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Blowing Bubbles!


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EricM224
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 3:57 am    Post subject: Blowing Bubbles! Reply with quote

I am curious how people use playing in the "bucket" with their students and themselves. I know I've done it as a visualization of my airstream to make sure I'm really blowing through the thing. I'd like to know when others use this with a student and how you know when it's too much, what to look for and listen to, etc. Thanks as always for everyone's input!!!

Cheers
Eric
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ltkije1966
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 4:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have done it to amuse my kids when they were in the bathtub!
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oxleyk
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 5:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nick D has a video about using soap bubbles on YouTube. It just visualizes how little air you're actually using when you play.

You don't play with the horn in the water--too much resistance that way. Just dip it in the soapy water and get a film over the bell and then play.

Kent
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Billy B
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 6:43 am    Post subject: Re: Blowing Bubbles! Reply with quote

EricM224 wrote:
I am curious how people use playing in the "bucket" with their students and themselves. I know I've done it as a visualization of my airstream to make sure I'm really blowing through the thing. I'd like to know when others use this with a student and how you know when it's too much, what to look for and listen to, etc. Thanks as always for everyone's input!!!

Cheers
Eric


The bucket is a visualization of the air stream. We are making the air visible. So the thought is on the bubbles. Not sound, not feel, but vision. On the subconscious level, this allows for the activation of what Mr. Adam calls the Ki or Chi muscle 2-5 inches below the navel. Some call this our core. Nancy Zi speaks of this in The Art of Breathing. This feeling of centered energy is simply an awareness point and must not be dwelled upon. It is impossible to deliver a steady stream of bubbles while the chest is tense. It can't be over done and everyone should do it several times each week. I remember seeing Jerry Hey just a few years ago playing in the bucket and singing Getchells. It never ends!
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ci189002
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 17, 2009 10:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I use it frequently on the road. I can stop up the sink and get everything centered without disturbing everyone on my floor of the hotel. Then I try to grab a conference room and fire it up. Last time I saw Mr. Adam he reminded me to do this to keep everything energized.

I've also used it with many students to help like Bill says with the visualization of the air stream. It can be beneficial in the sustain and follow through in long tones, the changing of notes in chromatics, scales, and slurs, and also the follow through in articulation. I find young students really grasp it well because it gives them an opportunity to blow bubbles and "my teacher told me to Mom."

When everything is energize and to the fore, the bubbles are more rapid (not playing louder, to the front with presence). That's is what I have my students set up as the goal, fast bubbles. It's amazing the difference it can make.


Chris
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kellymilch
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 17, 2009 10:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ltkije1966 wrote:
I have done it to amuse my kids when they were in the bathtub!
My kids amuse themselves by doing the bubbles in the bathtub thing, but they use "organically generated" bubbles !
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gpollack
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 4:03 pm    Post subject: the bucket Reply with quote

Playing in the bucket is like lifting weights. If you lift weights for a couple weeks, you will notice improvement and more strength developing. However, you have to keep at it to keep up the results. Likewise with playing in the bucket. After a couple weeks of blowing bubbles, you will see some big time results. What I have caught myself do is then stop playing in the bucket once my air is fixed which leads to a big cycle. So, keep up the bubble blowing a few times a week even though you'll be straightened out in a matter of days.
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oxleyk
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 4:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I posted previously not realizing what forum this is.

Is this an actual Adam technique? If so, why?

Kent
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kramergfy
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 9:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Can someone share how this is done? Is it simply playing trumpet with your bell in water?
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Billy B
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 22, 2009 6:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Place the bell 1/2" under water at a slight angle and play a long tone. If the air is energized you will see a constant stream of small bubbles escaping the bell. Play slow ascending chromatic scale and note when the bubbles become irregular. This is the point where you are beginning to muscle the air. Working this regularly will help you keep the air free and energized without the tension and grunting that shuts down the sound.
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kramergfy
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 22, 2009 10:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Got it; thanks Bill!
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trumpity
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 10:26 am    Post subject: Blowing Bubbles-playing flat out Reply with quote

Blowing bubbles really helps in getting the airstream to be horizontal/flat out. Sometimes we tend to play blowing up or down or out of phase with the trumpet which reduces sound, efficency, and creates tension.

Playing bubbles really helps in getting one to play flat out with the correct airstream focus.

Best,

Trumpity
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oxleyk
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 12:54 pm    Post subject: Re: Blowing Bubbles-playing flat out Reply with quote

trumpity wrote:
Blowing bubbles really helps in getting the airstream to be horizontal/flat out.


That's an interesting point. How does this happen? How does one know whether the airstream is flat or some other direction?

Kent
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butxifxnot
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 12:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The ideas of chi and ki are ancient Chinese and Japanese concepts.
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trumpity
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 6:25 pm    Post subject: More bubbles.. Reply with quote

If your airstream is constricted or not flat out, the bubbles are not consistant or rapid in succession; usually when we ascend into the upper register, the tendency is to "think up" which causes us to constrict. When we descend, we usualy let up on our airsream and again the bubbles will dissipate. These tendencies in which we can overcome, is playing out of phase with the trumpet and can cause unwarranted tension. (Mr. Adam can pick up on that aspect and elimiate the tension...its amazing how he does it without any physical connotation attached. All sound orientation!!)

DO NOT think up or down, rather straight across/flat out. You will have to mentally accelerate your air to maintanin the "flatoutness" by mentally yelling that sound to keep the focus.

Singing Getchels using syllables will get you going but it is hard to describe in this form. Billy B. I am sure has talked more in length about that prescription.

Consistant/rapid bubbles is the key no matter where (range-wise) you are playing. Blow through the trumpet not at it!!!
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oxleyk
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 27, 2009 11:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I just spent 20 minutes or so experimenting with this. I think what you refer to as a flat airstream I would call centered tone and it has nothing to do with the direction of the airstream over the lips.

I first experimented with an upward airstream, which is how I typically play. This is physically evident when playing bent over into a bucket of water. When playing high on the pitch, which you call constricted, I noticed the inconsistent bubble stream, sort of like blub, blub, blub, and it's more difficult to play this way. When I played down into the pitch to a more centered tone the bubble stream became steady and more rapid, like the bubbles from a fish tank aerator. It is much easier to play with the steady, rapid bubble stream. My airstream, however, remained upward.

I then played with a downward airstream and noticed the same thing, just with a downward airflow.

Using my mouthpiece and a visualizer I also experimented with adjusting my airstream to go straight ahead, flat, as you call it. In both instances, when my airstream went from up to down, or down to up, when the airstream was in the middle my lip vibration stopped completely. It seems that in my case the flat airstream is not an optimal solution. It's either up or down.

Maybe I don't understand the concept fully but this is what I found. YMMV.

Kent
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trumpity
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 27, 2009 12:09 pm    Post subject: What is flat out Reply with quote

I would simply work on keep the bubbles consist; itf they are consist and rapid, that's the ticket. You tongue should be flat down..say:" raaaa as in raaabit" for a tongure placement comcept.
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amtrumpet
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 6:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

oxleyk, I think I might be able to clear this up a bit. When we say "flat out," we aren't talking about the direction of the airstream or anything like that. This is just an expression for blowing a steady, open, free airstream no matter what we are doing on the horn. When you're blowing flat out, you don't constrict the airflow when you ascend, or "let off the gas" when you descend, or anything else that you have to do musically. The air stays the same. That's what the bubbles help you see. Forget all the stuff about upward or downward; when you played into the bucket and the bubbles were fast and steady, you were doing it right. Hope this helps!
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etc-etc
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 21, 2010 12:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

bump

Great post by BillyB!
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kramergfy
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 21, 2010 10:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I forgot about this gem. Gotta do it tomorrow!
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