Ep. 1 Tongue Position: The Secret to High Notes
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- Опубліковано 2 вер 2022
- "In this first episode of Ryan's Trumpet, I share an exciting discovery that made the upper register feel so much easier for me.
"Bringing together insights from several of my mentors (David Hickman, Newell Dayley, and a coaching session with Adam Rapa at this year's International Trumpet Guild conference), I demonstrate a concrete practice to help unlock the secrets of tongue position and free up the upper register."
Ryan's Trumpet is a recurring series that shares ideas and practices that have been extremely helpful to Ryan as a trumpeter, musician, composer, improviser, and teacher.
Have some questions about this episode? About the trumpet? Music? Performance? Jazz? Composing? Comment below!
If your question captures Ryan's imagination, you just might get a free lesson and have an episode dedicated to you!
Ryan Nielsen is the trumpeter in the Kobie Watkins Grouptet.Their first album, "Movement," received international acclaim and was selected by Howard Reich (former member, Pulitzer Jury) as one of the 10 best albums of 2018.
Ryan has recorded and performed with Ra Kalam Bob Moses and the Summit Brass. In 2021, he was an adjudicator for the preliminary rounds of the Carmine Caruso Jazz Trumpet Competition, "The world's most prestigious competition for jazz trumpet." He has performed as lead and solo trumpet with Delfeayo Marsalis's Uptown Jazz Orchestra, and received the Doc Severinsen Award for Outstanding Classical and Jazz Trumpet.
Ryan co-authored "The Classroom Guide to Jazz Improvisation" with John McNeil (Trumpet, Hush Point; frmr. trumpet, Horace Silver; Professor Emeritus, New England Conservatory). It is due to be released later this year by Oxford University Press.
He is currently Associate Professor of Trumpet at Utah Valley University.
Visit Ryan online at www.ryanstrumpet.com
This is the most brilliant and needed fix for easier playing that I have heard in the last 40 years of my playing. Thank you!!!
Glad to hear that it's helping your playing! Thanks for the kind note 🙂
Fix ????? Forget it.
awesome - been playing professionally for 27 years and this is the best advice I've ever found cheers Ryan
I have been struggling to play high notes for months. This was the best advice I've gotten so far. I'm now able to play The Last Post, a goal I've had since a child! Thank you so much!
So glad it's helping! Thank you, @sarayyoung6834!
I have struggled for years to understand tounge position and how if affects range. Tried this today and the concepts finally clicked. Thank you. My range just went up about 3-4 notes.
I have sort of figured this out myself after seeing those x-rays of that one horn player. It was SUPER useful to hear someone talk clearly about this. Cheers!
UA-cam resources like this has taught me about as much as my teachers did, if not more.
The best video by a mile, that explains higher notes. Thanks for sharing!!!
Nice job describing how sounds happen on the trumpet -such a difficult concept for players to understand.
This is possibly the greatest video of all time. I’m not even a trumpet player, I play horn and it works. It just works. I’ve been struggling with range for so long and didn’t realize it was this easy to fix. I can’t believe I just needed to rethink the focal point. You are a godsend
SAME I HOPE IT WORKS!!
I wish I had seen this 49 years ago when I first started playing. This is brilliant. Might be the best video for trumpet playing ever created. Too bad most of us had to discover this the hard way over years of effort. Thanks for sharing.
The only bad thing is that I'm at work with my trumpet in the room and my boss is next door and I'm going to have to wait for him to leave so I can experiment with this concept lol.
@@williamstadelmeyer3563 lol
That's interesting. I haven't heard it described in quite that way before. I know what I'm doing this afternoon!
The way to think about half-whistling is really identical to your teaching. You taught us earlier about falsetto which was a life-changer for me. I used to wear dental braces.(Having them in my mouth for 8yrs!) I was really struggling trying to play the trumpet. The brace destroyed the flat surface created by our front teeth
and made vibration extremely hard to create and maintain. But the idea of trying to get falsetto shifted my focus to the airflow itself.
I am 53 and just started playing the trumpet three months ago. This is the most amazing insight into the instrument that I now love. I’m going to try it out today!
Great lesson. Very useful 👍
What is so nice is that you maintain a beautiful open tone as you reach higher.
As an accordion player, other instruments fascinate me, especially Brass. I love all the brass family and this guy really knows what he is doing.
Oh my god. I couldn't play well quality high notes before. However, after watching this video, I could play a smooth high C for 12 bars!Wow!Thank you very much!
Thank you so much. Much more range and less effort. This class changed my way of thinking about the high register. Amazing
There are corollaries to singing here that to my knowledge have yet been 'mapped.' I wish singers understood the degree to which the diameter allowed in the vocal tract plays in how the vibrators react.
It also underscores how it is possible that trumpet player's top end can be greatly disrupted when a trumpet player loses weight (the tongue, losing fat, actually changes girth), just as singers often do. The very small change in the air pathway has huge effects.
Very good video. I will play for my singing students. (I used to be a trombonist and often teach with a mouthpiece nearby to give a clear mental picture what the unseen vocal folds are doing)
I liked how you gave a profile and pointed to different areas for attention and focus. Most teachers continue to face my/student view. Now to practice.
This is solid gold. Thanks so much for sharing this!
Well presented. I will try to think of this next time I play. A lot of what you have is nicely broken down for people when never read the written notes of many famous method books. Sounds like you had access to the right teachers and have what you really need. A desire to excel and the guts to stay locked in the room and then get out and play whenever you can ! Good job .
Thanks a lot ! Very, very useful ! I was loosing my time figuring out the tongue position without success. That and your last video on apperture : a gold mine for my problems with improving range. Thank you
The vocal points are so essential!
Well Ryan, I just happened to catch your video before my practise session, and it really unlocked something for me. Obviously I knew about the importance of tongue position but somehow it never translated into my playing. After hearing your explanations and watching you demonstrate, something clicked. Thank you, and I look forward to your next videos.
wow, need to sit with this for a bit but already I think you may have changed my whole game!
thank you for making the time to create this video and share this insight
i love it. So insightful and helpful!! thank you ryan.
That was the missing link, thank you very much. When I returned playing trumpet, I looked around on UA-cam, found many helpful tips, to train my lips etc. I recognized that I learn whistling as a side effect. Me as a singer asked the principle trumpeter of the orchestra if he can whistle: yes he can, he told me that he can whistle every trumpet concert.
So I have a task, bringing my throat in congruence, resonance to the tone pitch.
Hey Ryan! This video popped into my recommended feed today, absolutely brilliant! This is exactly what I do, and it was taught by Jay Saunders at UNT. Great job explaining it and making it super clear. I’m definitely going to share this with all of my students. Bravo!
Man, that makes me so happy to hear that, especially coming from you. So great to hang at ITG!!! Teach me more about Jay Saunders' approach to this . . . did he use the pitch of the half-whistles as well? Or focus more on the sensation of the "focal point" between the tongue and the top of the mouth?
It was so fun hanging at ITG!
He would focus on sensation. Everything was about the feeling of it all. A bunch of us would figure out that it felt like a whistle like you describe. He would talk about how our tongues are able to handle tons of micro movements that can be harnessed to make playing in the upper register easier. I remember when it clicked for me, it was incredible. We all would also talk about the balance of air usage and aperture pucker to achieve a “lower” tongue position to gain headroom in range. Hope you are well!
Hello Ryan, I have been playing since I was 12 and now 62. I have heard so much about this in the last 5 years or so how important the tongue placement is like whistling and the higher the whistle, focus on where the tongue is. Ive never had personal training except in school and learned to play more by ear then read music.
My point is that I still struggle with this concept for some reason and like you said okd habits are hard to let go. The high C is very comfortable and only if i could nail this concept i know it would help so much. I will not stop trying and focus on everything. I just recently had major back surgery so I'm not allowed playing my horn or even my military bugle for taps services. So I also figured this would be a good time to learn and focus on this type of exercise and the placement of the tongue and even use a mouthpiece to just listen to the air of a lower note to the higher note which that I understand. Thank you again Sir for taking the time and I look forward to following your site to listen to your playing. I love watching the videos with the lotus trumpets and Adam Rapa as well.
Thank you again for everything. 👍🏻🎺
I believe that I've instinctively been doing that....Now I plan to be more intentional! Thank you
Wow! I'm impressed by your generosity by you sharing this tip with the rest of us. I'm a composer/piano player ex professional trumpet player. I think I can be quite expressive with the trumpet's voice but the range limit can put a brake on my ideas. It worked as soon as I tried it. Thank you.
Thanks for the valuable information!!!
thank you so much ryan. you had helped me a lot. you introduced the idea of "passage" and in a way is pretty similar to what happens to singers (and we can also experiment it) when they go up in the register. there are a couple times where you have to do a small modification to keep going up with fluidity and no tension. well, its reasonable that the same thing happens when playing trumpet. great discovery!!
This is incredible content. Amazing concept. Thank you so much!
You're welcome, Erik :-) Thank you for hanging out with it --
Hey man, great playing with you on Kobie Watkins' gig. I just upgraded my C trumpet to a Schilke CX-5. I can't wait to try this soon.
Thanks, Sean! Lemme know how it works out!
Very nice approach! Sweet sound! ❤
Now, that's why I pay the internet. Thank you for posting this great advice!
Excelente enseñanza maestro!!! Muchas gracias saludos desde Argentina ❤
Wow thank you so much for that info !!! 😊
Dynamite video! I wish I would have learned this 30 years ago too. Thanks for sharing.
Well let's see if it works! About to give this a go!
Hi Ryan. Fantastic eye-opener. We think so often of air velocity and volume contributing to air pressure but rarely do with think of the stuff going on "behind-the-lips". This idea of a focal point really interests me!
Wow this is so Helpful
I love this tutorial mate, I wish I can learn it or understand how u do those shifts I'd be grateful.
This is brilliant. I’ve been coming to this conclusion, too, just recently. It’s not the “speed” of the air that tongue arching does at all. That never made sense. It is the size and resonance of the mouth chamber! That’s why some trumpeters have a distinctive sound (think Wayne). Their oral cavities have unique shapes! I look forward to more from you. Thanks!!
really good video brother, thanks for sharing
Very Helpful!
Fascinating.
Cool. Good stuff. Thanks!
Gracias!!!
I echo all the good comments - amazing! Mind blowing! It works. Unlocks the puzzle. I love the half whistle. Thank you so much!
So glad it feels helpful! Best of luck to you in your trumpet adventures!
Brilliant content!! I can't wait to try and practice this, putting it into practice.
Something I would point, no related to the content itself, but would be cool on the next videos: As you made very well on separating the sections inside the video, you can make that separations and markings on the timestamps in the video, so it turns easier to watch each session and find them to rewatch (what I'll do pretty much now on!!).
Cheers!
Before viewing this video I could hit a C# if I was lucky. Seconds after viewing the video I hit High E! This is extrememly good advice!
it was really fun working with you
-robby
Awesome!
Very good video 👍🏼
Great video, Ryan! That's very new information for me, too. I can't wait to try it out. Your new Lotus sounds really good 🙂
I'm loving it :-)
that isn't a suped-up Olds studio?? huh@@ryanstrumpet
You’ve changed (in better) my sound! thanks!
So glad it felt helpful!
OMG - thank you so much 🎺🇬🇧
Thanks Ryan! I'll share this with my kids at Merit. Glad you popped up on my feed :)
Hey David! Thanks for that! Episodes 2 and 3 may be the biggest help to them. Got to find center before range. So good to hear from you!
Love it
THANKS! I wish I had known this 65 years ago! Too late to help me now, but that's not your fault. Masterclass stuff.
Great!!!!!
Just found your channel very interesting thanks 🎺
Very nice🎉
Thanks for the tips, I recently bought a trumpet and a Cornett and I am trying to learn how to play them by myself. Up to now I sound terrible but luckily I got myself a silent brass system so I am the only one hearing this tortures 😉 maybe (hopefully) I will improve my sound with your tips. 👍
helpful. thanks
Hey Ryan, really interesting video!! I saw Adams tipps on range, the focal points make a lot of sense to me. I noticed that i use them exactly that way when i whistle, with a distinct register break when switching the focal point. I never could emulate that feeling on the trumpet though, seeing you do it just that way motivates me to try it again. Maybe i was blowing too much air, thinking i need to make the lips vibrate using breath support. Thanks a lot!
My favorite description of air is something I heard Joe Allessi say . . . . that he thought about the airstream as being "conversational."
I think that's it. . . . for reals. . . . that's all we need. If it's enough air to make the vocal folds vibrate in speech, it's enough for the lips to vibrate in trumpet-song 🙂
Спасибо!!!👍
thank you
Great
Ryan!!! I went to ASU with you! Hope you remember me. I had to learn trombone a few years ago to pay the bills and I’m now getting back into trumpet. Been struggling with high notes while relearning trumpet. Just hit a double G within 30 min of watching this video!!!
This is David Melancon btw
Man, of course I remember you! I was always so inspired by your piccolo playing and the ease of your approach to the horn. Honestly, I still tell my students about you from time to time. I'm sooooo glad this felt helpful you in some way. Our community of trumpeters is definitely the better for having you back in it!!! Thanks so much for taking the time to write this . . . :-)
@@user-fo8vr3xh3x
This video is awesome! Thanks for the awesome new paradigm of range on the trumpet. Unfortunately watching the video makes me feel like I have cataracts or something....
Really interesting! With a clarinet or sax, you can position your tongue in such a way that the resonance in your mouth fully overcomes the instrument’s resonance. By this means you can do a glissando.
I want to learn this method..Terribly exited🎺🎺🐝🐝🐝How can I learn from you??
YESSS !
That was a great concept greatly explained, gonna give this a try
I remember last year I struggled to consistently hit anything above an F, and then a masterclass person said to think about changing the shape of your mouth when going higher, and it literally doubled my upper range, and I can regularly play super F now. This also happened around the same time as I started expanding my lower range to the F 2 octaves below concert F.
not many trumpet players' faces don't change the color when they play that high. Will definitely try!
Hi Ryan, thanks for such a great series. I’m one of the “old timers” and have recently been working on trying to play in a much more relaxed style than I had in the past. My old style was pretty typical, more air, squeeze the lips, lots of air compression, bugling neck, red face etc. Your video really opened up a new way of thinking for me. I find by thinking more about the whistle locations I concentrate more on air flow and tongue position than on the chops which allows some great things to happen (once I get out of my own way). I just wanted to clarify a couple of things that you touched on in a previous comment. Once we reach the maximum tongue position in the molar area and move the focus to the premolars does the tongue still stay “locked in” in the molar area? Also as we move the focus to the front end by the teeth do the molar and premolar tongue positions still stay in their high position? I’m just trying to avoid any new bad habits, I have a lot of them to get rid of as it is😏.
Thanks again for sharing your knowledge, all the best
Kelly.
Thanks, Kelly. The first thing that comes to mind in response to your question is: I love the questions you are asking; keep trusting the questions, and let 2 things be your guide as you experiment: 1) resonance of the sound and 2) ease of approach. If your sound gets more resonant and your approach gets easier, you're almost certainly moving in a healthy direction. I also feel it's important to emphasize that we all have slightly different physiology, so we all basically need to find our own road up the proverbial mountain. That said, practicing the second "focal point" or "half-whistle" away from the horn, the portion of tongue by the premolars is most helpful when the "focal point" (the point between the top of the tongue and the top of the mouth that makes the sound of the air) is as open as possible (highest flow rate without pushing at all), without losing the half-whistle. Meanwhile, the portion of the tongue by the molars will, for many, continue to move freely to create different "pitches" (by which I mean setting up the mouth chamber to resonate within a certain set of overtones/frequencies, which we can test with the half-whistle). These ideas can be helpful in getting you to a place where you discover what works for you; which may well be somewhat different from what works for me! Let the sound and ease be your "trumpet guru." Get creative, curious, and question everything :-) One of the other viewers came up with a BRILLIANT way to say it: the higher we go, the further forward we "place the note" inside our mouth chamber. That's a healthy principle for nearly everyone. Best wishes!
Chef John from Food Wishes theme song, besides.
Great video with really valuable content! Shifting the focal point also means a change in tongue position, doesn't it? The tongue arches to a maximum in the highest notes and lies pretty much flat in the low notes.
I agree.
Thanks, Ryan. Will definitely work on this.
I picked up my horn again, about 5 years ago, after 60+ Years. Not doing too badly. I'm starting to increase my practice time and things are sounding a bit better. I've been able to hit high D (with some effort!), and have occasionally hit an Eb and high E. But I don't own them yet. And I'm expending way too much physical energy! Hopefully your method of controlling the airflow in the chamber behind the lips will help.
I’m with you. I’m 67 and picked up my horn a year ago when my son asked me to play for his funeral. Ryan has just proven that my resonance chamber is so non standard that this doesn’t work for me. I expend way too much energy so can only practice for maybe 25 min but can get a solid C D and E.
I discovered your channel about a week ago and I'm finding tremendous success with your methods. Thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge. I do have a question (sorry if you've already answered this somewhere): how does the focal point / tongue position relate to articulation, specifically in the upper to extreme register? What kind of exercises would you recommend in order to improve in this area?
Thanks, @wouterensink6210 --
I may do a video on this soon . . .. but in case it takes me some time:
For me, tonguing for the first focal point ("K" whistle) resembles my speech . . . where I naturally speak the consonant "T" or "D."
The second focal point (we might imagine an imaginary line drawn on the hard palette between my left and right premolars), I still tend to tongue where are would naturally speak "T" or "D," with one crucial difference: the sides of my tongue anchor (gently) to the premolars, and create a kind of fulcrum that stays in place while I articulate.
The third focal point (near the incisors) seems to shift; there, my articulation is no longer with the tip of my tongue (as when I speak a "T"), but is an opening and closing of the focal point itself .. . . like I'm saying "tssss" with the same part of the tongue that is creating the point of resistance/focal point/half-whistle.
That third one is almost like an anchor tongue . . . .
Hope that's a bit helpful . . . it get so challenging for me to clearly describe things . . .
Bottom line, experiment! Try different contact points, vowels, shapes, etc. and find what feels easiest for you!
@@ryanstrumpet wow thanks for the fast response Ryan. This does clarify it quite a bit. I guess the difficulty lies mostly in not opening the the cavity too much on the release part of the articulation. Anyways, I'll be looking forward to the video ;)
Ryan, very helpful. Could you just expand a bit more please on what you mean by “as we go out to the centre of the instrument”, Basic Principle #1.
Thanks, Peter
Wow It's very interesting, thanks a lot to share this concept. I never heard this before. I'm a comeback player and at this moment I'm in big trouble to get back an acceptable range. I'm very interested in getting more information to work on the 3 focus points. Should it be possible for you to help ? Thx
Hi Eric --
I'm not really in a position to take on more students right now, but maybe check in with me over the summer again!
Wow! Great concepts. My son is a freshman in high school playing trumpet. He’s been playing for 3 plus years. Would your video be something to share with a relatively new student, or would you recommend this video as more for “advanced” players? Thanks for sharing!
So long as he isn't straining or pushing or "blowing harder" to try and move into the upper register, the concepts may well be helpful to him, though it would be rare for a student his age to be accessing the altissimo register (the 3rd focal point) in healthy ways. Patience is the name of the game with upper register development. Let the sound guide him. If it sounds and feels easy, that's the right direction :-)
The content in episodes 2 and 3 really are the foundation for the focal points to work. And, depending on how your son has been taught + the amount of listening he's done to great trumpeters, gaining fluency with "playing the 5" (see ep 2 and 3) takes some consistent cultivating! (It's still what I focus on the most in my practice, and I've been playing for 33 years!)
Episode 4 (forthcoming!) will address the nature of the airstream, and is foundational as well.
That said, I introduced my son to these concepts (he's just starting) . . . but not the third focal point. It just takes time to develop an embouchure that can receive a setup ready to resonate at those higher pitches :-)
All my best to you and your son!
@@ryanstrumpet fantastic. Thank you for your time and for producing this sort of content!
You solved it
If only . . .. 🙂
It sounds like this concept should work equally well for other brass instruments. I'll have to try it on my trombone.
When you form your lips to produce the above "G"
Just touch
your tongue, very slightly, to your bottom lip, the tip, which throws the
tip of lower lip up towards the tip of upper lip, using
much power. The tone is produced to the inside of upper mouthplece at an angle of 45 degrees, instead of blowing straight Into the
throat of the mouthpiece...
Eso es otra cosa
Great video Ryan. I understand the concept , but some how when I try to apply to my trumpet, I get messed up
I've noticed a few common stumbling blocks . . . maybe one of these might help unlock it for you?
The first is that my students tend to place the tongue so high that the air actually gets choked off. We want the "focal point" (the narrowest passage for the air; between the top of the Tongue and the roof of the mouth) to be as open as possible, while still sounding the half-whistle.
The second is that it can take a good bit of practice to resist the urge to blow harder as we ascend. "Always blow the same." (Cichowicz) Along these lines, even the tiniest change in the airstream will negate the efficacy of the Tongue level.
The third is blowing without singing. There's something crucial about clearly audiating or hearing in our imagination *exactly* what pitch we want to play.
The fourth is also always a possibility: if we haven't learned how to really play the center of the horn, the the tongue level won't do much to help. When you find the center, the horn "lights up," and produces more sound than we might be used to hearing, with less effort. Episode 2 goes into this in more detail.
Hope that helps! Best of luck to you on your trumpet journey!
Straight out of the Reinhardt Pivot System manual. It works.
Interesting.
There's a reason I've stuck to low brass for over 20 years. My range on trumpet is absolute garbage. The only upper brass instrument I've ever been successful in playing has been horn, the back pressure is a help.
I'll be getting the trumpet out tomorrow to try this.
do you do online lessons? I feel like just 1 hour to ask questions on this video would do it for me
Although I have heard many people they have benefited tremendously from the video, I cannot seem to grasp the concept fully. What are the half-whistles for? Tongue position? Or just a general sound? To be clear this isn't meant as critique, but as an invitation for others to help me figure out where my thought deviated from what he demonstrating in the video.
Thanks, @riemervdeems5569.
I hope I can help a touch!
The half-whistles seem to serve three distinct purposes for me and the people it works for.
1) Tongue position. The general idea being that, the higher the pitch is, the closer the "focal-point" (the place of highest airstream resistance between the tongue and top of the mouth) is to the teeth.
2) Resonance. This, I think, is the truly unique benefit of this approach. It's based on the understanding that the aperture is a *response* mechanism; an elasticity that *responds to* the interaction of resonance between the oral cavity/head/chest resonance on one hand, and the resonance of the instrument on the other. Setting the tongue in a place for an accurate half-whistle can help fine tune or dial in the resonance of the oral cavity with the frequency we wish to produce, so that the aperture responds more readily and with more ease.
3) Efficiency. With the increase in resonance comes increased efficiency and ease of playing. (In other words, less blowing harder to go higher.)
I hope that helps! All my best!
Ryan
Thanks Ryan for this video. Now that it's been a year since you posted it - are you still feeling that this is the right approach for you and your students? Would you have any adjustments or changes to speak about now? Best of the season!
Thanks, Bryan.
Wow . . . love this question.
This remains helpful to me, yes. When things feel inefficient, some half-whistle practice often brings things right back into alignment for me.
It's been interesting with students . . . if they can recreate the 2nd "focal point" half-whistle, then, yes, it's very helpful. But creating that sound seems a challenge for several.
For those who the 2nd half-whistle feels too unfamiliar to reproduce reliably, I teach them the basic principle of moving the point of resistance inside the mouth towards the teeth to ascend (assuming adequate embouchure development/tone center), and simply have them practice moving a "hiss" forward (without any particular pitch). But if they can get the half-whistles, then, yes, it helps them.
Hope that answers your question (at least in part!).
All my best!
Ryan
I'm only about half way through the video. Maybe it's because Ive never played trumpet before and my mouthpiece arrived before the rest of my trumpet has, but I don't quite understand how the different focus points work with the mouthpiece. Or how the airflow affects the lips or... I'm not sure what I mean, as I don't have the vocabulary or the expertise.
Do you suggest I not worry about this technique right now since I'm a new player? Or should I think about this more until it clicks? Thanks!
How exactly do you move the focal point? Has to do with the tongue level?
Good evening sir, I am asked to learn the trumpet for a major event on August and I need help. Please can you teach me on how to be good in a Month?Thank you I'm very grateful
Hi dear Ryan ,
I’ve been watching your videos a lot 😊
Again thanks !!
Allow me to ask a Question : when you demonstrate the transition from the first focal point to the second and third , are you actually using the exact sounds / and the exact air speed like demonstrated in the video ?! ( 6:16 minutes )
The air speed seems so “little “ ?!
What exactly is the tongue doing ?
( maybe a another video with a visualiser or something?☺️😊😊)
Thank you again ! Your fan 😀
Hi @shamslife9182 --
As best I can, yes, those are the sounds/air speed (when I'm playing well).
When I fall into less efficient habits, I tend to work much harder :-)
Sometimes, it helps my students when I have them imagine rolling a Boba pearl along the top of their mouth . . . the further back the imaginary Boba pearl, the lower the pitch.
Thank you for these questions! Please keep asking :-)
Again kind sir . Feeling flattered you answer me !
I have many questions ☺️
For the time being , to leave you your well deserved peace , i allow myself to ask only this :
When I do this exercise my throat seems to be not „opened „, blocking , or constricted , whatever we will call it . What do you recommend to „open „ the throat ?
Thanks a lot !
And let us know your patrions site ..
@@shamslife9182 You've touched on one of the most common challenges I have faced as a player, and virtually all of my students face: constricting or choking the exhale in the throat.
There are several possible causes . . . from the physical to the psychological . . . .
On the physical side, the information in the "Breath" episodes should be very helpful.
The issue often stems from simply over blowing . . . we confuse "support" with bracing ourselves or bearing down.
Refocus the energy of the exhale at the "tip of the lip," and be sure you're not "sitting down" on the air (see the second breath episode).
It may also be that the tongue is simply too high in the mouth (too close to the roof of the mouth) and is backing up the airstream.
Bottom line, if thinking about tongue level this way doesn't help your sound get more resonant, and your approach feel easier, half-whistles may not be the best door into understanding tongue level for you.
On the psychological side . . . I struggled with "clinching" for most of my career, until I had a profound experience connected to some trauma-related healing, and all of a sudden it went away. This left me wondering if "the clinch" might sometimes be connected to our ability (or inability) to settle into, trust, and confidently give expression to our inner voice. It's all so connected. . . .
Anyhow . . . keep "the real trumpet guru" close by in your practice (resonant sound, ease of response), and be willing to test and challenge every bit of information you learn until you find your own proverbial path up the mountain.
Best wishes!
Have you ever heard of claude gordon? A student of Herbert L Clarke's and author of systematic approach to trumpet playing, claude explains the fundamentals of trumpet playing and they are similar to your explaination. Check em out. My major trumpet professor in college was Richard Hofmann of california state Northridge. He is phenomenal trumpet player and teacher.