Initial Attacks and Articulation

[David Oulton]

This is just a follow-up note to say thanks for the advice I've received from forum members, especially the advice received last December. (a partial post for context is reposted next, below). The advice has worked very well and I played the best concert ever last February 8 (and also probably the best concert the Band has ever put on) and an excellent quintet gig the next day. I did not have one faultering entry!

I think a reminder of basic techniques is in order every so often... thread, hair, appleseed...

Thanks all!

David

[David Oulton]

An Update to How Does One Choose a Method to Follow?(Second Discussion in the Original Post)

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NCB (old id, now: David Oulton)
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I really appreciate the comments and take away two key points:

1) I must know I want to accomplish (or what fault I am trying to correct), and what sound I want to produce-- I think I do.

2) and, the importance of minimized or efficient movement. This concept should be intuitive, but I'm glad you all emphasize the point and have given me something (else) important to keep in mind.

In my recent self-assessment, I found that my very initial attack/articulation is poor (or could be better) -- once I'm playing a passage I play well and sound good. As a collegue has commented to me, I need to hit the center of the note right away as opposed to finding/feeling/lipping into the note, especially now that I have that large bore Wild Thing. From reading Chase Sanborn's "Brass Tactics" and posts in this forum I conclude I'm one of those poor souls who takes a breath and momentarily holds it before playing that first entry -- an unnecessary hesitation... I don't have that the seamless inhale then exhale as you play structure... so this is where I'll be placing emphasis for the next while!

That aside, I can play as high and low as I need to (low F# to High D and for fun higher but not in concert), have good endurance and produce a tone that at times can even make the conductor smile (again this is all in the context of the community concert band).

On the quintet side of the house, I need to work on my concentration and counting... I found last night in concert, much to my chagrin, that I was depending on cues from the other players... but when they messed up, I got messed up, too... Thank goodness we recover from these lapses well (this might just be wishful thinking)...

Thanks again,
David

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bugleboy
Carmine Caruso Forum Moderator
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David,

The bane of the trumpet player. The initial attack! Doesn't it sound great, when you hear a trumpet player with a pin point, clear attack. And isn't it awful when you cuff that first attack, especially if the band has stopped so that your entrance is unaccompanied. I have seen trumpet players so terrified of that first attack they will actually freeze and be unable to release even one molecule of air. You might even say that being in state of paralyzing fear takes some of the fun out of playing. However, fortunately there is a cure!!

Your situation is very common among trumpet players (insecure first attack, but then the attacks are fine after you get going). The cause of this problem is in your own very words, although you may not believe me. You say that once you get going everything is OK. In other words, once you have establish a timing that your body can respond to, everything is fine and your body does just that, it attacks notes cleanly, you play well, etc.

So to prove my point (that the issue is timing and not something more exotic) count yourself off before making an attack: [mm = 60] 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 ee and ah / Play!!! Play the note exactly on the downbeat after you count off, subdivide the 4th beat and don't blow until after the 16th of the 4th beat. Have the mouthpiece on your lips and be set and ready to play as you count in. You must release the air right on the downbeat. Do this a few times and tell me if it doesn't work. The solution to your initial attack problem is one of timing and can be cured by doing exercises like the above. Ultimately, you want to be able to get your initial attack timing set up with a simple "and" (as in the "and" of 4). Why do you think band leaders count off, " 1 and ah 2 and ah 1, 2, 3, 4." It's to get everyone to come in on time together! It's much easier to fool people if you can just start and end together. In a symphony the conductor ALWAYS establishes the time, usually just with an upbeat "and / 1." But in the community orchestras I bet the conductor moves the wand through a full measure OR TWO before the down beat.

If your chops know exactly when to come in, they won't let you down.

Regards,

Charles Raymond

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dbacon
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Like a good golf swing, all in one motion. In and out with the air always in motion. Never lock up and loose the motion. Freedom and motion, not tension and rigidity. The air's job is to move.

Dave Bacon

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Don Herman
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Some very good advice has been given. One other thing which might help is to "play" the measures before, or the ones you're about to play, in your mind _before_ you begin, and then "join" the music rather than starting cold. This advice from my teacher has helped me considerably -- when I remember it! Set up the phrase (not just the starting note) in your mind and then join that mental band (orchestra, organ, whatever). Especially helpful for auditions (e.g., excerpts played solo).

This would cause me to slightly modify Charly's statement: "If your mind knows exactly when to come in, your body won't let you down."

I leave you with my most famous self-quote (with the possible exception of coining "Nice Thing C"): The hardest horn to play is the one in my mind.

Toodles - Don (not sure I actually have a mind...)

Don Herman/Monument, CO
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PH
Bill Adam Forum Moderator
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Two things-

1) To amplify on Charly's Carmine-based suggestions, Carmine told me to think of the breath like a pendulum-no percievable hesitation when changing direction. He also said that the inhalation is part of the timing process. Inhale in rhythm in order to exhale in rhythm.

2) From Mr. Adam-When he talks about hearing the sound as a way to fix all of your technical problems he isn't just talking about hearing the pitch and/or the tone. You must hear the rhythm, articulation/style, dynamics...EVERYTHING! The more vividly you hear the phrase down to the finest detail, the more accurately your body will produce it. This is analogous to the great baseball hitter looking for the seams of the ball and trying to pick up the rotation of a 95-mile/hour pitch when a duffer like me would be doing well to just see the darned thing before it was past me!

When I asked Adam about Carmine's emphasis on timing he said (to paraphrase), "Well sir, that sounds exactly right. However, to really activate that in a musical (not a clinical) context it means you have to really hear that phrase in rhythm...the silence as well as the notes!" We often worry about playing the sounds in time, but we forget to think just as rhythmically about the space between and before the sounds.

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fzr Phil
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hi all,
Dave, glad you were able to play better already. whatever you did right, keep doing it! The perspective of my reply was different to bugleboy's, although i will still reply and try to answer the points that you raised previously.

'poor attacks what worked for me'
realising the concept of a 'closed-lip setting' , I reckon despite believing you play with an open set you are may not be after you get going, only when you try to make your initial attacks. this could put you in no mans land as you may apply different principles to what is actually working in your playing. i have checked for my closed set by pulling the instrument off my face while playing, if the lips buzz then they are more likely closed, if a fine air stream exists through the lips then that indicates an open set.

Also the concept of the 'air column'. I previously imagined the air column to be from the bottom of the diaphragm to the top of the throat, i now understand it to be all the way up to behind the lips. as you 'blow' (expell the air from your lungs into the instrument) the lips are immediately energized by the 'weight' of the air column on the lips and the sound is produced.

My prescription was : breath attacks, half scales (ignoring upper register for now)- soft staccato, toungue and slur. I was going to suggest that you indicate what books you have and some of the more experienced teachers might outline specific exersizes.

'What worked for you?' i wouldn't like to say 'worked' as i still have a long way to go with my actual playing ability. especially compared to some of the extremely acomplished players on the forum. however, i feel a strong grasp on the mechanical/physical aspects of my playing at the moment and at last my playing is really begining to settle down, for example, even recently, i might have been unable to physically play through even simple etudes or exersizes with any consistency at all, and was still not satified why it worked one minute and not the next. lately this aspect has improved a lot.

I attribute this sucess (for me it is!) to THIS FORUM. by forcing the challenge of ideas and 'need' for answers. the really 'heavy' debates require an expanded knowledge base just to keep up! the previous big bust up (May'ish) spurned me to purchase ( i had been putting it off) Superchops book & vid, my own Arban, Pop's books, Clarke studies and more. The more recent 'big split' has proven tremendously valuable as the explanations from all the factions are put forward in such detail and have certainly given me another boost.

best wishes to all
Phil Martin
(edited mostly on a word processor!)

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bugleboy
Carmine Caruso Forum Moderator
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David,

Perhaps an additional note on your issue, in conjunction with what Phil said. Many great teachers, e.g., Carmine Caruso, Jerome Callet, Jeff Smiley, all advocate a similar physical activity to get the note started.

1.) Carmine Caruso said to make believe you are spitting a thread off your lips. He said you can't spit without closing your lips. And guess what? The lips need to be closed in order to vibrate!

2.) Jerome Callet may have used a hair as an example (or something similar) instead of a thread, but reaffirmed that the lips and embouchure are fully and correctly engaged for trumpet playing by this spitting effort. He, as Caruso, likes a student to start out by protruding the tongue THROUGH the teeth to accomplish this initial attack. As the student's embouchure becomes comfortable with the procedure, the tongue will recede somewhat from the original amount of protrusion, but still remaining right up behind the lower teeth.

3.) Jeff Smiley likes to use a seed as an example that is imagined as being spit off of the lips.

Sometimes it's good to go back to basic procedures to let the embouchure reacquaint itself with what it's supposed to be doing. Practise this spitting procedure combined with the counting instructions in my previous post (You can do this with a second line quarter note G. Just keep repeating for several minutes a day) and your stuttering/insecure initial attacks will be a thing of the past!

Regards,

Charles Raymond