Trumpet Tip: Don't Tighten Your Lips to Play High Notes
Вставка
- Опубліковано 25 чер 2024
- Trumpeter @bobbyspellman draws on years of experience teaching beginning trumpeters to pinpoint some challenges that students often face when picking up the horn. In this episode, Bobby discusses the misconception that you should tighten your lips to play high notes, while covering the mechanics of air speed and suggestions for better tone production.
The Ridgewood School of Music is now accepting new students online or in Brooklyn/Queens/NYC! ridgewoodschoolofmusic.com
Bob's IG: @bobspellman
FB: Facebook.com/bobbyspellmanmusic
Twitter: @bobby_spellman
Ridgewood School of Music FB: ridgewoodschoolofmusic
Just released a new video to correct some information on the mechanics of the diaphragm when playing trumpet. Check it out! ua-cam.com/video/EOqAJstBC60/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/NX3HfZge9KI/v-deo.html is even a high note?!
How do I get rid of swelling and numbness? I’ve lost my range due to this issue. Any suggestions?
1:55
Hey Bob, how are you, man? I enjoyed the on playing high without tightening the lips. I'm 66 almost 67 yrs. old, and not too long ago I had a double G in my range. I don't know what happened but I'm lucky to squeeze out an E above high C. I know my brain is really confused from watching many videos, that I forgot what I was doing. Anyway I enjoyed the video. Maybe you can offer me a tip or two.
Victor Denis
Dedicated Trpt. Player 10:27
At last! Out of all the millions of youtube vids and teachers, YOU were the first to teach me what to actually do and how it works. And for that, I am eternally grateful.
I know right, first guy to actually explain right
Happy to help!
@@taylornye1150 it's actually purely metaphorical, air velocity in the oral space is irrelevant to pitch played. The lip tension controls the pitch played. The "hose" explanation is not applicable as presented.
Hee hee hee haw
@@darryljones9208 I’d say it is so. Didn’t he squeeze the hose to get a stronger jet? The hose outlet was like the lips: tighter = stronger jet. It’s what you said about lip tension, isn’t it?
I'm a senior in high school, been playing the trumpet since 5th grade, and I still struggle with getting notes that are a high E or higher 😭, this really helped
Do you mean E in the staff or…?
@@ericmarmal9849 exactly what I was wondering
@@ericmarmal9849i reckon they must lean e above the staff coz i’ve been playing for about a year and i can play the high e in the staff but idk
Hmm... i agree, shallow and pedantic
Id guess its above the staff… Ive been learning trumpet for the first time this week and i can play an E (not consistently or well, but its not that difficult)
I did everything wrong in high school and college. I used massive mouthpiece pressure and zero diaphragm support. I'm a comeback player now (flugelhorn) and am using your methods. I am only two weeks into my comeback but am already noticing significant improvements in my tone and range. My endurance is improving at a slower rate, but I expected that.
What's your range
This gives me great hope as I find myself in a similar situation!
Flugelhorn
Yeah, I don't remember any of this being taught 40 years ago. Director was very good regarding diaphragm and ab support. I just passed my Bb tpt off to a nephew and was piddling around on it whistfully.
Gained literally an octave of range above the staff from this video. Hit triple C for the first time. Thank you so much!
you mean double C? Triple is two octaves above the C above the staff
@@levimccoy4127 i think he means triple as in high c as in, the first one above the staff
@@Meg-um4zk yeah, it goes pedal c (or double pedals etc.), low c, middle c, high c, double c, triple c, etc.
a common misconception in the trumpet community is calling double c (6th space/space above the 5th ledger) triple c, even though those are 2 different octaves, theyre usually referred to as the same thing. ive noticed this from many trumpet players, varying in where they are, their skill level, and their skill
Because the High C is 14 notes above the Low C, the C just below the staff, lets start referring to it as the Quattuordecuple C. Sounds way more impressive.
I’m a trombonist and this literally made jazz solos so much easier, all those years of slightly off pitch notes will be behind me.
THANK YOU SO MUCH! I'm a seventh grader in my school's symphonic band I, which is the second best (to honor band), and I continuously squashed my lips for those pesky high notes. My high notes always sounded really gritty, and squashed, and I barely passed my playing test. Now I have to learn my school's fight song, and there are some really high notes there. But now, I clearly feel as if I can play them better. It's kinda weird how band directors don't really mention this. But thank gosh I found you, you just earned a like and a sub!!
Love the video! One issue: the diaphragm isn’t actually responsible for “pushing” out the air. I know…it’s nitpicking and it stills works as a cue. I mention it because it’s an educational video.
This just blew my mind (pun intended). I've played trumpet since fifth grade and I was NEVER taught this by any of my band directors. Thank you so much!!
You ARE THE MAN!!! You are singing my song!!! I tell people this all the time. NEVER TIGHTEN up to play high notes. USE YOUR AIR NOT YOUR FACE. DO NOT FORCE OR PUSH TO GET HIGH NOTES!!!
When I don’t use your method, my embouchure hurts a lot due to the pressure I am putting, now with your method, I can now reach an High G, thanks
I'm in the high school marching band, and I didn't know how much tension I was playing with until now, and it works very well, thank you so much.
Finally!! someone that cares about having good tone at high ranges.
Loved the lesson, Bob.
SUBSCRIBED
As a trumpet player of many years, I’ve found that the best way to increase your range is lots of practice.
This is great stuff. Thanks a lot. I'm a 52 year old band teacher that played trombone for years. This year, I'm trying to learn to play high on the trumpet and can only get a C on the 2nd ledger line above the staff. I'm working on going on up.
One thing I'd correct is the role of the diaphragm--you have the diaphragm's function wrong. It's not your fault--this was taught by music teachers everywhere for many years. All my teachers taught it wrong too.
Inhalation (inspiration): The diaphragm is the primary muscle that pulls air INTO the lungs, inhalation, or Inspiration. Accessory muscles on the outside of the rib cage assist when needed. The external rib muscles help the diaphragm breath in air.
Exhalation (expiration): The diaphragm is NOT ACTIVE during exhalation or expiration, when breathing quietly, the inhalation muscles simply relax and the rib cage elastically recoils expelling air.
Forced air exhalation (playing high notes): the interior rib muscles and the abdominals are the ones that can force air out of the lungs. The diaphragm is relaxed and the abs and interior rib muscles push the air out.
In summary: The diaphragm can ONLY pull air into the lungs. Other muscles can push air out of the lungs: abs and internal rib muscles.
Everything else in your video is great. Here's a medical review video that explains the breathing muscles clearly. The link goes to the end of the video where the summary is. Of course watching the entire video is advised.
ua-cam.com/video/6bkjJWBBnCo/v-deo.html
Hey, this is really helpful, and I appreciate the correction! I learned about the diaphragm's role from many music teachers, but I'm going to do some more research on anatomy and the mechanics of the trumpet, and I'll try to make a video to correct the seemingly widespread misunderstanding. Thanks for the kind words and the info! Good luck with those high notes!
I've been singing for years, and now playing the trumpet, and it's the first time I see this written down that clearly. This is soooo true, and should be told to anybody singing or playing a wind instrument! Thanks for this applied anatomy lesson 👌
Came here to say the same thing. The contraction of the diaphragm (in the simplest terms) basically clears out space for your lungs to expand during inhalation. The sensation that a lot of people associate with "breathing with your diaphragm" or "breathing low" is that process, but once you begin to exhale the diaphragm is actually relaxing and allowing everything to return to its neutral state. As you exhale during trumpet playing (or any wind playing/singing), the support and pressure you feel is largely the abdominal muscles activating.
i was looking for in person instructors to do this for like a year now, it turns out people in this day in age (or in canada) no longer play the trumpet. thank you and im saving this to my computer
Omgggg! This video is so useful because I actually thought that the tightening your lips was true, I tried and failed. But thanks to this video I can play high E (0 down).
Biggest help to me as a self taught trumpet player
Wow, thanks! As someone who's trying to learn to play the Trumper on his own, I made exactly the mistake you described. I was figuring this was way to hard. You explained so much in just 10 minutes!
I must have heard this explanation a million times before but this video finally helped me figure it out. Obviously it's hard, it's something I've never done before. But I can work on that. Practice and get better. Thanks a lot for this!
Been teaching kids about the placement of the tongue for years. Not enough teachers talk about this. I have my students whistle up and down to show them the importance of the placement of the tongue. Glad more people are talking about this! Very important to gain range on trumpet. Great video!
what if they can't whistle?
Tell them to think “ee” as you slur up or play higher and think “ah” on lower notes. Really low notes, think “oh.”
@@minervadavis744 the shape of the lips or? sorry I literally started playing a brass instrument on friday so all i know is how to make a sound that sounds like a sound
Excellent advice! I'm a senior playing trumpet since 10 years old. This was never explained so clearly to me. Look forward to seeing more of your videos
This video was the only one that actually helped me hit higher notes, and the visuals really helped too. Great job explaining everything, what you were trying to say I was able to understand.
I'm just playing in High School right now and after watching this, I was able top push out a note I have been trying to push out for months thank you so much
holy shit this is so useful, whenever I would squeak out a high note in class or marching band, my teacher would say to "have a smaller aperture and use faster air" but i could never figure out how to do it right! So glad I got recommended this video
This is amazing way of teaching very well explained and easy to follow thank you!
Took lessons from multiple teachers back in highschool and college and no one ever explained the air stream concept. I guess they just did not know back then. They talked about strengthening the embochure and playing with a frown not a smile, keeping the throat open, etc. It worked ok if you only wanted to play below middle G. There is also some information currently about unfurling the lips, creating a vibrating surface on the inside of the lips where the tissue is softer and has the potential to vibrate faster. Another suggestion is to experiment with shifting the mouthpiece slightly off center of your lips in either direction to see if the lips may more easily vibrate for higher notes. You want the widest vibrating surface possible for optimum sound. Also suggested was to center the mouthpiece against ONE of your TOP two middle teeth and not try to center between BOTH of them. This may create a wider vibrating surface.
Finally! Now I know what to do! Brooklyn? I was born and raised in Brooklyn. Now I live 200 miles north. Great video.
Im a freshman in high school and first French horn for my district (super proud) im binging ur videos in hopes of getting better on trumpet so I can be first trumpet in jazz band. This video was INFINITELY helpful.
Wow.
I am a student trumpeter who has been playing for over 2 years and I have been struggling on the balance between tone and range. Never before have my two music teachers said to do what you explained in the video. It hasn’t fixed the problem immediately, as on my first attempt I still couldn’t hit the high C, but it definitely helped and it will help in the future! Thank you!
2 yrs and playing a high c! 😮 do you mean C 🤔? High C is above the staff. If you meant high C, then 👏 bravo.
This is pure gold!
Finally an explanation I understand. “AHH. EEEE.” Have watched multiple videos on positioning the back of the tongue. This is the first one that the light bulb came on for me.
With natural breathing, the diaphragm and intercostal muscles between the ribs relax as you exhale. Our approach to the trumpet should start with that. We can make a big, clear sound just by breathing out naturally. As we go higher, we encounter some resistance and find that we need more "oomph" (a very scientific term!), and that instinctively results in some strengthening of the abdominal muscles. We cannot tense or push with our diaphragm, but can create a foundation for blowing more vigorously by firming the abdominal muscles to
support the diaphragm. Arnold Jacobs was a master at explaining the natural "bellows system" of breathing which is completely relaxed and instinctive, and that should be our starting point, but that is not to say that we do not need to aid the playing of higher pitches with some abdominal firming and support.
It is very important to ensure, in discussing tensing abdominal muscles or "pushing with the diaphragm", that we are not locking up our exhalation rather than enabling the continued free outflow of air. The abdominal support sense needs to develop as an instinctive felt need or response through playing higher notes, not as a conscious, artificial tightening of the gut. We must not blow against ourselves!
The feeing of "oomph" power and the firming and stabilizing of the corners of our lips to keep them free to vibrate in the mouthpiece are cornerstones of developing the higher register. For some players, range development comes fairly easily as they play and progress, but for others, especially many of those with fuller, fleshier lips, it takes more time and creative trials to find the answer.
I doubt that I have said anything that you are not fully knowledgable about, but I wanted to add a cautionary note. Focusing on tensing the gut can be very counter productive if done in an extreme, artificial way.
Breathe in with a relaxed, open mouth and throat and sing through the instrument as freely as possible in each register. Let the support feel develop through sustaining higher pitches and through scales, slurs and melodic playing in the upper register. The goal is to develop a fairly stable, consistent sense of support through all registers with both air and embouchure.
I am a woodwind player (and teacher) playing trumpet in my church’s brass ensemble. This was a tremendous help as I was struggling to get above a C on the staff!
I ACTUALLY DID IT!!! Im so happy a teacher finally told me how to do it
As a trumpet/euphonium player and band director, thank you so much for explaining this so clearly! It was both amusing and informative!
FINALLY...a comedian that knows how to teach music !!! I'm fixing to turn 70, shortly; and have just started learning Bugle & Trombone. (I bought a Harbor Freight Bugle a few years ago just for the heck of it and it's just been hanging on the wall for decorations. My Grandson bought a Trombone and leaves it up here at my house. No one here to bother as I practice!!! Carpal Tunnel surgery, a decade ago, killed my guitar playing, so I figured Id see if I could blow a horn a while. I love Glenn Miller & Kid Orey stuff!
I appreciate all the little pieces of professional advice & opinions I get, by sampling various teachers' tecniques. Now I can single out 7 individual notes on my bugle. Don't know what each are, I'm thinking on in their own register past the normal G. I believe these are H, I J AND 2. 🤔
Thank you. I couldn’t play a double G or a triple C without it sounding off! This helped quite a lot!
Im learning the bugle for boy scouts and the first thing I need to learn is taps, this really helped me hit that one really high note, thanks
super helpful, need some practice to play high notes with relaxation, but the mid-high notes are having significant improvements with the technique.
the most useful information about trumpet tips i've ever seen, gratitude from taiwan, thanks a lot!
FANTASTIC lesson! Super clear, organized, to the point. Well done!
Useful, informative, and entertaining! I just forwarded this to all of my Trumpet students. Thanks!
Thank you very much. this is a great piece of advice! subscribed right away.
can't wait to include it in tomorrow's practice session
Good discussion and fun to watch.
I have been playing trumpet for 5 years now and have always had a really good range with decent tone, it has been very inconsistent though for a while, I had never heard to blow faster instead of squeezing lips, I was always told to tighten my embouchure, (Band teacher is a woodwind player)
Thank you for an interesting ride on the trumpet band-wagon. I love your teaching style as well as your antics and witt. VERRRY informative. Bill, from Tn. 🇺🇸
This is so helpful! Thanks for the quality content!
I really like this video. Have to see it at least once every month due to the bad habits built up over years of playing tight
I’m currently I’m my high schools marching band and this tutorial helped me be able to keep my energy in my high notes instead of squashing my tone terribly and my lips tiring out quickly, I am grateful for this
Thank you, great tips!
If i can hug you through the screen, i will!! I truly appreciate this bro. Im a trombonist for around 20 years, and i decided to pick up the flugelhorn, because i REALLY love the tone of that instrument. I know the mouthpiece is tiny in comparison, but i struggled to get the high notes because i was applying my trombone techniques onto the flugelhorn, so i realized that i needed some guidance. Then i found this video. 5-10 minutes later, played the C major scale with such ease. And it's only gonna get better from here. Many thanks bro!!!
I changed my airflow as you explained..and not even kidding, I hit a much higher range my first try
Yes, it's working 💪!
Great tips, was struggling hitting the octave on a 2 valve bugle I picked up. I started on tuba and had a natural affinity for it, but could never get much sound out of a trumpet. Actually got some decent tones while watching and implementing, and hit the octave and almost the partial above it!
WTH!!! After 45 years of teachers, directors and high $$$ instructors I’m just learning this now???
I am equally furious and grateful at the exact same time.
If only it were true.. (it's not)
This video was really helpful to me, before i watched this, the high c what I played was horrible. Now, its much cleaner.
Good video! My trombone instructor in college taught me this my freshman year (1973). I had two "pivot points" (one for my midrange and one for my high range) that would overlap each other in the middle. As a bass trombonist, I had another setting for the extreme low range, but it involved a change of the airstream direction (upward). BTW, I "retired" from playing trombone in 2010. Thanks for the video!
Great practice!!
Many thanks ! You helped me a lot today : I was able to touch the C above the staff
AHHHHHHH I’m a sax player and it’s the same thing, don’t bite harder for high/altissimo notes love how musicians relate❤️
bro tysm this literally helped insanely ❤❤❤
Muchas gracias por tu clase.
Saludos
You have helped me so much in my trumpet learning experience im so happy you make videos
Useful info, great sense of humor. Thanks
thank you so much for this video it was extremely helpful
The muscles do work to stop the lips from blowing out. This engagement of the muscles could be perceived as “tightening” the lips.
It's not just "tightening the lips" it's the right kind and amount of increased tension of the vibrating surface **along with** the correct amount of increased pressure and manipulation of the tongue, teeth opening and alignment and increased air. The lips do in fact tighten to play higher and/or louder. Playing any given note louder the tension of the lips increase - this is a fact. You'll also find that as you play louder on a given note the teeth will open. It's a matter of coordinating all the parts of the whole - they all have to be there or it won't happen.
Stop everything u're doing and give this guy a thumbs up and subscribe!! First time I really understand the mechanism of controlling your trumpet notes
Thank you, Katia! Happy to help!
100% fantastic advice 🎺🎺🎺👏👏👏👏
Thankyou for the education
holy shit, finally. someone who knows how to teach. I LOVE YOU BOB
Thanks!
Brilliant. Why didn’t I know this before.
Thank You!!
This video really helps thank you very much
Great content man super informative and super funny. Thanks a lot and keep it up :D
Amazing information.!!!!
the most important information high register put in a handsome vid.
Hi. I have played trumpet about 40 years. There has been some pauses, but now I started again. My record used to be E6, but now after couple of days training, after 10 years pause, I was able to catch A5 somehow with pressing too much. Easy was to achieve E5 or F5. It seems I can still recover :) Thanks for the tips. It really worked to put more air and get upper tones without valves. A-E changing was something what I think happens naturally, at least part of that. I have instructed to not close throat or push trumpet more againts the lips. My key to achieve high notes are low notes. I play low and as quiet sounds as I can, and also as long long as I can. They pause 10-20 seconds. Like C2, B1, Bb1, A1, As1, G1, Fis1 and same way back to C2. Teh key is to play as silent as you can, and as long as you can. Then enough pause between every tone. Have you heard about this technique? Here is Finland famous trumpet player Esko Heikkinen called that as a Bear farts.
i love the style of your videos.
Thanks for helping me
Finally the answer I would have needed 3 years ago!
Great lesson teacher
I really liked the /a/ and /e /technique/approach to reach higher notes. Very useful.
Thanks, Javier! Glad to hear it!
Thank you! This helped me alot, ✌
Its helped alot thank you!!
thank you so much for this video
Im a bugle player this helped massively with my high notes
Very nice!!!
Really helpful and quality video, actually entertaining
Danggggg yea this was definitely helpful thank you so much
This was such a huge help!!! How have I never learned this?
solid advice
Thank you
Top Work Boss!
Thank you.
HAHA! 😂 This is absolutely Plus Ultra funny😂 perfect!
I like what you say here. I guess I was lucky because I either could always do this and I had better teachers.
This was great tysm