An isometric exercise you may find very helpful.

[Lionel]

Note: What follows is something that works very well for me. I do concede however that there are plenty of trumpet players who have developed good high notes without using any exercises to strengthen their embouchure at all. So this post is not for them.

This is one of the matters which makes learning the trumpet, particularly high notes so fascinating. The different ways some cats do it.

Some like pedal tones. Others like Doc Reinhardt forbid their students from practicing pedals. Ditto Roy Stevens who once told me in a letter "I do not condone playing pedals or any kind of note which distorts the embouchure". He further went on to describe pedal tones as "notes made by taking the mouthpiece partially off the mouthpiece". And he forbid his students ftom using them too. Meanwhile Arturo Sandoval plays pedals so well that I automatically drop my jaw when I see him play them on videos. He's truly an amazing fellow.

Anyway I didnt mean to digress but did want to explain that I realize that some ideas work well for some people. And sometimes they don't. The following one definitely works well FOR ME. And this is why I'm explaining it here. So I hope you'll find it useful. To me it was a godsend. Nearly as important as my mouthpiece. Here goes!

We're all familiar with the "Pencil Exercise" right? This is the one where a trumpet player takes an unsharpened pencil and places it between his lips but not between his teeth. Using the facial muscles and embouchure alone you keep the pencil held outwards at a very slight angle above 90° out from his face. Or if standing the pencil lays slightly above a line parallel to the floor. I'm certain that other, perhaps better explanations of the pencil exercise exist elsewhere upon the internet. At any rate the reason I explain it here is because my way of performing the same exercise is an adaptation of this method. Which I will explain in a moment.

My only problem with the pencil exercise was that it didnt go as far as I wanted or needed. Surely it helped my endurance. Ditto it lreduced some of my need for arm pressure. Yes plenty of what the pencil ecercised advocated truly delivered on the promise. I got more endurance on my high notes. That and the need for excessive arm pressure for most charts. Problem was?

It just didn't go far enough. Granted I had improved my upper register. That and by putting the full playing load on my facial muscles instead of just my poor lip? It was definitely a major plus. But? I just wasnt playing as high as I wanted to. In fact I did get to the point where I could pretty much hold the pencil between my lips all the way from Columbus to Cinncinnati. Pausing only for gas and food/beverage.

But I still wasnt getting enough. What to do? Well the new mouthpiece I designed just about two years ago to this very day? It too was a godsend as well but I needed more. Had to get more dog gone it... What did I need???

Being a person who likes to use logic and physics I studied the matter carefully. I'll spare you those details for now in the interest of brevity but if you want a lengthy explanation? Please write me via p/m. To request more details.

Anyway I reasoned that since a pencil held between closed lips increased my embouchure strength and in turned boosted my usable range/endurance? WHAT ABOUT USING 2 PENCILS??

I might add that I didnt use two pencils side by side in my mouth but two pencils taped together end to end. Folks this is a tremendously strenuous exercize. I would guess that most of you wont be able to sustain two pencils taped together at first. Not even for ten seconds... That you may choose to tape half a pencil to your primary pencil. And take your time! This develops an incredibly strong set of chops. By patiently taking your time this ecercise will allow you to bring your chops into a category of strength similar to that of which your hands tend to hold.

"Chops like STEELman"! NLol.

I remember an old friend and Caruso student who once told me that Caruso had said to him,

"If you needed your lips to walk? You would always be able to play high notes"

And from my experience he was 100% correct. However be advised that what Ive proposed above is not a Caruso routine. Instead its an idea of my own invention.

And again I anticipate that some trumpet players wont like this exercise. I have noticed that some outstanding high note players definitely use very little muscle strength when they blow high notes. Often they compensate by using a dry lip embouchure. Somehow and in a way that is a little tricky to explain and takes too long to describe these fortunate trumpet players can utilize a dry lip setting which can compensate for many hours of oractice time. I have seen them do this with my own eyes and ears. Cats who can lay off the horn all winter and spring. Then pull the trumpet out of the case in June and hit monster double C's. There's got to be a logical reason for this guys! I am telling you that the secret to blowing high notes is explainable in physics. The methods may be different between one trumpet player to the next but the answers are there. More on that in a second.

I might add that I didnt learn to hold two pencils in between my lips for two minutes overnight. Instead it took me a full three months to get the two pencils to stay without slipping for 70 seconds. Or a minute and 10 seconds that is.. The full two minutes took longer. In fact this is where I am now.

Some days I can hold a pair of pencils end to end forc2 minutes fairly easily. Other days? I struggle to make 90 seconds. Or a mere minute and a half. But each additional ten seconds which I can sustain the pencils? Results in more endurance on thise notes between high A and double C. It works! It really does!!!

And it cant do you any harm. As always however,

Do not over do this exercise.
It is not a warm up and should never be done before a gig!
Has no practical value on a gig excrpt to tire you out.
Patience, patience, PATIENCE!

Further?

Write down how often you do this exercise. I would not perform this exercise more than twice a week at first. Weight lifters get advice to practice heavy weights one day and light the next. Heavy, light, heavy the third day light the fourth etc.

Some weight lifters go,
Heavy, light, light &
Heavy, light, light!.

Resting is more important than the exercise.

Other benefits,

Mouthpiece or rather arm pressure can be radically reduced with this practice. As the outer embouchure muscles pick up the slack which your "strong arm" technique" used to employ.

While I've not had a chance to employ this idea with a dry lip trumpet player it is my guess that such exercise may allow a dry lip high note player to play his whole register on wet lips instead of dry.

Wet lips are always preferable if a trumpet player can use them. Those who play dry ought to ocassionally blow wet too. While a dry lip player can sometimes get an enviable upper register the damage which his chops can sustain may be dreadful. Louis Armstrong and Bill Chase where two examples of men who played dry but sustained brutal injuries to their chops.

Good luck y'all and remember,

"Take what ya want and leave the rest"

Or,

"Leave the gun, take the cannoli"...
_________________
"Check me if I'm wrong Sandy but if I kill all the golfers they're gonna lock me up & throw away the key"!

Carl Spackler (aka Bill Murray, 1980).

[GeorgeB]

Another gem from the great Lionel.

I've been doing the pencil thing for 5 minutes every evening after I am done playing for the day ever since my comeback last spring. But I avoid it if I have playing that evening. I believe it helps and now I will give the 2 pencil thing a go. I will also heed your advice on how long I should do it.

Thanks, Lionel.
_________________
GeorgeB
1960s King Super 20 Silversonic
2016 Manchester Brass Custom
1938-39 Olds Recording
1942 Buescher 400 Bb trumpet
1952 Selmer Paris 21 B
1999 Conn Vintage One B flat trumpet
2020 Getzen 490 Bb
1962 Conn Victor 5A cornet

[Lionel]

[GeorgeB]

Thanks for passing on your knowledge, Lionel.
_________________
GeorgeB
1960s King Super 20 Silversonic
2016 Manchester Brass Custom
1938-39 Olds Recording
1942 Buescher 400 Bb trumpet
1952 Selmer Paris 21 B
1999 Conn Vintage One B flat trumpet
2020 Getzen 490 Bb
1962 Conn Victor 5A cornet

[GeorgeB]

If anyone out there is wondering about the 2 pencil thing Lionel has described, let me just say that it is not easy.
I have had two tries at it now and the first time I was counting and thought I had done it for 30 seconds, but the second time I used a stop watch and the best I could do was 19 seconds before the pencil dropped.
I have been doing the single pencil exercise for over a year and felt it did help the strength of my embouchure. I was doing it for 10 minutes but cut back to 5 because the other 5 wasn't necessary. But using 2 pencils taped end to end is a whole different ball game.
But as Lionel said, don't over do it at first. So what I do is tackle the 2 pencil thing one day and go back to the 1 pencil thing the next day. I doubt if will ever get to 2 minutes with 2 pencils like Lionel but I am shooting for 60 seconds.
_________________
GeorgeB
1960s King Super 20 Silversonic
2016 Manchester Brass Custom
1938-39 Olds Recording
1942 Buescher 400 Bb trumpet
1952 Selmer Paris 21 B
1999 Conn Vintage One B flat trumpet
2020 Getzen 490 Bb
1962 Conn Victor 5A cornet

[Trumpetingbynurture]

Hey Lionel,

Instead of two pencils just close your teeth. If you have any sort of overbite, close them like that and try to get the pencil straight out. It makes it a heck of a lot harder if you take the Jaw-thrust out of the equation.
Then same thing, but with the front teeth together. This one will be easier than full overbite, but no where near as easy as you're probably used to if you're letting your lower jaw jut forward. The jaw position takes a lot of the work out of it, with the teeth closed, you end up really just working on the lip muscles.

FWIW this is the way Pops talks about the pencil exercise (Closed teeth)

[Lionel]

[GeorgeB]

I am doing the 2-pencil exercise every other day and I have a long way to go to get above the 19-20 seconds I am managing now. It is hard. But if it was easy it wouldn't be worthwhile, would it. I am definitely going to stick with it.
_________________
GeorgeB
1960s King Super 20 Silversonic
2016 Manchester Brass Custom
1938-39 Olds Recording
1942 Buescher 400 Bb trumpet
1952 Selmer Paris 21 B
1999 Conn Vintage One B flat trumpet
2020 Getzen 490 Bb
1962 Conn Victor 5A cornet

[ljazztrm]

Lionel - I always had very good success doing the pencil exercise exactly the way Pops describes it in his book, 'Chops Builder'. I haven't done the pencil exercise in quite awhile because I've been following Lynn Nicholson's MF Protocol, and he's always talking about very relaxed chops and very little muscle needing to come into play. But, in just checking things out, I tried the pencil exercise again to see if I lost chop strength from not doing it. What I found was that I could do it easier than ever. I then remembered Pops saying doing the pencil exercise strengthens the exact muscles that need to be strengthened and lets all the other ones relax. If you watch Pops' thermal imaging studies of players who are playing well into the upper register, there is not a lot of muscle activity and it's only relegated to a few muscles. Whereas, players who are less developed and have trouble ascending into the extreme register, show use of way more chop muscles.

My theory is that the unfurled rim buzzing I'm doing that Lynn recommends does work those few muscles that are needed to play well into the extreme register while training the body/air/tongue to come much more into play while also training other muscles in the embouchure that may usually be used to play, to relax. All the best, Lex
_________________
Mpcs: Jim New-Manley Jazz1/Jazz2/Jazz4/Lead3. Legends MF1. Reeves 39EX/HV. Frost 39MVD. Flugel: Jim NewMF3. Jim New-Manley F1+F2. Pickett MF. Reeves HF.
Trumpets: THE LYNNZHORN!!/Stomvi Forte pocket
Flugel: Manchester Brass Pro Model
Www.LexSamu.com

[kehaulani]

Lionel, I have a question about that. Wouldn't continued use of this put an uneven balance on the embouchure muscles, that is, more emphasis on the lower muscle in order to keep the two pencils protruded out (and especially upwards)?

In other words, in playing the trumpet/forming the embouchure muscles, don't we strive for evenness with both the upper and lower muscles?

(PS. I suppose some people just like the pastime of reading trumpet material, but for me, I would think the OP could've been written with about a third of the text - for whatever that's worth, LOL)
_________________
"If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." Bird

Yamaha 8310Z Bobby Shew trumpet
Benge 3X Trumpet
Benge 3X Cornet
Adams F-1 Flghn

[Lionel]

[kehaulani]

Thanks, Lionel. I look forward to your post about the exercise #2.

I do question, however, that most high-note players use dry lips. Isn't this contradicted by other name players/coaches who play on wet lips?
_________________
"If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." Bird

Yamaha 8310Z Bobby Shew trumpet
Benge 3X Trumpet
Benge 3X Cornet
Adams F-1 Flghn

[Lionel]

Whoops
Duplicate post
Deleted.
_________________
"Check me if I'm wrong Sandy but if I kill all the golfers they're gonna lock me up & throw away the key"!

Carl Spackler (aka Bill Murray, 1980).

[Lionel]

[aardvark]

[Lionel]

Half the advantage of the double pencil exercise (and really any pencil exercize for that mat
ter) is that it exists as an automatic reference point for measuring how much sheer strength your system has. Both in terms of endurance and range.

Range tends to equate with the total weight you can hold up with just the two lips all alone. Endurance tends to be analogous with how long you can hold the damned thing. Its not a perfect indicator either as someone may hold the double pencil well in between their lips and yet still have some kind of embouchure fault, mechanical quirk or otherwise incorrect movement and not derive a range benefit.

And of course there are trumpet players who play fine high notes and don't practice any isometric or other exercise at all.
_________________
"Check me if I'm wrong Sandy but if I kill all the golfers they're gonna lock me up & throw away the key"!

Carl Spackler (aka Bill Murray, 1980).

[Seymor B Fudd]

Lionel!
Found your post the other day (I do like your posts, so eloquent and perceptive) - decided to test so - taped 2 pencils (130mm long) together, then in between my lips, 90 degrees (=horisontal) - starting to hurt after 30 seconds and tremble a bit after 2 minutes. I could have continued. Teeth not closed, lips a bit drawn in between teeth. Is that the way to do it? Twice a day or?

I´m 74, started to play 1959. Cornet mouthpiece, Wick Ultra 7C, fairly deep, diam 16,25mm. Basic practice routine the BE method since Jan 2016. Today very good endurance but still lacking high register (above Eb/E).
_________________
Cornets: mp 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)

[Lionel]

[Lionel]

An observation I just made a couple minutes ago.

Sometimes when beginning my doubled pencil, end to end routine exercise I notice right at the beginning that nothing feels right. While I can usually hold the doubled pencil for two minutes fairly easily? Sometimes this is not so. Being a person who likes to avoid negative thinking? I will usually stop immediately into the routine. Else that I may end up with a far shorter routine and have it spoil my practice session.

In fact my own chops just may need to warm up prior to beginning the double pencil routine. Yours may not swing so well either. So? I recommend anyone that is trying the pencil exercise to not prejudge themselves if they have a shorter holding pattern than the day before.

Because at least for me, my second time at attempting the exercise each day it works better.

Another matter,

When beginning to do the double pencil exercise I used overlap the erasers with electrical tape. Then insert the ordinary unsharpened end into my chops.

Lately however as I get stronger and the exercise easier? Have switched to taping the two pencils directly end to end. I just put a mere toothpick under the electrical tape. So as to avoid any bending of the taped pencils. Whatever way you do it however is most likely to be a good payoff.
_________________
"Check me if I'm wrong Sandy but if I kill all the golfers they're gonna lock me up & throw away the key"!

Carl Spackler (aka Bill Murray, 1980).

[Seymor B Fudd]