Embouchure Redemption

[Lionel]

Putting this in The Lounge because it deals more with the psychological struggles associated with a major, radical embouchure change. More so than any specifics of chop usage, exercises, air support etc. Hope it ain't too boring fellas.

So last night I was sitting in a rehearsal absolutely having the time of my life. Ever since then I've been feeling sorta like the fictional Andy Dufrense in "Shawshank Rebellion". Right as he climbs out of the prison's 500 yard long sewer pipe into freedom of the creek in the pouring rain. No exaggeration.

My embouchure technique was steadily improving so I kinda expected this weekly rehearsal would go better on my chops than the week before. However the thing about embouchure development is that once you "get over the hump" of a major plateau you start improving faster. Sometimes even without practicing much or at all. But of course NOW I REALLY WANT to practice. Because it's all fun again.

If I sound like some kind of person pretending to be an authority here? Well shucks, sorry about that. Anyway I'm not selling anything here with these words. Besides just what actually is an authority on embouchure and chop development anyway? I've been playing trumpet going on 55 years. Have had a solid, wall shaking well tuned and accurate high G for 46 to 48 of those 55 years. I just turned 64 last Monday. Okay I ain't Doc Severinsen but I can play high notes on two radically different embouchure. No wait! Forgot about the one Ive sorta jettisoned. Because I couldn't articulate well on it. But it did blow triple C's honest to God it did. So in truth? I can get at least a double C on three totally different embouchure settings. Radically different if you want the truth. My definition of what that means about me incudes the word "knowledgeable".

So just by my longevity, that and apparently near fanatical obsession with learning about high notes? Hmm, MAYBE I do know something about the game. If you want to consider me a good knowledgeable source? I'll be flattered. My feeling is that I probably do know a heckuva lot about high notes.

Actually it was my "good solid high G" which made me start fishing around for other embouchures. Because that same fantastic high G was exactly where my range ended. And it drove me crazy. Spare y'all the stuff I tried. But it was this final attempt at changing embouchures which FINALLY seems to have done the deed.

Just before Christmas, 2017 or about 16 months ago I decided a certain lip formation, combined with a much more forward jaw positioning could yield a full four octave + range. With good musicality and well connected registers. Yet this idea was merely theoretical. While this virgin embouchure could play high notes it was still very weak in all registers. I might as well have been a total beginner on the horn. Save for that I know the fingerings and read music. But I forced myself to remain positive in mindset. That and practiced every day as much as I could on my new system. At least up until over-training would set in.

You can't push a new embouchure too hard at first. The lips just swell and they can't learn anything. You don't get rich by dumping half your paycheck in the bank. You'll just pull it out again when rent is die. No you put ten or twenty dollars in the bank every Friday. But never forget to do it!

I went on and on like this. Practicing my new chops daily but using my old, trusty embouchure for all rehearsals and performances. Kept on and on. Showing improvement and at times almost daily progress. However for the first 3 to 4 months I seemed far from able to produce a professional tone on my new chops. Or if I did? My lips would tire so quickly that this newfound sweet tone would go to hell. Yep, on and on I practiced. Undaunted even though doubt and at times severe doubt crept in.

Then last May? Bad news. Very bad news. Dentist told me that my right, top front incisor was completely dead. No need to extract. The damned thing could fall out any day. Knowing what I know about my existing embouchure? I immediately realized that the loss of this one tooth was going to kill the upper register on my existing embouchure. Not the new chop setting as that one relies almost exclusively on my lower teeth. I admit that when the dentist read my X-Ray photos? A couple tears slid down my cheek. I'd been playing fine high notes for ovee 45 years. Imagine how it would feel to lose them?

Not giving in to pessimism despite the bad news, I redoubled my effort and practiced my new system with renewed vigor. And? Dentist was right. Sure enough. While pet sitting at my priest's house while she was out of town last August? That incisor fell into the sink. Right while I was brushing it... And I was correct on both counts!

On my existing, old embouchure my formerly beautiful upper register was dead. Gone like a loose flag lost in a hurricane. And? My new chops were completely unaffected. Well that's cool... Problem was that I still stunk up the place on the new embouchure. Hey, a new chop setting really is like being a beginner. You'll stink the first year or two. Can't be helped. The mouth corners are weak. Nothing is automatic. Only practice/time will mend it. However there could be one thing that might accelerate the process. Start playing those 2nd and 3rd cornet parts in community band(s). I've always felt that given the choice between practicing 2 hours at home or playing a couple hours in community type concert band?

Always take the rehearsal session. Whenever I've been under a director's baton? That and felt the pressure of a musical ensemble? I seem to expand my technique at an amazing clip. Hey, someone else might have felt depressed and humiliated. After all here I was playing 3rd cornet parts in the same band as I'd previously long been the principal, first chair trumpet player. And yet after a few rehearsals I started enjoying being there. Plus? I really was improving. Last week it had been 2 months since I'd started rehearsing when I noticed that my endurance had greatly improved. THAT is the key! I know from experience that my own chops will be fine just so long as Ive got endurance and volume. So I went into yesterday's rehearsal cautiously optimistic. Actually I was concerned that my chops might have been a little swollen from over-training.

Not to worry though. There do come those days where one reaches a new plateau. My God it sure is exciting! Surely there will come future plateaus. As I've yet to start really opening up my extreme upper register. But unlike most other trumpet players? At least I do have an extreme upper register lol. As I made sure from the very start that I could at least squeak every note up to G over double C. And as I developed I got those squeakers into forte notes. Not trying for a huge sound. That'll come later and without much arm pressure either. That's the difference between "limited" and "unlimited" embouchures.

On a limited chop setting I could still bang out high G but it cost me dearly in effort. Also? A limited chop setting can't always be converted to an unlimited one. That's what an embouchure change is for. I mean, like why bother changing chop settings at all? Not unless you know in advance that the new one is going to be capable of the complete range of the instrument.

Actually the good feeling I've been swept up in isn't because this new chop system can play high notes. Nope. Not at all. The reason is because finally, after 8 months of dead chops and almost a year and a half struggling with what long felt like a foreign chop setting? I can finally play musically again! That and make it through a rehearsal without tiring so much. And as I become an older man now? I really need my trumpet. Been my source of identity all my life. Gives me energy to get my retired butt out of bed in the morning. And as the conclusion of Shawshank Redemption said in stark, poignant warning,

"Get busy living or get busy dying". I'm choosing to live. Got my chops back. It's a miracle.
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"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).

[WxJeff]

Great stuff... worth a second, more careful read which I will get to soon.

Thanks for taking the time to publish your thoughts about what goes on in our little brains as we face change -- either voluntary or involuntary.
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Kanstul F Besson International 800 Bb
Jupiter SCR-520

[Lionel]