I've never personally known a trumpet player to benefit from playing with puffed cheeks.
That is because you never met me, of course
People that visit this forum might know me as a BE advocate, but the benefits of the cheek puff were installed on me many years before the BE book came out.
When I was 22 and a fourth year conservatory student, my embouchure was totally wrecked. I was clenching my teeth and sounding very bad and I had no way to get rid of this, until my new teacher told me to blow my cheeks and bring them back in, and again blow them and back in again. Within a week my teeth were apart, my tone opened up and a lot of my problems were over, a slight cheek puff stayed.
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And I'd certainly never recommend it to a beginner
I've done it several times, and I don't regret it, and I know I will do it everytime if I see that somebody will benefit from it. Most of the time I don't care. A cheek puff can enable the lip muscles to centre easier (dmb's son story!), and eventually it settles into a nice embouchure.
It does more harm to prevent someone from puffing, than the other way around, I am totally with Jeff here.
While reading a Jon Hassell interview, I got to the bottom of this. He imagines that he is playing a conch shell. The official way to play conch is to puff your cheeks out.
Jon Hassell - "Trumpet's a lonely instrument. It's one voice. When I realised I could have a replica of the trumpet playing with me, then it was as though instead of drawing the curves with one pencil I could hold a handful of pencils and draw the curves. In trying to make these curves in raga, a very breathy, vocal-type sound resulted. Basically, it's playing the mouthpiece."
Here's a video of a guy explaining conch shell playing:
While reading a Jon Hassell interview, I got to the bottom of this. He imagines that he is playing a conch shell. The official way to play conch is to puff your cheeks out.
The official way to play a conch?????
I don't think Steve Turre does a lot of puffing here.
Joined: 03 Nov 2007 Posts: 7 Location: Overland Park, KS
Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 2:59 pm Post subject: Puff Your Cheeks Out
Ghitalla taught us how to let air into the cheeks to help open up and liven the sound. I could not do it at first without the pitch dropping and wasn't sure I wanted to. After a while I could, heard the improvement and became a believer. For me I can play with less tension and a more centered and fuller sound. About 20 years ago Tim Morrison showed me how he lets the upper lip fill up with air. Again, I had great difficulty doing it. After a while I could and have been converted. I use both methods daily and with my students. _________________ Brian Rood
Trumpet, Kansas City Symphony
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