On the Advice of a great player and teacher

[tryingtolivethelife]

I have recently switched to a Bach 1c I am finding a couple of things, I am playing better, using air for range and using less tension and presure, I also feel like me Da and Ga are lazy somehow, I'm trying to articulate in jazz band and it's just such a pain in the butt. I was told by somebody articulation is easier with a bigger mouthpiece. Not the same person who said I should switch but somebody I play in a jazz band for. I'm wondering if this is different for everybody based on mouth shape and shape of teeth, or am I just confusing myself with to much though?? Besides basic tounging exersizes witch I am doing what is there any specific ones I should get a hold of?? Thank you

[trickg]

Personally, I've always had a harder time getting the same crispness and clean articulation out of a bigger mouthpiece. Are your lips so big that you would need a 1C? For me the 1C is a little big so I tend to play mouthpieces somewhat smaller but hey, different strokes for different folks. If it's working for you in all other areas, give yourself a few weeks to get used to the bigger piece and you should be nailing the articulations with no problem.
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[tryingtolivethelife]

no but my teeth are bad and I use lots of pressure, or used to but the guy told me to trust him and switch and that it would fix alot of my problems, it sure did. But I had no doubt it just took a little time to adjust I'm sounding better and I've been working on about ten minutes of tounging exersizes a day and the crispness and sharpness in the attack is back now. It feels good to play the trumpet these days, alot less stiffness, less pain but that of couse is also due to my great private teacher here at school. I find though that UI can't help but thinking that an actual jazz horn might give a bit of sizzle in my sound... I dunno, the bobby shew horn sure sounds good. Hmm....

[PH]

Ahhh, but what is an "actual jazz horn". There are certainly particular horns that have a brightness that commercial lead players favor, but THOSE AREN"T JAZZ MUSICIANS!!!

Sorry for shouting.

I am certain that more actual jazz players play Bach Strads than play Shew-horns. FWIW.

90% of your tone quality is in your imagination. How do you imagine your tone before you play the phrase? That is the sound you will get...regardless of your gear.

[Quadruple C]

[ This Message was edited by: Quadruple C on 2003-09-20 20:34 ]

[Still Trying]

I know I'm giving my age away, but I graduated from college in 1967. Back in the "old" days, (at least in the locale, where I played trumpet), using only one horn and one mp was the norm, not the exception. Whatever we had to play, in my case everything from symphony to rock n roll, we played on the same horn with the same mp. I played an OLDS Recording trumpet, but nearly everybody else played a Bb Bach Strad. At the time everyone theorized that switching mps was the last thing one wanted to do. It messed up your feel and control.

It is possible to play with different styles and tone characteristics with just one horn and mp, and quite effectively also, I might add. I had a trumpet instructor named Richard Burkart. Mr. Burkart (later Dr. Burkart) had the most beautiful tone I ever heard. (As an aside, Mr. Burkart was the brother in law of Gill Johnson). One year our band was the guest band at the American Bandmaster's Association in San Antonio, Tx. Nearly everyone in the coronet section played trumpet, but we all had to play coronet parts on coronets for that performance. Col. Earl Irons was in attendance at the meeting and came up on stage during rehearsal. In the course of a conversation he was having with Mr. Burkart, he remarked about how he approved of all the cornets he saw, and how playing coronet parts ona trumpet degraded the quality of the section. Well, Mr Burkart took exception to the comment. As part of the concert, Mr. Burkart had to play a trio with John Haney from North Texas, and the trumpet instructor from Texas Tech. (I can't remenber his name). Anyway, as a reaction to Col. Irons comment, Mr. Burkart played his coronet with such a bright trumpet tone that if you were not watching him, you would have sworn he was playing his part on a trumpet.

Once we (Mr. Burkart and I) were discussing some directions given by my symphony conductor, who kept telling the trumpet section to play louder. I don't remember the piece we were rehearsing at the time. But Mr. Burkart explained to me that even though the conductor was asking for us to play louder, he really wanted us to just play with a brighter tone and more projection. So Mr. Burkart just lifted his horn and played with a totally different tone quality than normal. "Play it like this", he told me. Sure enough, that's exactly what the conductor wanted. Mr. Burkart could get any nuance or tone shading he wanted from a trumpet without loosing a bit of tone quality- all with one horn and a 1 1/4 Bach mp. I've been trying to match him lo these many years. He was a really fine example.

I don't know. Progress is great, but I'm not always sure that switching horns and mps, like we switch clothing to fit an occasion, is actually progress-especially if taken to extreme. I guess this is all to say that I agree with the previous posts emphasizing the importance of a tone concept in the mind. The necessary tone and style will vary depending on circumstances, but there's not always a reason to change equipment. A player can, and I think should, learn to make his equipment do whatever he needs it to do. But he has to hear in his head what he wants to come out of the end of his bell.

Before someone else mentions it, I realize extreme circumstances like playing big band lead in the stratosphere one night, and in a chamber orchestra the next, would be easier with a change in equipment. But I bet there's really a small percentage of the players on TH, who are actually called upon to do that. The one's who are in that situation, don't need my comments about equipment.

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[ This Message was edited by: Still Trying on 2002-10-02 23:56 ]

[Emb_Enh]

I just wrote some stuff, some which is applicable to the "post originator" of this one for those who are interested.

http://www.trumpetherald.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=4713&forum=8

Roddy o-iii<O
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[razeontherock]

Yeah, most of us want one horn that enables our playing. I tried the Yamaha Z horn and might've learned to like it. It's easy to understand it's development when you listen to Shew play. FWIW, if my main playing was in an ensemble where I'd mainly solo with effects, I'd probably want that horn. The acoustic sound could be more easily blended with the 'wet' signal.
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