Nose Flare :-?

sean007r · Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2002 7:14 pm Post subject:

So I'm standing and warming up...
long tones and then some lip slurs.
I feel good and I'm walking around while I'm doing my normal routine.
I end up in the bathroom and stand in front of the mirror, something I never usually do.
Anywho. I notice my nostrils flare as I descend the scale or seconds after I play a whole note.

I'm not sure anyone will be able to visualize what I'm trying to explain, but I am hoping that someone does the same thing and can tell me why!!!

I know... I'm a freak!

Another thing, it only happens, for the most part, with notes above the staff.
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Sean
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John Mohan · Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2002 1:19 am Post subject:

Are you really concerned about this?

If you are, just break the mirror - problem solved.

John Mohan

P.S. That purple face thing was pretty cool.

Paul.Trumpet · Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2002 5:06 pm Post subject:

Your nostrils are connected to your face and the muscles are working to support your embouchure playing notes. Unless you end up stuck like it I would not worry about it.

sean007r · Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2002 8:55 pm Post subject:

I'm not really worried about it unless it is a sign that I'm doing something wrong.

I am reading everything I can about the trumpet and trumpet playing to ensure the few hours I have to practice are the most productive possible and the last thing I want is to find out, like 10 years from now that I'm breathing incorrectly or my embouchure is incorrect.

So I'm not worried that it looks funny, heck if that were it I'd never look in the mirror, it's just I want to ensure I'm not doing something unproductively!!!

I'd ask my instructor, but he is out of town for a few weeks on tour.

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Sean
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JazzFoodie · New Member Joined: 25 Apr 2014 Posts: 5

My fellow nose flarer! Mine does it on the ascending scales.

pepperdean · Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2017 10:29 am Post subject:

Geez, now half the readers on this forum are running to the mirror.

Alan

Dr. Manhattan · Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2017 12:59 pm Post subject: Nose Flare

My nose flares on the G in the staff, A above the staff, and Pedal note E flat!
Funny I never noticed this before!

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TrumpetMD · Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2017 1:06 pm Post subject:

veum · Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2017 2:39 pm Post subject:

deleted

dershem · Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2017 4:37 pm Post subject:

The King trumpet that somehow never sold well...

Bflatman · Heavyweight Member Joined: 01 Nov 2016 Posts: 720

I stand up tall when I go up the staff and crouch when I descend.

I also wiggle my ears when I chew and the tip of my nose goes up and down when I speak.

Sometimes I wag my head side to side while I play, and I bend backwards to emphasise a high note.

Do I win

John Mohan · Posted: Mon Aug 07, 2017 6:12 pm Post subject:

This thread had been buried for fifteen years before it was resurrected!!!

I thought I had done it to death with my first post, but apparently not. This excerpt from Claude Gordon's wonderful book Brass Playing Is No Harder Than Deep Breathing should do it...

https://s25.postimg.org/5bd03w4en/image.jpg

Bear in mind, I wrote that this should do it - not that this would do it.

Robert P · Heavyweight Member Joined: 28 Feb 2013 Posts: 2596

mm55 · Heavyweight Member Joined: 01 Jul 2013 Posts: 1412

It's perfectly reasonable to observe what is actually happening, and to use such observations to try to better understand what else is going on. There is no reason to fear the facts, or to fear direct observation. The notion that observation can only lead to worry is absurd.
_________________
'75 Bach Strad 180ML/37
'79 King Silver Flair
'07 Flip Oakes Wild Thing
'42 Selmer US
'90 Yamaha YTR6450S(C)
'12 Eastman ETR-540S (D/Eb)
'10 Carol CPT-300LR pkt
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Grits Burgh · Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2017 10:31 am Post subject:

John Mohan · Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2017 12:53 pm Post subject:

John Mohan · Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2017 1:18 pm Post subject:

Robert and mm55,

You guys might be interested to know that Claude Gordon believed the same thing you do regarding using a mirror. In fact, Systematic Approach had instructions on Page 6 in the section on the Facial Muscles to "Use a mirror" when practicing certain exercises. In fact, "Use a mirror" was the first instruction in that section. Here's a scan of my old Systematic Approach book with those instructions:

https://s25.postimg.org/crzp5rryn/SA_Page_6.jpg

Unfortunately, you can't read the aforementioned instruction, because Claude took his famous Flair pen and redacted those instructions from my book at my first lesson with him. And the more recent edition of the book has the sentence omitted entirely from the text. You see, though he thought (as you do) that using a mirror made sense, his experiences as a teacher showed him that if told to use a mirror, students tended to become overly lip-conscious and it was actually detrimental to their progress. In other words, Claude adjusted his view and opinion to the evidence at hand. That's what reasonable people do. They adjust their views, no matter where it leads them, to the evidence at hand. It's a wonderful way to live life.

Now I'm not saying you two are unreasonable. It's quite possible, even probable, that you haven't seen and experienced such evidence by each spending 20+ years teaching and helping hundreds of students reach professional levels of playing ability. But Claude Gordon did. His method of teaching, which evolved over the years as he adapted what worked and discarded what didn't, led to his having an unusual number of successful students, many of whom filled the hotel bands of Vegas and Reno back in the hay day of those resorts, recorded on the biggest TV shows of the '70's and '80's (think about that the next time you hear Bobby O'Donnell screaming on the CHiPs Theme or playing lyrically on the Love Boat Theme) toured as Lead Trumpet with bands such as Maynard Ferguson and Harry James, and played Principal Trumpet for Orchestras such as the St. Louis Symphony.

Of course, you can do whatever you want to do, but for now, unless some major contradictory evidence comes along, I'm staying away from the mirror while I practice.

Cheers,

John Mohan
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1st Trpt for Cats, Phantom of the Opera, West Side Story, Evita, Hunchback of Notre Dame,
Grease, The Producers, Addams Family, In the Heights, etc.
Ex LA Studio Musician
16 Year Claude Gordon Student

mm55 · Heavyweight Member Joined: 01 Jul 2013 Posts: 1412

The "CG Jammies" card has been played. Boom!
_________________
'75 Bach Strad 180ML/37
'79 King Silver Flair
'07 Flip Oakes Wild Thing
'42 Selmer US
'90 Yamaha YTR6450S(C)
'12 Eastman ETR-540S (D/Eb)
'10 Carol CPT-300LR pkt
'89 Yamaha YCR2330S crnt
'13 CarolBrass CFL-6200-GSS-BG flg

John Mohan · Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2017 1:29 pm Post subject:

mm55 · Heavyweight Member Joined: 01 Jul 2013 Posts: 1412

And the CG Underoos! Boom! Bam!
_________________
'75 Bach Strad 180ML/37
'79 King Silver Flair
'07 Flip Oakes Wild Thing
'42 Selmer US
'90 Yamaha YTR6450S(C)
'12 Eastman ETR-540S (D/Eb)
'10 Carol CPT-300LR pkt
'89 Yamaha YCR2330S crnt
'13 CarolBrass CFL-6200-GSS-BG flg