Going from low to high is easier for me.
I found it felt much the same for me! doing really slow interval work based on the Bach first cello suite prelude helped me sort a few of those issues in the middle range - from there it was easier to expand outwards.
I have that Bach Cello Suite book, so I will start working out of that.
Wonderful video! Thanks for the great insights!
Great! Thank you
Thanks!
First time I've seen a video of yours. I really like your thoughtful (and seems heartfelt) philosophy of why you seek such extremem high note capability.
Thank you so much for watching! ❤️
Thanks for this. I've been trying to get an easier way of gaining high notes with less stress over the last few months and having seen this video, I am going to be on it with renewed belief and enthusiasm. It's an inspiration to see what can be achieved if your mindset is right and if you approach it in the right way.
I'm so glad this has helped! If you ever want to chat about any of it, please feel free to reach out
At around 6:05 is what took me a long time (too long) to learn. When I start to lose my high range is when I'm trying to muscle it up there. When I think of using a "falsetto voice" things get better. Good stuff!
Great lesson thanks William. Reminds me of some calisthenics exercises i came across... but with some important details. Cheers! Nice horn...
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed
Wow, fantastic video! Thank you for posting it and being so frank about your approach and the results. There are so many great nuggets (things don't have to be perfect, it's a process, we have to be gentle with ourselves, high notes aren't an end in and of themselves) my favorite being "The thing that we hold doesn't define us". Amen!
A couple practical questions:
1) Do you use any alternate positions for the extremely high notes? It looked like you were playing things in the same positions you would down one or two octaves?
2) Where do you like playing Eb 5 specifically? It looked like you played it in 3rd. Some people advocate playing it in a super sharp 2nd/flat 1st. Thoughts?
thanks so much for watching and the kind comments!
1) I try to use the same position for C6 and above notes that i use for the lower C5 and above register - i just have an easier time with muscle memory and association of the sound with those positions - in a way i looks at those top notes not as "high notes" but as different colors of the same pitch
2) Eb5 i try to play in sharp 2 - i'd have to go back and watch to see if i switched it up for some reason (every once awhile at those extremes i forget which octave i'm actually in!)
Every register has its challenges . I gave up after losing top front teeth , that was nearly 30 years ago 5 yrs ago i started again , like starting from scratch. The low register , the pedals ect were very dificult . Not so now , the higher range now that has been a massive challenge at one point id struggle to play anything after trying to hit that Bb C . Its only in the last mnth or so that ive started playing the upper range with more ease . I do find if i spend too much time up there my lower range suffers.
No. 1 takeaway is that it takes YEARS of practice to develop that kind of range. Good job!
yep! no shortcuts to it, just work on top of fundamentals, while removing limitations that come from social conditioning
Opened this looking for new vocabulary thinking my current range was fine and immediately got humbled with those arpeggios
when I started I had trouble with the first high Bb (think opening note of Bolero!) over time more and more notes were added through adaptation and patience. Also, fwiw, most of these notes are pretty unnecessary for 99.99% of music. I happen to specialize in playing the 0.01% though
@@WilliamLang Sure it's never going to be useful for me, but above a D4 (Also Sprach) is where all the fun is
Your head buzzing on the super Bb just means you hit your heads resonant frequency! ;-)
I’m a little late, but great video!
Thanks!
Pretty great. Maybe there isn't much written for trombone in the altissimo range, but do you use it in improvisation or folkloric tunes where you play by ear? Like, ferinstance, I often hear clarinetists jump an octave or two on the repeat of a melody in Balkan or Turkish tunes.
that would be a fun use of it - but at this point in my career i primarily use it for written compositions, and in the extreme high range many of them were written expressly for me
How much should I work on high range a day? Should I do it during my daily routine? I know high range as part of it is important but should I do this a bit more extended or just as it's own separate thing
I do all this work as part of my daily routine. I think 15-20 minutes daily is enough to make progress if done with intention
Do you need to use more abdominal push as you go higher? What do you with tongue position as you go higher. Could you tell me what your body feels like along with air flow as you go higher.
I don't use any conscious abdominal push as I go higher. As far as tongue position it's somewhat analogous to whistling, but again it isn't a conscious manipulation. For my body - I tend to feel pretty relaxed when things are warmed up and feeling good
when doing the first arpeggio exercise do you worry about the tuning at all or just doing mirror work?
I did mirror work for the first few years, and I listen for intonation in a general sense - sometimes I practice these with a drone but mostly I just try to pay attention
Careless intonation on the way up or down cancels the glory of the low and high notes.
Ok
I heard pushing your bottom lip into your teeth and covering it with your top lip can increase your range. Do you recommend doing this when hitting very high notes, and kinda intargating it slowly as you get higher and higher? I've hit a block around D5 and can only get above it using that technique.
I would honestly never recommend that. just please don't do that, and try these arpeggios for like... two weeks, and let me know what happens.
@WilliamLang Okay. Also, I had a poor explanation of the technique. It's like pushing your botton lip against the back of your bottom teeth, push your top lip onto the bottom. I could see how problems could arise from this though.
i would still keep a normal embouchure and not try to find a short-cut. compromising the lips and teeth so much will 99.999% of the time have negative side effects in the future
@@WilliamLangyour right! The lip is not the key of playing high notes
@@jumptosky4768 has your range increased?
yeah so i got a question
shoot