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switching instruments



 
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Tenor Horn Fellow
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Joined: 17 Jun 2018
Posts: 41
Location: United States

PostPosted: Tue Jun 26, 2018 9:12 am    Post subject: switching instruments Reply with quote

In an August, 1973 clinic in Denver,
a member of the audience asked Maynard Ferguson how he easily switched between trombone and trumpet.
Maynard replied something like "I don't try too hard on trombone, saving my embouchure strength for trumpet."

Although Maynard was being serious,
a YouTube video from that same year makes it sound funny when Maynard said that he didn't try too hard on trombone.

Check out 3:30 to 4:30 in the following video from 1973 to see his trombone followed by his trumpet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwL-hSZ9wLY

But if we obey Maynard's words rather than his actions,
I have a similar experience.

If I play only my 17.0 mm cornet mouthpiece,
it eventually feels like it is a medium-large diameter.

But if I regularly play my 18.0 mm alto horn mouthpiece first, then the 18.0 mm feels like it is medium-large.

And when I then immediately switch to the 17.0 mm cornet mouthpiece,
it feels like it is medium-small.
That feeling actually helps me play high notes better.

An analogy can be found with trumpet players who switch between regular trumpet and piccolo trumpet.
They use a regular-size mouthpiece on the regular trumpet,
then they use a smaller size mouthpiece on the piccolo trumpet.

In that analogy,
my alto horn is the regular trumpet,
and my cornet is my piccolo trumpet.
I only play soft and low on my alto horn.
I only play loud and high on my cornet.

I know I am not saying anything new here.
Others have said it many times before.

I just hope the additional illustrations will help.

Mark
_________________

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1934 H.N. White Circular Alto Horn - Silver - mint
.
1961 Conn 9A Cornet - Coprion - mint

.
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m'pieces:
White Horn #8
Wick Cornet #2

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photos and audio:
https://tenorhornfellow.imgur.com/
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Last edited by Tenor Horn Fellow on Tue Jun 26, 2018 10:55 am; edited 1 time in total
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Tpt_Guy
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Joined: 16 Jul 2004
Posts: 1101
Location: Sacramento, Ca

PostPosted: Tue Jun 26, 2018 10:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

In school I played trumpet in wind ensemble and tuba in orchestra.

Try making that switch. Made the Schilke 20 I was using at the time feel like a pinhole.

Funny thing about it is when I first started tuba, I felt my facial muscles tingling all the way back to my ears. No joke. A very odd sensation.
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Turkle
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Location: New York City

PostPosted: Tue Jun 26, 2018 10:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have been trying to learn to play my valve trombone for like 2 years now. I still can't make a sound on it. It's extremely embarrassing.

I guess it's trumpet or nothing for me.
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Lionel
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Joined: 25 Jul 2016
Posts: 783

PostPosted: Sat Jun 30, 2018 2:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Turkle wrote:
I have been trying to learn to play my valve trombone for like 2 years now. I still can't make a sound on it. It's extremely embarrassing.

I guess it's trumpet or nothing for me.


Hey, think positive! Maybe you need a "Vince Lombardi" type piece of advice. Buck up man! You can do it! Nothing worth doing ever came easy. Besides I just now took a lot of time to give you a thorough plan to guarantee you good developent. It's just up to you to implement it. But you can't learn anything by quiting.

A great deal can be learned from doubling. I started young. Back when I was only 14. And even today some 48 years later doubling still provides me with new lessons. Although what I learn today from low brass performance mostly has to do with familiarizing myself with the learning process in general. There are actually three techniques involved with doubling on lowbrass.

I. You've got to be a trumpet player (duh!). However I mention this because it is much easier to switch from trumpet over to t-bone (euphonium, valve t-bone etc). Than vice versa. So number I here almost ought to read,

"You've got to be.a trumpet player first".

This isn't to discourage low brass players from starting trumpet. However the trumpet embouchure tends to be near infinitely more involved than the lower brass chops can be. So is best to start the trumpet one first. Make it primary

2. You've got to learn the trombone (or low brass again "Duh"!). However this is not so hard as learning the trumpet. Even with the slide technique. So take heart, if you've just spent the last ten years knocking yourself out learning the trumpet? The lower brass will be a comparative piece of cake. Again, even with learning the slide technique. But most important of all...

3. You've got to be able to switch back & forth between the two instruments on the fly.

Number 3 is far and away the more practice dependent skill. The good news here is that despite your brief trombone career you can start actually switching back and forth after a couple of weeks or so.

What screws up most would be doublers is twofold.
A. They give up too easiy.
B. They expect immediate results.
See "Turkle" above...
Just kidding. No offense intended.

Any day that your chops start feeling funky from doubling? Take a day off. If you get really wigged out? Take off two days.

Gradually increase the amount of time you blow lower brass. Also increase the amount of times you switch back and forth between the two. Don't waste time worrying about adjusting to the larger, lower brass mouthpiece. As it is always the return to the trumpet which is trickier.

Follow the above suggestions to the "T". And I guarantee you will start to impress yourself. But a word of repeated caution: The ability to switch back to trumpet from a lower brass instrument is very practice dependent. And it doesn't matter how long you've been playing either horn. I've been doubling on trombone over 48 of my almost 54 years playing trumpet. However unless I've been playing a lot of trombone within recent weeks? I won't be able to swutch back and forth so easily..
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