I volunteered to play the Arutunian Trumpet Concerto as part of a special at a retirement home. For the excerpt above, I am having trouble with being consistent for the Ab to G. Yes, the part is modified to fit my practice needs.
Also, I feel like my technique has declined a little since starting college. I made All-State 2x and District Band 3x as a high schooler but haven't played a whole lot since starting college due to other commitments. What can I do to regain my technique to its fullest potential?
Joined: 27 Dec 2001 Posts: 8333 Location: Twin Cities, Minnesota
Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2014 6:30 pm Post subject:
Practicing play G's and Ab's and moving back and forth, over and over and over.
Maybe listening to some recordings of it. Back it the day, that might have been more of a challenge - because you either had to buy or borrow it, but now there's YouTube. _________________ LA Benge 3X Bb Trumpet
Selmer Radial Bb Trumpet
Yamaha 6335S Bb Trumpet
Besson 709 Bb Trumpet
Bach 184L Bb Cornet
Yamaha 731 Bb Flugelhorn
Joined: 23 Nov 2001 Posts: 1444 Location: Hastings, NE
Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 6:21 am Post subject:
Crazy Finn wrote:
jiarby wrote:
Clarke #4, 82-83. Go slow. Hit pitch centers.
There you go.
Yup...agreed.
Also, just from the video clip, it sounds like you're backing off on your air right as your getting to that point...blow through it all the way to the Bb on beat 1 of the 3rd measure of the 4th line. If you need to take that breath where indicated, do so, but in that case blow all the way up to it, and keep that air moving.
Good luck! _________________ -----------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Louie Eckhardt, trumpeter
http://www.LouieEckhardt.com
Associate Professor of Music
Hastings College
Joined: 29 Apr 2008 Posts: 2450 Location: New York City
Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 8:17 am Post subject:
Hey there. First of all, your rhythm does not sound correct. I recommend lots of slow practice with a metronome, being very careful to play the rhythms correctly, slowly working up the tempo until you have it nailed.
Second: I agree with Loudog: more air! That can be a long passage with no breathing, so you have to take a big breath at the beginning, and make sure to support with your abdomen when you get to the end of the phrase. Let the air do the work! IIRC, the dynamic there is pretty loud, so you don't have to be worried about being polite about it, let it ring.
The Arutunian is an extremely fun piece to play. The cadenza is one of my all-time favorites. Good luck! And good luck to your piano player as well, they have a lot of notes to play! _________________ Yamaha 8310Z trumpet
Yamaha 8310Z flugel
Curry 3.
Yes, I know some of the rhythms are incorrect. Like I said in my original post, they were modified to be practice for weaknesses. As for the air, should I just take deeper breaths when given the chance?
Also, I'm not as consistent with hitting the high C as I was in high school. Does more air and big breathing before playing solve this problem?
Joined: 24 Dec 2003 Posts: 1473 Location: OHare area
Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 2:58 pm Post subject:
First, never alter rhythm. You've just learned to play it incorrectly and now you have to fix it.
You need hours of practice to get this right and I suggest learning it slowly before you make any attempt at this. This is not an easy concerto to pick up and just play it - especially when you haven't played much lately.
Woodshed time and listen to Dokshitzer (sp) perform it. Clean playing at a tempo you can handle will go much further than racing through it.
R. Tomasek
First, never alter rhythm. You've just learned to play it incorrectly and now you have to fix it.
disagree.
Taking a snippet of your music and creating an exercise that takes you out of context to work on the specific problem is something that helps lots of people. there's not always a Clarke, Schlossberg, Irons, Colin etc. exercise for everything. While I do in fact agree that he should not have altered the rhythm while running the piece itself, his reasoning as to why is not too far out of the ball park of having a plan of practice attack. _________________ (List horns here)
I have until December to really nail this down. Also, does anybody have any recommendations for good recorders that won't get washed out by trumpet? I tried using photobooth but the sound quality is pretty bad.
I really only started playing actively again about a month ago for about 90 minutes a day. In your experience, how long does it take a player's technique to really recover if I were to dedicate 1 hour a day to Clarke's technical studies? I feel like my tone has roughly recovered, but I want to make the jump from really good amateur to legit professional. While I made all-state 2x, I was 0/3 for Honor Band of America and 0/3 for my city's youth symphony orchestra (It's a bigger city like Atlanta, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, but not quite as big as an LA, NYC, Chicago, Houston). Not making the super-elite ensembles as a high schooler really motivates me to work harder and prove that I can still be great. For improving tone, everybody always says lip slurs, buzzing mouthpiece only, longtones with a Wynton Marsalis, Al Hirt, Hakan Hardenberger, etc sound in mind, but are there other approaches?
Forget rhythm for a second - that's something to work on once you get the tone correct. The problem is very common - it's that you're playing "flarp". It's a mixture of flat and sharp. You are keeping your tongue position and everything set for the lower notes while trying to go high.
When you don't speed up the air - yes, there's debate about whether the air moves for faster or there's just more compression, but go with it* - then something has to come in to play to compensate. That "something" is the chops in this case. Your ear hears that it's flat and you pinch to get it sharp. Now the tone is weak and you're chipping notes on the high side, all while still playing flat and unsupported.
So, what's the solution? Work on Cichowicz flow studies where you move the air faster as you go higher (think cooler air) and slower as you go lower (think warmer air). Note that this does not mean more or less air. You are simply trying to get your air "support" up for the upper range. Too many times the ab muscles get involved to "support". Raise the tongue and move the air when going up!
* As I mentioned, there are many articles talking about whether the air moves or not or if it's more compression. I am talking about a pedagogical approach, or a feel, that will accomplish the same goal. What it feels like and what's actually happening might be two different things, but believe me, thinking about faster air and higher tongue level gets you pointed in the right direction.
Since I was 9 years old (I'm now 21 years old), I have played with a really unconventional embouchure; there's apparently more bottom lip in my playing than a conventional embouchure. It apparently didn't hinder my playing (badly enough) throughout high school on simpler music, but maybe it would had I studied at an elite music program with more challenging music like the Arutunian? No music instructor ever brought it to my attention until a music instructor at an all-district band did during my junior year of high school.
Would I have to go as far as changing my embouchure for my pitch to be in sync? I know intonation was a weakness of mine in high school that I never really mastered.
That's interesting that you mention the embouchure. That makes a little more sense. The thing to think about is, it's your upper lip that vibrates not your lower. Try this: free buzz and then lightly touch your lower lip. You can still buzz, but if you free buzz and touch the upper lip then the buzzing stops and starts.
Why is this important? Because you have to decide if shifting your embouchure is something that's necessary. Obviously, a good teacher or playing professional should have a look but the optimal setting is to have the mouthpiece encompass some of the "white" area of the upper lip and not just be entirely within the "red". If there's only red area then you will absolutely struggle with range issues.
That said, there is no real perfect embouchure. I have seen many players play with all sorts of embouchures and bell directions, but I guarantee that anyone who has a decent range has more than just the red area on the upper part of their mouthpiece.
Joined: 05 Jun 2004 Posts: 10609 Location: The land of GR and Getzen
Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 9:16 pm Post subject:
Rodgers wrote:
I have played with a really unconventional embouchure; there's apparently more bottom lip in my playing than a conventional embouchure.
You may be playing correctly. What you describe is a type of embouchure used successfully by many top pros. If this is correct for you, it changes all the rules of what you have to watch out for, as well as what to do to develop.
And of course if this is not correct for you, it will hold you back until you correct it. Who will you go to to find out which?
Joined: 15 Apr 2013 Posts: 5 Location: San Francisco, CA
Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2014 2:32 pm Post subject: Building Endurance for the Arutunian
The Arutunian demands endurance. You need to practice it freely, using a lot of air, using frequent rest periods. When you get tired rest. Rest as much as you play and you'll see your endurance improve. Sing through the horn!
I got into Juilliard with this piece.
Keep at it!
I volunteered to play the Arutunian Trumpet Concerto as part of a special at a retirement home. For the excerpt above, I am having trouble with being consistent for the Ab to G. Yes, the part is modified to fit my practice needs.
Also, I feel like my technique has declined a little since starting college. I made All-State 2x and District Band 3x as a high schooler but haven't played a whole lot since starting college due to other commitments. What can I do to regain my technique to its fullest potential?
The above address was a photo of a door. No kidding. _________________ Richard
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