I Will Reveal Who Is the Best Reinhardt Teacher!

[donovan]

LOL - Just kidding. I couldn’t resist the click bait headline.

I first became aware of the Encyclopedia in college, but like many, didn’t really understand it since I didn’t have a teacher to help me apply it, and I wasn’t aware of the update of the meaning of the Pivot to be “embouchure motion”. I put the Encyclopedia away 25 years ago and kept trying to figure out this coil of torture.

After watching the recent Louis Dowdeswell interviews where he discusses his religious conversion to Reinhardt I took serious interest in it again. It’s not often that a world-class player like that changes their philosophy of the mechanics of playing our instrument.

Prior to Louis’ interviews, a lesson with Jim Manley got me on the right track with reducing the amount of air I was using, which also had the effect of correcting a life-long embouchure problem I had dealt with. This put me in a position of really being ready for Reinhardt’s teachings, so I sought out a teacher. I knew that Louis took some lessons with Chris, and I was also familiar with Dave through his playing, and of course, for both of them, the many contributions and attributions to them on this forum. Not being able to decide which to go with, I decided to take a lesson from them both.

The process was decidely different with both teachers, and interestingly, they each had different observations on my playing. These observations were not in conflict with each other (it’s likely that both teachers would have made the same observations if more lessons were taken). It should be noted that I wasn’t seeking lessons with them to sort out any particular problem, but rather to learn more about the “Pivot System”, and to gather their observations and suggestions for how I could improve generally.

The lesson with Dave was different from anything I’ve done before. You can see his instructions on his website, but essentially, he had me send him a series of videos, and then he would email comments to me. At first I wasn’t sure how effective that method would be, as I’m accustomed to a “live” lesson interaction, but since Dave is such a master, he was able to clearly and succinctly articulate the exact things I needed to work on, and which specific pages out of the Encyclopedia I should study to correct some of my particular issues. These recommendations allowed me to make some significant improvements to my playing.

The lesson with Chris was fun and informative, and came after my lesson with Dave. He’s obviously a hell of a player, and was very complimentary of my embouchure, and he’s very passionate about Reinhardt. He was dedicated and committed to my success, and obviously had many stories to share that were both fun and informative. Through my lesson with Chris, I learned more about Reinhardt’s teaching in general, and the purpose behind some of the routines and drills.

I should also mention that I purchased Rich Willey’s Reinhardt Routines book, and was working out of that, as well as the Reinhardt Concone book.

I’m grateful to both men for their time and insights, and felt that the investment was extremely worthwhile. I’ve noticed significant improvement in my playing, and even my band mates have commented on it, which is no easy task for a trumpet player to compliment a fellow trumpet player.

I would recommend anyone that wants to learn more about DSR’s teachings, or needs helping sorting out a problem, to contact either one of them.
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Donovan Bankhead
donovan@erniewilliamson.com
www.erniewilliamson.com

[BeboppinFool]

Thanks for posting that, Donovan!

You prompted me to make Reinhardt's Ten Test Drills and his Warm-Up #57 available again as PDF downloads (an idea that Chris LaBarbera gave me).

Go to the Reinhardt Study Zone PDF Store and you will see them right at the top for trumpet and for trombone, very reasonably priced for the amount of chop-building power they contain.

I'm interested in seeing this Louis Dowdeswell interview if you wouldn't mind posting the link here for us. Thanks, Donovan!
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Puttin’ On The Ritz