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Any correlation of whistling to trumpet playing?



 
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lotherro
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 30, 2021 9:12 pm    Post subject: Any correlation of whistling to trumpet playing? Reply with quote

I’ve heard Adam Rapa say that his high notes are more like whistling for him. That’s caused me to wonder if there is any connection to whistling and trumpet playing in general. I have noticed a connection when my trumpet playing is going well (it happens!), I seem to be able to whistle better, with more clarity, more range. Not sure if there is any cause and effect, however. For example, does better whistling make for better trumpet playing? Or just the reverse, like I experienced it? Any variations on this question are welcome.

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Jaw04
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 30, 2021 11:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

No, I know a lot of great players that can't whistle.
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abontrumpet
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PostPosted: Sat May 01, 2021 12:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Not really.

Only as an ear training tool (whistle instead of sing).

The other is as a pedagogical tool to get a student to not force their tongue in a single position and to experience the tongue moving freely. I know in my own development there were periods where I tried using a single syllable for my entire range (i.e., working against myself) and whistling could be a potential pedagogical tool in the toolbox for a teacher to have used.
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oxleyk
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PostPosted: Sat May 01, 2021 5:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Search first, ask questions later.

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=site%3Atrumpetherald.com+~whistling&atb=v223-1&ia=web
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JayKosta
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PostPosted: Sat May 01, 2021 6:16 am    Post subject: Re: Any correlation of whistling to trumpet playing? Reply with quote

lotherro wrote:
... Not sure if there is any cause and effect, however. For example, does better whistling make for better trumpet playing? ...

-----------------------------------------------
I don't think the benefit comes from actually being a better whistler.
The benefit is the 'trumpet embouchure' development and control that can be improved by the 'exercise' of whistling.
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Richard III
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PostPosted: Sat May 01, 2021 6:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Jim Cullum quote:

“I listened to my father’s record collection day and night up in my room with the door closed. Without really thinking about it, pretty soon I knew many of them by heart. Those riffs and melodies were always in my mind and I started to whistle them. One day, my father and I were riding in the car and I was whistling this Bix solo to myself, sort of absentmindedly. My father listened for a bit and said, ‘Hey, that’s pretty good music. Maybe you should take up a trombone or something.’

He then found a cornet in a pawn shop and a book on how to play the cornet.

I always wondered how he got that fabulous tone and technique.
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HaveTrumpetWillTravel
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PostPosted: Sat May 01, 2021 6:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I remember some of those earlier threads. The takeaways I had were about tongue arch and articulation and maybe keeping throat open. I think there are definitely things you can learn/practice via whistling.
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Seymor B Fudd
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PostPosted: Sat May 01, 2021 10:00 am    Post subject: Re: Any correlation of whistling to trumpet playing? Reply with quote

JayKosta wrote:
lotherro wrote:
... Not sure if there is any cause and effect, however. For example, does better whistling make for better trumpet playing? ...

-----------------------------------------------
I don't think the benefit comes from actually being a better whistler.
The benefit is the 'trumpet embouchure' development and control that can be improved by the 'exercise' of whistling.


I used to be able to whistle. Long time ago. But since I re-started my embouchure because of semi-retiring - hence more time to practice, and found the BE I can´t whistle any more But having read all these posts about the tongue I´ve found that, at least in my mouth the whereabouts of said organ affects the embouchure. Lately I´ve noticed that if I position the tongue as if I were to whistle my tendency to subconsciously relapse into a more smiling approach - is effectively counteracted. Besides this I get the feeling that my throat opens up; the sound becomes more open, displays more "core"; I get a sense of more air passing through.
Maybe this is a delusion - but if so it´s a good one.
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Lionel
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PostPosted: Sat May 01, 2021 3:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This can become an endless discussion. Almost like politics or religion. And just like those two categories of debate little can be done to change another person's mind once he's firmly convinced of it. That said? I'll fall for the bait at times. Like now.

The reason that whistling is totally unrelated to producing high notes (or any tone) on the trumpet lies in this major distinction,

A flute is a largely an open hole. Very little resistance exists when channeling a stream of air into the hole on a flute's mouthpiece. In fact a great deal of the air blown across the hole never enters the instrument.

Okay, I realize that we're not talking about a flute but instead the physical act of a human who is whistling. However, the near same condition exists when you whistle. Because at that time you're blowing air through or across a pair of lips that are open roughly a quarter of an inch. Sometimes even wider apart. Very little resistance is created.

Not so when making the embouchure vibrate as when a tone is started on the trumpet. We play the trumpet with closed lips. The louder and higher we play necessitates a great increase in air pressure within the mouth cavity and indeed the trumpet player's whole set of lungs, throat and even nose. Or at least it can pressurize the nasal cavities. Dizzy Gillespie not only puffed out his cheeks but had a huge neck puff too. This was caused by a great deal of air pressure being held back inside his throat over a period of time. Until eventually his Adam's Apple or larnyx stretched and his neck displayed a most noticeable inflation. The same thing happened to me over fifty years ago.

Other trumpet players who lived with large neck puffs were Bill Chase and Lin Biviano. Two men so similar in physical appearance that they oftentimes seem ''separated at birth'' to me.

I'm told that the reason for Big Al Hirt's beard was to hide his own neck puff. whereas Bill Chase let the whole world see his. I asked Bill about his neck puff back in 1972. His response was simply,

''My neck just goes out''.

I'd asked him because by that time (1972) my own throat had started puffing out. Eventually, I would learn to prevent it from expanding but not until long after Bill had passed away.

So we can see that whistling and trumpet playing involve far greater differences in air pressure. Think I'll stop here. This oughta be enough, but those not prone to exercising LOGIC may always find their position unchangeable. What can ya do?

Not very much my friends. Not much at all.
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