Ascending?

[Christian1483]

I'm going through some embouchure and range troubles and am wondering how some of you guys ascend? Like what you do with tounge, how it feels going up, how much embouchure moves, how much you use face muscles, etc. just want to see if I can figure some things out.

*Note: I know everyone is different and does things different I just want some ideas of things to try and see if they work.

[Robert P]

Everyone does roughly the same thing - everyone has similar anatomy and physics don't change from one person to the next but you need to figure out the specifics for you.

A lot of things happen simultaneously - changes in the tension of the facial muscles, mouthpiece pressure, teeth alignment and spacing, air pressure, tongue level - sort of like you're squeezing a grape against the roof of your mouth. The changes can be subtle - it depends on how much you're ascending, how loud you're playing.

You have to do things the right way for it to work - the right way is when it works. The difference between it working and not working can be very subtle, you can be in the ballpark where you play a given pitch but the sound isn't where you want it to be so it needs to be refined further. You can do it the right way up to a point but then run into a sticking point. Even the way you put the mouthpiece on your lips can make a difference.
_________________
Getzen Eterna Severinsen
King Silver Flair
Besson 1000
Bundy
Chinese C

Getzen Eterna Bb/A piccolo
Chinese Rotary Bb/A piccolo

Chinese Flugel

[weeeeve]

In my former playing years, back at North Texas, Don Jacoby (Jake) really helped my lead playing. He taught that there are two aspects of playing trumpet. Air and sound. So, with respect to air, we don’t blow into the horn; we blow through the horn. And notes aren’t higher up; they’re further out in front. So a G in the staff might be 2 feet in front of the horn. A G at the top of the staff might be 5 feet in front. A high C is 7 feet in front. And a high G is 10 feet in front. (Or whatever distances feel comfortable to you.)

And when just focusing on blowing further in front as I ascended, and focusing on the notes/sound I was wanting to achieve, my tongue and embouchure automatically did what they had to do to make it work. When on stage, I would pick things in front of me- for example, the mic is in the staff, the lead singer is top of the staff; people in the crowd are High G. When in a practice room or at home, I would just imagine my sound as a red dot on the wall, and the higher the note, the more intense the red dot. It simplified my mental approach, and made my playing much more consistent.

Now, many years later, as a comeback player, I’m trying a different approach that I’m really liking. I’ve seen several well-respected players talk about not using any more air to play than they do to sing. And so now, my mental approach is to make what I’m playing feel like I’m singing. So I’ll sing a scale, or octaves, or arpeggios, and then try to play so that it feels the same way. And sure enough, as I try to feel like I’m singing the notes, my air, tongue, embouchure, support, etc, all seem to just do what they need to do.

Hope that helps.

Steven
_________________
Steven Laurent

Bach Strad Model 72
Holton Firebird

My music: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5vmwM185PWOnMCC1I8Cwjr

[closenuff4jazz]

Range is a tricky thing to figure out, as there are general principles that everyone performs to play higher, but how an individual thinks about it is unique to each player. For example, we want to concentrate on air through the instrument and allowing the aperture to focus as we ascend, but what that means exactly for every player will be different.

For me, I have a tendency to be too tight and cut off the top of my range, and ceiling this moves up a half step or so every few months. I try to focus on staying relaxed while allowing my embouchure to get into place, and it takes some time for me to figure out the correct "setting" and then to allow it to become muscle memory. This is to say there is a balance between the air and the embouchure when playing higher, and I tend to overuse the embouchure.

I think the key is to focus on where the trumpet sounds and plays easy, and slowly increase the range from there without introducing to much tension. Easier said than done, I know.