Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2017 5:01 am Post subject: Tips for a beginner who's not allowed to play in his apt.
Hi, Im a 21 year old glassblowing student from Sweden, and i really really wants to play the trumpet. But my quite big problem is that I'm not allowed to play in my small apartment.
My history with music is that i played saxophone for some years between 5th and 8th grade, but other school work came in the way and i had to quit. Then later after my father past away in my last year of highschool i wanted to pick up some music again, to make me feel better. And i bought a trumpet, and begin on a music school for ca. 8 months, but i had to leave that to, because you weren't allowed there after you finished highschool. And now some year later i really really miss the music, and do what to pick it up again. But as i said I'm not allowed to play in my apartment. I have tried a few times, but after 10 minutes of playing i hear the neighbors knocking on the walls.
So earlier this week i bought a Yamaha silent brass. I've heard that it would might be harder to take notes properly with it, but i hoped that i could do it. But it was a lot harder then i thought. So far I'm really just trying to become comfortable with the lower notes, like low C D E F and G. And without the mute they sound somewhat ok, maybe not like a real trumpet player, but passable i think. But as soon as i put on the mute the tones sound very off, very "buzzy" and not at all like a trumpet tone, just like I'm buzzing my lips without a trumpet. Like the C just sound like a bad fart sound (hehe).
So I'm wondering if anybody have some tips for me. What am i doing wrong?? And how should i do to make the notes sound more like actual clear trumpet tones?? And lastly do you think its possible for me to learn to play with the silent brass?? or is it anything else i can do? or should i just forget about my dream to play jazz? _________________ A 21 year old glassblowing student, that have just pick up and wants to learn to play the trumpet.
Joined: 25 May 2013 Posts: 2123 Location: Atlanta GA
Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2017 8:43 am Post subject:
Are you using the headphones with the Silent Brass? (I don't have one, but I understand that using the headphones encourages one to stop overblowing, which can be a big problem with practice mutes.)
You might invite your neighbor over for coffee, explain that you want to play trumpet, and ask if there are times of day when that would be a less of a disturbance to your neighbor. _________________ Bb Yamaha Xeno 8335IIS
Cornet Getzen Custom 3850S
Flugelhorn Courtois 155R
Piccolo Stomvi
Yes, I'm using the headphones that comes with the silent brass. And overblowing? what is that? is that a good thing? _________________ A 21 year old glassblowing student, that have just pick up and wants to learn to play the trumpet.
Find another place to practice where you can play open: the park, your car, the local college, a nearby church, a parking garage, on a boat in the middle of a lake, you get the idea. There's almost always somewhere that you can play open.
Or make friends with your neighbors.
Or ignore them and continue to play.
There's a possibly fictional story about a New York City trumpet player practicing in his apartment. A neighbor knocks on the door and asks, "do you have to be doing that?" The trumpet player says, "yes," and closes the door.
The mute can help in a pinch, but not for regular practice. Even the Phil Smith cave is better.
Joined: 23 Mar 2003 Posts: 9007 Location: Hawai`i - Texas
Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2017 12:06 pm Post subject:
"Are you using the headphones with the Silent Brass?"
That's what I did for several years and at 2200 - midnight with no problems. _________________ "If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." Bird
Joined: 25 May 2013 Posts: 2123 Location: Atlanta GA
Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2017 12:27 pm Post subject:
Myrup wrote:
Yes, I'm using the headphones that comes with the silent brass. And overblowing? what is that? is that a good thing?
Practice mutes add blowing resistance to the instrument. Most trumpeters blow harder to try and overcome the resistance by overblowing, or using more air pressure than s/he would use without the mute. This throws off the balance of air and embouchure response, making it more difficult to play accurately without the practice mute. Overblowing is a bad thing.
Yamaha promotes their silent brass practice mutes by saying that using the headphones makes it easy to hear your playing, and it's supposed to sound as if you weren't using a mute. This will encourage you to back off and stop overblowing so you don't get used to playing with the added pressure and resistance. _________________ Bb Yamaha Xeno 8335IIS
Cornet Getzen Custom 3850S
Flugelhorn Courtois 155R
Piccolo Stomvi
Joined: 13 Jun 2016 Posts: 569 Location: San Jose, CA
Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2017 5:39 pm Post subject:
JoseLindE4 wrote:
Find another place to practice where you can play open: the park, your car, the local college, a nearby church, a parking garage, on a boat in the middle of a lake, you get the idea. There's almost always somewhere that you can play open.
Or make friends with your neighbors.
Or ignore them and continue to play.
There's a possibly fictional story about a New York City trumpet player practicing in his apartment. A neighbor knocks on the door and asks, "do you have to be doing that?" The trumpet player says, "yes," and closes the door.
The mute can help in a pinch, but not for regular practice. Even the Phil Smith cave is better.
Seriously this. My local college has practice rooms I can sneak into, the parks are fine, just put your case out and you'll suck but so to tons of buskers, and you might get lunch money out of it. _________________ Yamaha 8335LA with Blessing 3C, 5C, Schilke 11A4A
Joined: 23 Sep 2006 Posts: 3597 Location: New York
Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2017 7:05 pm Post subject:
make friends with someone who has a car. it is surprisingly comfortable to practice in a car or truck, and you don't bother people on the street. it makes a great practice room. ask around at church or school as there may be rooms there as well.
so sorry about your father. keep your music going in his honor. he will be listening in.
make friends with someone who has a car. it is surprisingly comfortable to practice in a car or truck, and you don't bother people on the street. it makes a great practice room. ask around at church or school as there may be rooms there as well.
so sorry about your father. keep your music going in his honor. he will be listening in.
yea a car might me a good option. And sadly i now live in such a smal town that there is no college, nor even the high school here have "music department", so yea.. hehe _________________ A 21 year old glassblowing student, that have just pick up and wants to learn to play the trumpet.
Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2017 4:23 am Post subject: Re: Tips for a beginner who's not allowed to play in his apt
Myrup wrote:
Hi, Im a 21 year old glassblowing student from Sweden, and i really really wants to play the trumpet. But my quite big problem is that I'm not allowed to play in my small apartment.
My history with music is that i played saxophone for some years between 5th and 8th grade, but other school work came in the way and i had to quit. Then later after my father past away in my last year of highschool i wanted to pick up some music again, to make me feel better. And i bought a trumpet, and begin on a music school for ca. 8 months, but i had to leave that to, because you weren't allowed there after you finished highschool. And now some year later i really really miss the music, and do what to pick it up again. But as i said I'm not allowed to play in my apartment. I have tried a few times, but after 10 minutes of playing i hear the neighbors knocking on the walls.
So earlier this week i bought a Yamaha silent brass. I've heard that it would might be harder to take notes properly with it, but i hoped that i could do it. But it was a lot harder then i thought. So far I'm really just trying to become comfortable with the lower notes, like low C D E F and G. And without the mute they sound somewhat ok, maybe not like a real trumpet player, but passable i think. But as soon as i put on the mute the tones sound very off, very "buzzy" and not at all like a trumpet tone, just like I'm buzzing my lips without a trumpet. Like the C just sound like a bad fart sound (hehe).
So I'm wondering if anybody have some tips for me. What am i doing wrong?? And how should i do to make the notes sound more like actual clear trumpet tones?? And lastly do you think its possible for me to learn to play with the silent brass?? or is it anything else i can do? or should i just forget about my dream to play jazz?
I´ve been using a version of the Yamaha Silent brass many years now and I must say that I find it very convenient. Occasionally, wife being outdoor, no Silent brass - just fine with a clear feedback. But really, I do not find any big problems using it. Very seldom with the earphones. Of course there is a certain resistance, might result in overblowing/too much pressure, tiring - so it must be negotiated in some way.
On the other hand I have ample time to evaluate the result of my 3 times a day practising since I play regularly in one brassband and two big bands.
But a more significant variable: I´ve been blowing since the dawn of recorded history , even subjected myself to 18 lessons couple of years ago. Meaning: in all due modesty saying that prior to my using the Silent brass I had conquered, at least sort of, and to some extent, the art of blowing.
So: I would absolutely recommend you to take lessons; using the Silent brass without sufficient knowledge of how to build a good embouchure you may go astray! And that would be a shame since you have that dream, necessary for the attainment of excellence! Pursue it, but make the steps less treacherous by the help of a qualified teacher! _________________ Cornets:
Getzen Custom Series Schilke 143D3/ DW Ultra 1,5 C
Getzen 300 series
Yamaha YCRD2330II
Yamaha YCR6330II
Getzen Eterna Eb
Trumpets:
Yamaha 6335 RC Schilke 14B
King Super 20 Symphony DB (1970)
Selmer Eb/D trumpet (1974)
Make a pillow box and play in to it. Keep some distance out from the end of your bell and you'll be fine. If you want you can put a cheap mic in the pillow box and run it through headphones into a headset. Do it right and you get a very quiet situation that doesn't affect the playability of the trumpet.
You just have to contain the sound waves so they don't immediately impact and reverberate through your apartment.
Joined: 13 Jun 2016 Posts: 569 Location: San Jose, CA
Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2017 10:30 pm Post subject:
This is my own 2c but bear with me:
Take your mouthpiece alone, and hold it in a folded paper towel, washcloth, something. Don't let the paper towel, washcloth etc close off the end, leave a little gap. Buzz.
Buzz while watching moves on YouTube, buzz along with songs, buzz a happy tune, just buzz, buzz, buzz. Clark Terry's supposedly a master mouthpiece buzzer, and you could do a whole lot worse than get to be a virtuoso like him.
At first you will not have lots of range. But just put on a movie and buzz, it's the best way to put in lots of time buzzing without it feeling like hard work, and over time, and I think this is beneficial toward playing the actual trumpet.
As a glassblower you will have developed a glassblowers embouchure which is radically different to a trumpeters embouchure, you will have to blow strongly into a tube with huge power and pursed lips to do your work.
This will I suspect lead you to blow much more forcefully than most people are capable of without realising it, and overblowing will I think be your natural tendency and your nemesis.
Overblowing is likely to be the problem as correctly identified already and will be very natural to you and this means you have unique needs and more than anyone else it is critically important that somebody knowledgeable looks at what you are doing in forming your embouchure and blowing.
The sooner you see a teacher the better,because right now you have to build good habits and not do what feels right.
I hear from people all the time who wish to play or practice trumpet, but who have set up a wide range of barriers and issues that somehow prevent them from doing so. I always tell them to make the trumpet a priority in your day. It is not something that will take a back seat to a wide range of other activities that must be more meaningful to the person. The trumpet demands the front seat, and pretty much all of the front seat in one's life. Accomplished players know that they have gotten pretty creative and have found numerous ways and means to enable them to practice the trumpet. The beginner still has a life that is not accustomed to the reality that playing the trumpet well will require that they set aside many other things that at this moment are important to them. There can be a balance, sure, but remember that the trumpet will take the lions share of that balance for a long time.
Newer Silent Brass
http://usa.yamaha.com/products/musical-instruments/winds/silentbrass/ _________________ "I'm an engineer, which means I think I know a whole bunch of stuff I really don't."
Charles J Heiden/So Cal
Bach Strad 180ML43*/43 Bb/Yamaha 731 Flugel/Benge 1X C/Kanstul 920 Picc/Conn 80A Cornet
Bach 3C rim on 1.5C underpart
To make meaningful progress you have to find a place to play the horn without a mute. _________________ Getzen Eterna Severinsen
King Silver Flair
Besson 1000
Bundy
Chinese C
Getzen Eterna Bb/A piccolo
Chinese Rotary Bb/A piccolo
Glass blowers and high note trumpet players both prone to getting stretched larnyx's. An interesting combination.
I ditto the Yamaha Silent Brass equipmentm excellent equipment. A tool which no doubt has practical applications for in concert work too. Like how many of us kinda sweat coming in on an A natural first ledger line but played softly and exposed?
With the silent brass you could play the tone several times unamplyfied before it needed to be played. Just to reassure yourself of where the note was. To assure a perfect entrance, without clams. Once finding the note? Just turn the volume on and play the note in time.
Lastly, If you really want to improve swiftly? Set yourself up with at least 3 rehearsal groups per week.
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, even subjected myself to 18 lessons couple of years ago. Meaning: in all due modesty saying that prior to my using the Silent brass I had conquered, at least sort of, and to some extent, the art of blowing.
