Using the Pipe to Improve K Articulation

[Derek Reaban]

This seems like the right place for this post.

We are playing Pops Hoedown with my Wind Ensemble in several weeks, and I am covering the lead book. The tempo is between 120 and 140 depending on where the ensemble feels most comfortable and the 8 bar solo after the percussion feature literally flies! In a suggestion that I read, I believe from PH, I have been incorporating some “K” tonguing on the mouthpiece/leadpipe combination during my evening commute from work to home. The results have been nothing short of astounding!

At my lesson on Monday, I played through the Hoedown solo for my instructor, and he asked me to mix up the T and K syllables. Then he asked my to just play through it with K tongue. He was amazed at the clarity that I am able to achieve, and how identical my K is to my T.

While my speed is still a little slow, I know that with just a little work it will easily be ready for the concert.

One of the players in the section asked me about how I achieve such great clarity. I showed him what I have been doing on the pipe, and then I demonstrated to him what I am listening for in the sound. I used to “K” tongue, which ended up generating a cloudy, dull, unfocused sound because the syllable was so far back in my mouth. I read about moving the syllable forward, and applying a “Que” to increase the clarity and focus. If you say Kah, Gah, Que extremely slowly and feel the position where the tongue touches the roof of the mouth it is very apparent how much more forward the Que is than the Kah.

Well, I demonstrated this Kah versus Que tongue on the pipe for my friend in the section, and it was like the light just went off for him. It was night and day between the cloudy, dull sound from the "Kah" and the clear, vibrant sound from the "Que". He drives a truck for UPS, and he said that he has a lot of down time. I told him that spending some time cultivating this sound and placement is what has allowed me to gain the clarity in my “K” tongue.

Then I told him about the Gekker/Clarke one-minute articulation drill (1 minute for T and 1 minute for K) and that I have been doing this for over 6 months (to improve both speed and clarity). Once I “discovered” the sound that I needed to be striving for with the Que syllable on the mouthpiece/leadpipe combination everything finally clicked for me.

I would say Bill Adam scored big points for me in this slight alteration of playing the pipe!


_________________
Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona

[ This Message was edited by: derek reaban on 2004-01-28 13:43 ]

[robert_white]

Umm... actually....

http://www.trumpetherald.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=3679&forum=19

Sounds like your experiment has worked for you, though, Derek. I wouldn't worry too much about whether it's "accepted" or not. Suffice it to say, though, that playing "K" on the leadpipe was probably not Mr. Adam's idea.

[Derek Reaban]

Bob,

Thanks for the link! It's very interesting how similar the "Que" syllable and the "Goo" syllable are from a placement and mouth shape perspective.

The reason that I was so intrigued about stumbling into this exercise, was the way in which it allowed me to tranform a problem area in my playing so quickly. Most importantly, this approach was foremost, sound based. I clearly heard that my sound was much more vibrant when I moved to the "Que" articulation. However, I needed to experience the differences between the Kah and Que sounds on the mouthpiece/leadpipe combination to fully understand how far my "Kah" articulation was from my single tongue sound.

To me, the original suggestion of the more forward "Que" syllable made intellectual sense,
but it took experiencing the difference by comparing both articulations on the pipe. Then carrying this strong sound model over to the horn brought everything together for me.

While the link that you provided clearly shows that this is not an Adam technique, the way that I generalize it, it could be. Even though I am not a teacher, I would bet that demonstrating this to a student and having them copy the sound on the pipe (along with the intellectual understanding of more forward tongue placement) would almost immediately take a non-functional K tongue and bring it much closer to a clear and vibrant sound (or at least closer to the T articulation).

Thanks again.
_________________
Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe Winds / Symphony of the Southwest

[pair of kings]

I have to say that I posted this idea before and it does work. (My post wasn't very convincing)

now can you tell me about the leadpipe you use in the car? is it attached - or you have a separate pipe??


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Posted: 2002-08-28 13:07

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does anyone ever use Que for ku? to help bring the k up front?
George Rabbai gave me that tip - and do find it helpful for students especially when working the k alone or multiple tongue at slower speeds.

http://www.trumpetherald.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=4049&forum=2

[PH]

I actually use an old A pipe from my Getzen picc. I know others that use the pipe from old Bb trumpets that die.

[Derek Reaban]

pair of kings,

I received the idea to use the Que syllable from Jeanne Pocius on the TPIN list. She is a player/teacher in the Boston area. Combining her idea with the pipe helped me to bring the concept into actual practice for me (via the sound model). When there are good ideas out there, and I happen to stumble across one, I certainly like to share it!

Additionally, Pat's idea about doing articulation drills in the car (instead of mouthpiece or lip buzzing), has proved to be EXTREMELY beneficial to my playing.

As far as the pipe that I use in the car, I'm in the same situation as Pat. I have an old pipe from a C trumpet, and I carry that with me in my vehicle. When traffic is at a standstill, or when I'm at a traffic signal, I can do a good amount of buzzing / articulation. For me, this additional focused time on an area that can use improvement has made all of the difference in the world.

Sounds like we're coming at this idea from the same direction!


Take care,
_________________
Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe Winds / Symphony of the Southwest

[HorneyMikey]

I also use an old A pipe in my car. I must admit, it does get it share of attention. One time last summer I was sitting at a red light, buzzing the pipe. I happened to look over, and there is a cop in his car, giving me the strangest look. I rolled down my window and explained to him what I was doing, lest he think I was using a different kind of "pipe"

Mike