My Lesson With Clint McLaughlin - August, 1999

[Lex Grantham]

I realize that this post relates to a lesson that I had with Clint "Pops" McLaughlin in August, 1999...almost 2 years and 8 months ago. But I have been asked if I would post my experience so that others may know about it. This was a few months before I became involved with SuperChops or even knew about a Balanced Embouchure by Jeff Smiley.

I started to write to Clint McLaughlin about 1998. I had seen some things he had written giving advice to players over the Internet. I sent for his "Trumpet From A to Z" book and read it a couple of times. It has a lot of information about methodologies, equipment, etc.

For a few months, periodically, I would write to ask him some questions, and he would reply a couple or so days later. Then over a few weeks, I sent about 3 or 4 tapes of my playing (plus a monetary fee) for him to evaluate the tapes. He would then write and give me some suggestions. That was nothing, however, like a face-to-face encounter would have been. At that time, he was living near Fayetteville, Arkansas. I had hoped if the opportunity could present itself, I might go up there some Saturday for a lesson. It was about 300 miles from my home in East Texas. But that did not ever happen.

Then in the summer of 1999, he moved to Desoto, Texas...a small community about 15 miles or so south of Dallas. It was then that I planned a lesson with him. His home is only just over 2 hours drive from my home.

When I arrived at his house one Thursday evening in August, 1999, I expected to see a man of about 55 years or so ("Pops"???). To my surprise, he was only in his early 40s. I still do not know the origin of his nickname "Pops". I failed to ask him. I came to find out that he had been born in Tyler, Texas (only about 45 miles from my home in East Texas), so this was his home state...even though he spent time in Arkansas.

Some of the things I found out from him:

1) He has experience in Maggio, Farkas, SC, and Costello-Stevens (his favorite) embouchure techniques. However, his Costello-Stevens and SC are both NOT like the original ideas that came from the innovators. His ideas apparently work, but he does deviate from what a clinical approach would be. For example, Jerry Callet talks about tonguing behind the upper lip (against the top of the tongue). Clint says to tongue behind the upper teeth. That cannot be true SC. And with Costello-Stevens, one is supposed to overlap both the upper and lower teeth with the respective lips. Clint said to "slightly" curl the lips inward...in FRONT of the teeth...again, a deviation from the original ideas. But he has had success with his concepts.

2) He stressed keeping the lips together for playing. Bill Mirrielees (a frequent poster on the TH and personal friend) took an all-day lesson from Clint about a year and a half ago , and Bill was playing with so much closer lip contact than he ever had that the sounds he was making sounded like ducks passing wind (his very words at the time). I think the effort has paid off for him.

3) Clint suggested to me that when the player has a piece (or exercise to play), find the note in each phrase that can be determined to be about the center of range range for that passage. Think of setting the embouchure for that note when playing...then all notes higher would result in more lip compression...all lower notes would be relaxed from the central pitch. He got that idea from Don Jacoby when he was a student years before. Jacoby had said a player should set his embouchure initially to be able to play G on top the staff...then compress going up and relax going down from that vantage point. It is two octaves down to G below low C and ONLY (whew!) an octave to the G above high C. Nice thinking but not as easy as it may have been intended. I think he was attempting to keep players from literally freezing (choking up) when getting higher than they were used to going...psychologically...an attempt to make things seem easier for the student.

4) I had three mouthpieces with me when I had my lesson...a Jet-Tone Leon Merian C, a Bach 5C, and a Schilke 20d2d. To Clint, ANY of them was fine. He felt that with the proper lip compression, they would ALL work. I chose to play my lesson on the Leon Merian piece. I was able to "squeak" out a G above high C. but more time with Clint may have helped. I think I was primed for his lesson that day and very interested in this fine gentleman, teacher, and player.

I did not get as thorough a lesson as Bill's all-day session, as I only went for an hour lesson that turned into an hour and a half. I was grateful for that. And a student can only learn so much without being overwhelmed at once. After all, I still had to go back home and attempt to use what he had told me. I left feeling very good about our session together. He did offer the following points of concern:

1) Recommended 50/50 mouthpiece placement (top and bottom) but can be to one side a bit. BUT use moderation in doing so.

2) If you arch the tongue, instead of using "eeee" for higher notes, try "aaaa".

3) Also, pivoting your horn while playing is a definite aid to correct use of lips against the mouthpiece.

4) Some suggestions:

...a) Practice what you CANNOT play.

...b) Play legato songs to learn to sing the music. March style is easy. Legato often suffers.

...c) Light, soft, smooth, and connected tonguing.

...d) Sightreading is a skill very important to learn to do.

...e) Work on transposition.

...f) If one is a comeback player, start out on a Schilke 12 mouthpiece...then later one can go to another size for whatever the end result to be desired.

5) Quality trumpet recommendations (well, I do have a Callet Jazz and used to own a Calicchio...great instruments)

...a) Calicchio

...b) Callet

...c) Kanstul

...d) Monette (if one has the $$$)

...e) Schilke

6) Tone needs:

...a) Air

...b) Alert mind

...c) Ears

...d) Close aperture to prevent airy sound

...e) Practice

7) Endurance needs:

...a) Air and economy of abdominal pressure

...b) Closed embouchure setting

...c) Lip cushion with entire embouchure forward toward the mouthpiece

...d) Lips should not be pressured by mouthpiece.

...e) Play 3-5 times a day...with 20-40 minutes each session

Range needs:

...Use of Concone studies (or similar things) for improving this area.

I hope this post has provided some information as to Clint McLaughlin and his ideas regarding trumpet playing.

Ah, yes...he did play a few notes for me...Double C was NO problem for him...and even a bit higher. Surely looked and sounded easy for him!

Thank you for your interest.

Sincerely,

Lex Grantham


[ This Message was edited by: Lex Grantham on 2002-03-30 20:14 ]

[_Don Herman]

Thanks for the post, Lex. I've emailed Clint a few times, and he's always been gracious and very helpful. I've always felt he goes a bit too far in giving away material, but I may not have known had I not bought all his books. As a point of interest, he tried a WT and loved it -- see his testimony on Flip's site. Best horn he's ever played, or something like that. It tends to support my hypothesis that a closed lip setting favors a wide open horn.

Thanks again, Lex -- I'll duck out now before this thread degenerates! - Don
_________________
Don Herman/Monument, CO
"After silence, that which best expresses the inexpressible, is music." - Aldous Huxley

[Emb_Enh]

From Clint Pops McLaughlin.......

Lex;
Thanks for the review. I remember you and probably owe you a free
lesson. It was only a few weeks after your lesson that I collapsed and
was put in the Hospital for my heart. Now that I'm on medication things
are substantially different.


I all but refuse to work on embouchure during a one hour lesson. There
had better be an emergency reason for it. So those one hour lessons turn
into air, support, lip set point.... concepts that can be fully grasped
in the lesson time.


I had a 3 full day session (last week) with a gentleman who over the
past 4 years has taken many lessons with Callet. He went through 2
embouchure changes as Jerry made some changes to SC during this time.
Due to the fact that his lessons were short and there was time (months)
between them; each lesson contained correction time. The bad habits
formed by guessing what a new embouchure should feel like had to be
corrected. He never stayed long enough at a time to get comfortable with
the embouchure.



When he got here it took between 45 seconds and a minute of embouchure
fussing before he could play. Every time he put the horn to his face.
Not very natural.


That is why 90% of my lessons are multiple days. So the feel can be
ingrained and the student never forgets it.


A guy on TPIN did 6 embouchure changes in 2 years. If you want to really
improve you have to put TIME into an embouchure.

There is a honeymoon period where you obtain rapid progress and then the
speed at which you improve declines sharply. There are many embouchure
junkies who think that this means they picked the wrong embouchure so
they change.

I've seen it too many times. They take a (one) lesson from someone and
if it didn't turn them into a pro then they go in a different direction
and take a lesson from someone with a completely different viewpoint. I
can think of several who you might recognize from TPIN as having done
this. And in their posts they still say they are confused and have many
playing problems. Had these people taken 3 lessons from an average
teacher they would be better off than 3 lessons from 3 great teachers
with conflicting ideas.

A good friend of mine studied with Jake for 6 months. He made MORE
improvement than he had made in 4 years of HS and 2 years of College.
So what did he do during his summer vacation? He went to NYC and changed
his embouchure. And he ended up back where he started. All of that time
and improvement was wasted. It is 25 years later now and he has NEVER
gotten back what he lost.


You mentioned A-Z. 90% of that book was written in the 70's (a college
thesis) and I did play Stevens then. FAQ's and AIR are my embouchure
books. (That is why I sell them as a set.)


I play and teach 6 embouchure concepts Lip Buzzing (my favorite), Farkas
Closed aperture, Stevens, Farkas open aperture, SC and Maggio.


I teach based on the students' physical traits and not based on any one
book or system. I have found that because our muscles are attached at
slightly different places or angles and because our teeth and jaw are
formed differently; that we actually need to use different kinds of
compression. There are things that one person can do easily that another
can not do at all. So to fine tune your embouchure I have to find out
what works for YOU.

It sometimes takes an hour or so to get completely connected with how
your embouchure responds. Then I can really help you fine tune it. (I
try to fine tune existing embouchures to play 3+ octaves all day. I only
change embouchures if the old one doesn't work at all. )


As we develop as players we are often given challenges that we are not
ready for. This leads to short cuts and bad habits. (Multiple
embouchures, pressure....)


Even taking time off will NOT break the habits. Habits are ingrained and
will comeback.


You have to fix the need for the bad habit and then break the habit over
and over and over.


That is why I do all day long lessons. I teach you the right way (for
you) and then spend time helping you to break the habit. You have to be
pushed until you are dead tired and then I have to NOT allow you to
cheat. A second or third day helps dramatically in allowing you to use
your new techniques in your everyday playing.


This approach is extremely effective. Embouchure changes can even be
completed in a few days.


Many people think I only fix embouchure problems or teach range. Mainly
because I can accomplish those tasks in an astonishingly short amount of
time. However; I teach trumpet playing. That encompasses a great many
skills.


Perhaps the biggest problem that most people have is they have
conditioned themselves to believe that they CAN'T do certain things on
the trumpet. Teaching airflow, compression, aperture control are almost
worthless until the student stops believing that it is impossible for
them to do it. (This is almost not possible to do on your own, After all
you are the one who set your limits.) I teach students how to build
themselves up and how to take down the mental brick wall of playing
limitations. For some students that is the most important thing I do.

Information about my trumpet & embouchure books.
http://www.BbTrumpet.com

Best wishes
Clint 'Pops' McLaughlin

[SHS_Trumpet]

I have to agree with everything said here. Since I live in Fort Worth I was able to take a lesson on my all-state music with pops. I think in my hour or so with pops I got more than two years of weekly lessons with my two other teachers. I must recommend anyone who hasn't met or talked with him to do so.

PS I actually had my lesson planed originally just to play his Wild Thing. I had to after reading his reviews.
_________________
Andrew Fowler
MYNWA
"90% of trumpet music is below high C"

[herchian]

Thanks for the post Lex. I was going to ask if anyone would recommend getting The no Nonsense trumpet from A-Z. I have seen the synopsis of it on Clint's web site. I'll be placing an order this week.

Thanks,
Gary Herchian

[Max Reverb]

So this stuff is worth checking out, huh? $50 for all the material seems pretty reasonable. Is it user friendly, or do you need alot of interpretation like say Caruso for instance? I've been doing research on his material, been to his site, checked out opinions on OJ's site. Adding an octave after 8 exhausting hours of practice,(in his masterclass) when never having it before is flat out remarkable and somewhat of a stretch for a skeptic like me. Wondering all your wonderful thoughts and opinion!!!

BTW, here is an ignorant question. Is he still OK for consultations. I read that he has a heart condition and in the late 90's was not very well.

[jgadvert]

Pops books are comprehensive, non biased, sensable and a well written quick read. Worth every nickel as far as I'm concerned.

He discusses so many topics in such a short amount of reading time.

[dales]

_The No Nonsense Trumpet From A to Z_ is interesting and informative but poorly written. To a serious trumpet student it's worth it, but he makes you work hard to understand what he's saying.

[pfrank]