High Range Development Web Pages

RussellDDixon · Posted: Tue Feb 18, 2020 1:27 pm Post subject: High Range Development Web Pages

I spent a lot of time updating my website to satisfy Google's latest requirements and in the process cleaned up my Trumpet Links webpage also. There are tons of trumpet links there and they all work.

http://www.trumpetperformancetips.com/trumpetlinks.html

Here is a web page on Trumpet Range ... you can buy pass my advice and go straight to the bottom of the page to find web pages by Maynard Ferguson, Lynn Nicholson, Bill Chase, Allen Vizzutti, Mike Ponella, Bobby Shew, Jon Faddis, Scott Englebright, Paul Stephens, Roger Ingram and Wayne Bergeron. Enjoy !

http://www.trumpetperformancetips.com/trumpethighrange.html
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Schilke X3 Bb trumpet
Yamaha 631g Flugelhorn
Nicholson Monette Prana Resonance LT mouthpiece
Kanstul Claude Gordon Personal mouthpiece

HERMOKIWI · Heavyweight Member Joined: 24 Dec 2008 Posts: 2581

Your trumpet links are great.

However I have a question about high range development. We can't actually "compress the air." Compressing the air means that we do something to make a certain volume of air take up less volume than its natural volumetric space. Like a CO2 cartridge contains compressed CO2 held in by a metal canister. No one can actually do that with their body. No one is or can convert themselves into a human compressed air tank.

In your High Range Pages there are a lot of references to "compressing the air." What do the people who use the "compress the air" language really mean by that expression? It seems that it has to do with either tightening muscles or blowing with more force or some combination of both but that's not actually "compressing the air" in a true physical sense. The density of the air stays the same. No one is actually "compressing" the air.

So, what does it mean?
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HERMOKIWI

JayKosta · Posted: Tue Feb 18, 2020 2:26 pm Post subject:

John Mohan · Posted: Tue Feb 18, 2020 2:27 pm Post subject:

The density of air does not remain the same. Air at higher pressure levels is more dense than air at lower pressure levels.

When we blow against a resistance, whether that resistance is just our pursed lips, or in the case of trumpet playing our vibrating lips, we are creating thoracic air pressure in our lungs. As such we are compressing the air, even if just a little bit on the lower to middle range notes.

When we play into the upper register we arch our tongues up and forward creating a tiny channel for the air to go through and we have to blow harder to support the note, creating more air pressure (or as some like to call it, more air compression) If we are playing our highest notes we are blowing as hard as we can. A strong trumpet player can generate around 3.0 to 3.5 psi of air pressure and does so when playing a loud high note. That is a significant amount of pressure and in fact, is quite a bit higher than our venous blood pressure (which is why we get red faces when we play loud high notes - the thoracic air pressure is preventing the blood from leaving our heads).

That's what is meant by compressing the air.

Best wishes,

John

kalijah · Posted: Tue Feb 18, 2020 3:13 pm Post subject:

HERMOKIWI · Heavyweight Member Joined: 24 Dec 2008 Posts: 2581

OK, I think I understand. The term really relates primarily to increasing the air pressure rather than actually compressing the air into a smaller volume like air in a compressed air tank (although I acknowledge kalijah's statement that this compression technically happens to some extent).

I just wanted to know how to accurately express this to students.

Thank you!
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HERMOKIWI

wayben · Regular Member Joined: 20 Jan 2002 Posts: 60 Location: usa

Changing the volume is what makes the pressure go up. We do it all day long as we breath. Inhaling is an active action. The diaphragm moves down and the interstitial muscles between our ribs move out and up to increase the volume of our lungs, decreasing the pressure in our lungs, causing air to flow in. Exhaling is a passive action. The diaphragm and interstitial muscles relax, decreasing the volume of our lungs, increasing the pressure in our lungs, causing air to flow out. When we blow a trumpet we manually constrict the diaphragm and interstitial muscles to decrease the volume of our lungs, increasing the pressure and forcing air out. Hope that helps.
Wayne

RussellDDixon · Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2020 7:42 am Post subject:

Thank you to all of you who defined what trumpet players commonly call "air compression." Most every famous trumpet player I have read about or studied over the past 50 years has used this terminology.
_________________
Schilke X3 Bb trumpet
Yamaha 631g Flugelhorn
Nicholson Monette Prana Resonance LT mouthpiece
Kanstul Claude Gordon Personal mouthpiece

kalijah · Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2020 8:38 am Post subject:

wayben wrote:

wayben · Regular Member Joined: 20 Jan 2002 Posts: 60 Location: usa

kalijah · Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2020 9:16 am Post subject:

The muscles provide the force that increases the pressure. The outflow volume change will not occur unless there is pressure FIRST. It is not the volume reduction that induces the flow. It is the pressure.

Yes, the exhalation muscles are working to reduce the enclosed volume and thereby EXCHANGE the air by flow out. This action raises the lung pressure regardless of flow or not.

You are indeed still confusing 2 mechanisms of volume change, one is by mass-flow, and the other is density increase due to pressure.

kalijah · Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2020 9:25 am Post subject:

wayben · Regular Member Joined: 20 Jan 2002 Posts: 60 Location: usa

I guess we can both agree someone's confused, lol!!!

Beyond16 · Posted: Thu Feb 20, 2020 10:13 pm Post subject:

It's easy to calculate how much the lungs compress air (where compressing air means reducing its volume). The ideal gas law says PV = nRT. That means PV (pressure * volume) is a constant, because the lungs can't compress air enough to raise the temperature much.

If the lungs make a pressure of 10 inches of water to play a third space C, then the real pressure in the lungs is 10 inches + 407 inches (atmospheric pressure). So the air volume is reduced by 407 / 417, or 97.6% of its original size.

I can easily max out a 50 inch gauge by blowing into a tube. So 100 inches from the lungs is no doubt possible for some people. At that pressure, the volume is reduced to 407 / 507 or 80%. Pretty surprising.

The compression of air due to lung pressure is the reason a balloon weighs more after inflating. My daughter's teacher did a such a demo but gave the students an incorrect explanation. Here is the demo with the correct explanation.

kalijah · Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2020 6:36 am Post subject:

But what players are really describing is the usefulness of the pressure increase with blowing effort. It would be more accurate if they used more relevant terms. Like " air pressure" not air "compression".

Obviously, the energy that is increasing as well. (Pressure is actually energy density that is, energy per unit of volume). The energy increase is required to play louder AND to overcome the decreasing efficiency of the system for ascending notes.

The actual volume compression is irrelevant and of no real concern and not something we can " feel". It DOES matter in regard to acoustics in the instrument but that also is transparent.