Aperture Control and Conditioned Response | Trumpet Q&A - #2
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- Опубліковано 4 лип 2024
- In response to a question from Gavin McCaffrey, Bryan Davis gives tips on how to better control your aperture and airstream, and set up a conditioned response in your embouchure so you can play the trumpet with far greater ease!
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"E for Embouchure" - • Don't Stress or Obsess...
"F for Falsetto" - • Play Higher More Easil...
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Very helpful, the tips on using abdominal muscles have indeed let me go above the high G and made my high notes more consistent. Thank you!
Another super video. Excellent information. Agree with everything you are saying: air flow, pressure, playing soft, loud, building your chops, etc...
I'm starting to review all of your excellent videos. Thanks for making these available.
My pleasure. Thanks for watching!
Great stuff Bryan you’re doing a great job on here, these clips are invaluable in affirmation on what I’ve told my students 🎺😊
Thanks Jan. I’m glad they’re helpful.
Brilliant Bryan, thanks so much for taking the time, that's really helpful, I'll get to work on that!
My pleasure, Gavin. Thanks for taking the time to comment in the first place!
Crazy stuff Bryan, this forcing-the-trumpet-to-do-what-I-wanna-do-exercise. Playing a scale with the fingering of a different scale - I have never seen (and heard) this before!
Thanks for watching, Peter. I can’t take credit for it - I first saw it in Flexus. However, I’ve expanded on that version in a big way!
Thank you Bryan.
Well done , an important Feature !
Bryan your videos are excellent. Specifically, your explanations are right on target. I watched tm??m8
apperature and conditioned" response video at least 5 times and I took away something valuable each time.
Thanks for watching, Michael. I'm so glad to have been helpful, and I appreciate you taking the time to say so.
Everyone has their own preferences on how to control the aperture and if it needs to be controlled at all. Things that I noticed being mentioned here are not new and CG (Claude Gordon) keeps telling that in his books that all must forget about the lips their job is to vibrate uncontrollably and concentrate on the tongue that is forming the pitch and air is doing the rest...I want to thank Bryan for mentioning very important falsetto approach that was eye opening...perhaps only few can explain that feeling and relate to the actual professional terms...for that I'd say bravo 👏!
I’m not claiming any originality in my thinking. There’s nothing new under the sun. All I can do is share my experience, what works for me, and the concepts that most of my students seem to resonate with. There isn’t a “one size fits all” approach, but I have hundreds of teaching hours that suggest that my approach can fit many.
@Bryan Davis - Airflow Music and i certainly respect that! Out of curiosity, falsetto discovery on trumpet was found by someone else or its passed on from vocalist to your own discovery? Regardless I'm thoroughly impressed with the sharing of your experience and short performances that are being posted...cool stuff. Thanks!
I had been doing the lip bend exercises, but tending to bend with my lips (not air stream) - which seems to be the opposite of what you're saying here.
...so it's back to the exercises with a focus on airstream from now on.
Thank you.
I think the target is to search for balance and equilibrium instead of aperture control every time I tried to force to come out high note, sound becomes dull and "tragically" crush. Searching for the right tension (intending minimum effort to not spread out or pich lips) and the best of "active relaxation" is the key (probably). Thank you Bryan so much as usual foe your video that are always a true reference in order to improve 👍🎶🎵
Hey Bryan, so I’m commenting to get your advice about my upper lip swelling up and ultimately shitting down lip vibration and leading to no response when I try and play above the staff. (After playing for around 30 min). This starting happening a couple months after I got my braces off and started to settle back in with a new embouchure. Do you think this is happening because I got into a bad habit of using to much pressure or something along those lines?
Thank you for your time and I really love your videos
Thanks Bryan great info and brilliantly exlplained! :)
Thanks for watching, Ivan, and taking time to comment. It’s much appreciated!
Oh yes, and bending I'll try and im not sure yet what's the end result so far a bit skeptical...
Hi Bryan, just following up, I’ve been practicing your note bending and static tonging exercises a lot and noticed a huge improvement in my playing - better tone, upper register opening up a little more - so thank you sincerely. One more question! Some days my playing is easy and I reach a high C/D but the next day I air out on an A just above staff. Is this something you’ve ever experienced ? How do you achieve a consistent sound on a daily basis? Again huge thanks for all your videos, they’re fantastic.
Hey Gavin. Glad to hear you're feeling the benefit of practicing the exercises. Consistency can be a challenge, and it's something that's practiced like anything else. It's hard to know without seeing you play, but generally the symptoms you describe would point to either poor breathing/breath support, overblowing and/or an overuse use of mouthpiece pressure by default. What I mean by the latter is pressing too hard, habitually, even when playing the easiest things. The way the mouthpiece sits on the lips should feel familiar and secure, but you shouldn't be pinning your lips to your teeth to play a 2nd line G...
There are Trumpet A-Z videos to advise on all of these issues, and I'll keep revisiting these topics in the video series that come next. B for Breathing and G for Grip would be places to start. This is not intended to be all doom and gloom - they are all reasonably simple things to tweak and fix. If you'd like a more personalized diagnosis and some properly targeted advice for how to move forward, please consider taking a Skype lesson with me.
Thanks Bryan, that makes sense I’ll look at that. And yep I will defo take a lesson with you. Thanks for the reply, G
Questions and feedback are welcome, as always. Let’s hear them!
How to form the embouchure
Hi Brian , Can you expand on repetitive single note exercises? - what sound to aim for DO / DA / Tu etc? - Thanks for the videos. B
Hi Brian. Thanks for watching.
Generally, I like to start out in the low register, with a very "tenuto" dah tongue. I aim for no gaps between the notes and a consistent airflow. I'll make a video demonstration for next week's Trumpet Q&A
Hi Brian, thank you for all the interesting and helpful videos and tips, they make me think about what I'm doing, or rather what I should be doing when I'm playing. Would you have a tip to get rid of a problem I have noticed since my come back. I seem to have air leaking out (most of the time)of one side of my lips close to the mouthpiece. I play off center to the left and seem to have a type IVa style embouchure placement . Air leak on the left also. I don't remember if I had a leak when I was playing 40 years ago. I'm certain it must be annoying the person sitting next to me... Thank you
Hi Guy. Thanks for watching. I’m glad you’re finding the videos helpful.
Blocked buzzing is great for sealing embouchure leaks. Check out #TrumpetProTips #12, from this past weekend, for more details.
@@AirflowMusicNYC Funny I had just looked at that before sending last email. More tips for that situation would be appreciated. Thank you very much... Bryan(sorry for the typo)
When you’re setting up the blocked buzz, increase the grip at the corners to seal the leak. Practice the intervals - 5 seconds on, 5 seconds off, as I mentioned but don’t start counting the 5 seconds on until the leak is stopped, each time. With practice, you’ll soon be able to engage immediately without the leak.
What mouthpiece are you using ?
I'm enjoying your videos and am using your combination drills. Here's my problem. I find that high and soft is much easier than high and loud. I can play your exercises, and others, up to high C when playing softly. But when I have to play high and fortissimo, for example the last part of 1812 Overture, everything blows up on me. My chops are gone and there is not enough chop strength or air support to overcome the fatigue. Please address the issue of high and loud and talk about the path to get there.
Sorry for the slow response. The basic route to developing dynamics in any register is to move a little in either direction to start. If you're playing softly then crescendo a little at first. Focus on relaxing into the crescendo and only going as far as you can without causing additional lip tension - without pinching to try and control the note. Louder note = more air = bigger aperture. You have to let your lips open appropriately for the volume you need. In the upper register, you don't need to add as much air to crescendo as you do at lower pitches. We tend to lean on the air in the same way and blow our lips apart.
Bryan, sorry this off-topic but could you send me the link for your video on the pros and cons of using a practice mute? Thanks, Peter
Hi Peter. I talked about that on Day 14 of the #30DaysOfLongTones.
yo! i have a question about tonguing with "Da". I play with "T" tonguing but is it benefitical to practice tonguing exercises "Da" even if i didn't use it when playing music? and if so, why? 😁 thanks
In order to play different types of music, we need different articulations at times. We don’t just tongue one way. Learning to “dah” tongue, is beneficial for working on smoothness of air and is a useful softer tongue for occasions when that is required.
Hi, Bryan I am just starting to learn on how to play the trumpet(at the age of 53) and i am noticing that halfway into my practise (30 minutes practices) playing my music in my book I'm losing my aperture, it sounds sloppy, airy, almost like a flutter normally E note and up. I stop and start playing my five notes C,D,E,F,G to get back to good sounding notes. not sure if im pushing the air, but this happens moslty playing the music. I saw your exercise using the pencil, would that help or is there something else I should do ,thanks
The pencil or a similar isometric might help, but it sounds to me like you’re still building up to playing that long. Don’t forget to rest when you get a little tired. A short break can work wonders!
I'm new to the trumpet and wonder if every note, except slurs, are tongued?
I hadn’t thought to put it that way. I guess it’s fair to say that any note that’s not slurred is articulated in one way or another - that could include breath attacks or tonguing with a variety of consonants.
thank you!
You’re very welcome.
Do you have any tips for dealing with "cupid's bow"?
Is that a reference to lip shape?
@@AirflowMusicNYC Indeed. It is the downward curve in the middle of the lip. Some have more than others. There is a tendency for it to swell under slight pressure, which then has a clogging effect on aperture. Some advise taking up an instrument other than trumpet if one has it. But some of us persist and try to deal with it.
As far as I’m aware, everybody has it to a greater or lesser extent. Where does the swelling occur? Down at the central point or up at the wider part of the curve inwards?
@@AirflowMusicNYC In my case, downward at the center. The effect on range is quite noticeable. Thanks.
Ok. Where does your mouthpiece anchor? Is the entire bow inside the rim? Do you tend to anchor on your upper or lower lip?
Where can I purchase that mouth piece ?
The Apredato mouthpieces are manufactured and sold by the Schagerl company from Austria. There are Schagerl dealers around the world. You can’t get this particular size, as it is a custom mouthpiece that they converted for me, but they have a range of standard sizes.
Don't tell that to Charlie Porter you must set your lips
Setting your lips does nothing if it’s not coordinated with the correct Airflow. Mr Porter is a fine player, and a smart guy judging by the videos I’ve seen. I don’t believe he’d substantially disagree with me.