Always something to be gained at Roy's Tribute Page

[Lionel]

www.roystevens.org.
I like the video page best. Roy Roman, great player goes into extended detail of the system. Fascinating performance. My favorite however has always been Bill Moriarty's lecture. His is the last one on the video page so scroll way down past all of Roman's films.

In some ways I'm far from the best advocate for the system. As no matter how much I practice I simply can not play a musical tone in the prescribed forward jaw position. And in fact I think that this common problem should have been identified by either Roy Stevens or his predecessor William Costello.

However both Costello and Stevens could play very well in the forward jaw position. As could Roy Roman. Other noteworthy trumpets who blow from that position were Brisbois and Cat Anderson. I dont think that those men studied with Stevens or Costello. In fact I think both men were self taught but their chops certainly were text book Stevens-Costello chop settings.

Other examples of strong trumpets with settings similar to Stevens are Doc Severinsen and Jon Faddis. It wasn't only that many of these kinds of players could rattle off well above Double C but that each enjoyed a great ease of playing.

Having said all that? I dont consider the system a cure-all. As I explained: too many people couldnt pull it off. Myself included. I did however incorporate some valuable lessons just the same. Particularly the "Two Aperure Theory". This a concept explained in great detail by Moriarty so I highly recommend anyone present to check his statements out at the site posted.

Now had Stevens or Costello adapted their system to those of us who must play from a receded jaw position? Then I think they would have created a universally applicable system. After all if I as a receded jaw player am still limited in range but those limitations still tend to occur well above most all written music? Well shucks, Who cares? Its true, I can not blow a triple C. Matter of fact my double C runs hot and cold but even that is not a significant limitation. Plus even at age 62 I'm still improving on range. My C is getting bigger and easier to blow every week. Perhaps another mouthpiece modification and another six months practice and I'll even have that down. Thus the need to play forward jaw is largely irrelevant.

Unless someone is paying big bucks to form a Cat Anderson cover band? I'm not gonna need a G above double C.

But regardless of your feelings on Stevens-Costello? I advise giving it a watch. If only because Roman is such a proficient high note man. With a fine lower register too. And much of the general advice there is very helpful.

I realize that Roy Stevens was a controversial personality. Back in the day he charged big bucks for lessons. And as I said he had a high percentage of failures. Probably for the reason I described. As most trumpets can not make the forward jaw chop setting work. But what if it does work for you? Or if failing to help as prescribed maybe it'll help you improve as it did me.

And yet I wont discount the criticism. One of our forum friends, a world class lead trumpet studied with Roy UNStevens himself for a year and pretty much concluded it was a waste of time. He too went back to his natural chop settings and still has a bandstand useable double C. Heck that's plenty. And I can well remember some grafitti I read in one of the conservatory practice rooms back in 1975 or so. It was a dialogue on the walls discussing brass systems pro and con. His words were,

"All that Roy Stevens has is a lot of trumpet player's money".

My feeling however is just to take what I want and leave the rest. Besides, Roy Roman totally rocks!
_________________
"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).

[SteveDurand]

Costello-Stevens is what opened up he high register for me. Once I figured out how to work the forward jaw setting I added about an octave and a half to my range basically over night.

I was stuck at the typical high D limit for 45 years. I normally have a slight underbite so I do have to make a conscious effort to shift my jaw. The drawback to this setting is that it really doesn't work below the G on the top of staff. So I usually use my normal setting up to about high C or D and then shift my jaw forward slightly and tense up my lower lip differently to go higher.

Steve

[Lionel]