Bill Knevitt expands the Gordon ideas

Big Jake · Regular Member Joined: 14 Nov 2001 Posts: 47

The excellent trumpet books by Bill Knevitt are an upgrade and often considered superior to Claude Gordon books.
The systematic lesson plans are better in their design than Gordons.
Bill Knevitt is well known as a former Claude Gordon student. Claude Gordon himself made fabulous endorsements about Bill Knevitt such as.
"Of all of the trumpet teachers that I know Bill Knevitt is simply the best"

With that coming from Claude Gordon himself then checking him out would be a good idea if you are going to investigate the Gordon ideas.

I understand why Mr Gordon would be proud of him because he expanded and improved on the Gordons ideas and Bill never makes negative public comments about other people or methods. Bill is a good Christian man.

I got better and more consistent results from Knevitt's books than I did from the Gordon books. Later on I applied all of the Knevitt exercises while changing my embouchure to the SuperChops embouchure which was a major improvement over the Maggio, Gordon embouchure.

Contact Ultra Trumpet Ministries
http://www.ultratrumpet.com
Cheers
Jake

[ This Message was edited by: Big Jake on 2002-07-23 21:12 ]

John Mohan · Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2002 6:13 am Post subject:

histrumpet · Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2002 6:14 am Post subject:

Hi Jake,
Bill is a great guy, I have had several e-mail exchanges with him and he has never been anything but helpful. I don't have his books but like his comments on his web site concerning how he sets his lips when he plays. Do you have any recommendations as to which of his books I should get first?

Bruce

_________________

[ This Message was edited by: histrumpet on 2002-07-24 09:17 ]

Emb_Enh · Veteran Member Joined: 29 Oct 2002 Posts: 455

"On one specific night Claude was actually trying to find out what some of the current younger players thought of him. This was the mid 1970’s and needless to say high note players were in like Flynn. After relentless persistence I gave in and mentioned that some players said he couldn’t perform some of the routines in his “Systematic Approach”. Bare in mind Claude had retired as a player a decade before this and seldom played his horn (when I first began with Claude he played a great deal in the lessons with me). That night he went over to the case, popped the latches loudly, you could hear them flutter, he grabbed his horn, made a fist and pounded down on the top of all three valves to free them up as they were slightly frozen. He grabbed his mouthpiece and placed it in the horn. (Claude played a lacquer C.G. model with a Bach 1-1/4 C skeletonized mouthpiece with a #19 drill, a Morse taper and a full Schmidt backbore.) Taking a huge breath he played a major triad from tuning C down to pedal C (as big as a house) he started on low C and played a chromatic scale to Double High C then flipping to an E above that, he didn’t miss a note. He removed the mouthpiece returning both it and the horn to the case closing the lid and snapping it shut. He turned to me and said: now you heard it, don’t let anyone try to tell you otherwise, I’ll see you next week, goodnight... now PRACTICE!"
_________________
Regards, Roddy o-iii RoddyTpt@aol.com

"E M B O U C H U R E___E N H A N C E M E N T"
BOOK 1 also... BOOK 2 + demo CD

[Self Analysis and Diagnostic Trumpet Method]

John Mohan · Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2002 6:46 am Post subject:

Oh wow!

My memory takes awhile to "get in gear" these days.

Bill and I corresponded by e-mail a while back. He related an amusing incident Claude had told him about that happened in a lesson Claude had with Clarke where Claude was being overly analytical and finally in disgust Clarke yelled, "Look, would you
just pick up the darn thing and blow it?!!!"

All for now,

John Mohan

John Mohan · Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2002 6:50 am Post subject:

Emb_Enh · Veteran Member Joined: 29 Oct 2002 Posts: 455

This is a story of from a VERY famous trumpet player....not Bill Knevitt....if anyone guesses correctly I'll buy anyone a virtual beer!...go ahead have a guess...great story huh?...absolutely true....

let everybody have a guess...

_________________
Regards, Roddy o-iii RoddyTpt@aol.com

"E M B O U C H U R E___E N H A N C E M E N T"
BOOK 1 also... BOOK 2 + demo CD

[Self Analysis and Diagnostic Trumpet Method]

trjeam · Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2002 1:01 pm Post subject:

I dunno about you guys. But I really like the free book offer.

Emb_Enh · Veteran Member Joined: 29 Oct 2002 Posts: 455

What?...nobody guessing?

Roddy o-iii<O
_________________
Regards, Roddy o-iii RoddyTpt@aol.com

"E M B O U C H U R E___E N H A N C E M E N T"
BOOK 1 also... BOOK 2 + demo CD

[Self Analysis and Diagnostic Trumpet Method]

Emb_Enh · Veteran Member Joined: 29 Oct 2002 Posts: 455

Paul Cacia at an early age had a driving desire to be a great trumpet player and an insatiable drive to play well in the high range.
This an understandable undertaking in an age like ours, where the high note player is looked upon with awe and gains the admiration
of young and old alike. Studying and working hard Paul developed an outstanding range with brilliant sound. The most of success Paul!

Claude Gordon
1977
_________________
Regards, Roddy o-iii RoddyTpt@aol.com

"E M B O U C H U R E___E N H A N C E M E N T"
BOOK 1 also... BOOK 2 + demo CD

[Self Analysis and Diagnostic Trumpet Method]

kzem · Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2002 8:49 pm Post subject:

Has anyone went through some of the Knevitt books? I've e-mailed him a few times and he sent me his Ultimate Warm-Up, which I used now and then. I think he has about 20 books in all, but many of the topics seem to bleed over into each other. It makes it difficult on what one should choose for an overview of his ideas.

Kurt Z.

Vessehune · Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2002 8:45 am Post subject:

He has so many books I'm not sure which one I would want to purchase. They all sound like they would help, but which one is good starting point?
_________________
---Brian Vessey---
Calicchio 1s-7 Ultra; ML Bore
Mouthpiece = ?????

trjeam · Posted: Mon Jul 29, 2002 5:55 pm Post subject:

Today i received my free book from Bill Knevitt's website. i didn't have to pay nothing not even s & h. what a great offer.

The Book he sent me was
"The Ultra-trumpet practice routine for advanced players"
It's a 11 page book and for a free book it's pretty book. It's basically a sumary of Claude Gordon's SA book. and the book is not for beginers either. Overall I like my new free book. Although I probably won't use it unless I'm in a hurry and have nothing to practice but it's still a good book.

Big Jake · Regular Member Joined: 14 Nov 2001 Posts: 47

Crash Course Posted: July 26 at 18:12 - Ad Number: 4122

So many players have wanted to take the "Ultra-Trumpet Crash Course" but could not afford the time or expense in coming to Michigan...Now the "Ultra-Trumpet Crash Course for Home Study" is available! You receive a 208 page manual, along with 52 cassette tapes of me explaining and demonstrating the exercises...plus 4 bonus tapes. For more information, email me!
Price: $300.00 Posted by: Bill Knevitt
Location: Jackson, Michigan

http://www.ultratrumpet.com

Cheers
Jake

[ This Message was edited by: big jake on 2002-07-31 02:10 ]

John Mohan · Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2002 5:03 am Post subject:

comebackkid · Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2002 9:44 am Post subject:

Hi John,

Bill put this info up on the marketplace (classified ads) of this site. Perhaps it is elsewhere too, but that is where I saw it.

John Mohan · Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2002 6:43 am Post subject:

A belated thanks Comeback Kid for posting your answer to me.

I'm not surprized that "Big Jake" didn't bother answering my question. He only seems to address things to me that are negative and doesn't seem interested in having a positive exchange with me.

I'd like to add to this topic what Bill Knevitt had to say about Claude Gordon:

“After having played trumpet for 25 years and receiving degrees from
two of our large universities, I can honestly say that I have made more
progress under Claude Gordon in two years than in all my previous
years of playing.

While the Claude Gordon practice system can be adapted to students of
all ages, it can truly be called a post-graduate course in professional
trumpet playing and teaching.”

- William B. Knevitt

PACtrumpet · Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2002 4:26 pm Post subject:

I have been using Bill Knevitt's routines for about 6 weeks as follows: One week on Crash Course lesson #1, One week on Professional Trumpet Routines Lesson #1, One week on Crash Course lesson #2, One week on Prof. Trpt Rout. Lesson #2 etc. etc. I am on PTR Lesson #3.

The routines are getting challenging and it is improving my endurance, range and sound. The influence that CG had on his teaching is very apparent. Lots of tongue models, tongue level exrecises and lip flexibilities. The approach is identical to CG in that it is all about How you practice, What you practice, and When you practice that counts. I use the routines as my warm-up and techinical practice then I move on to Arban, Concone, Chuch music and other lyrical material.

I highly recommend Bill, I went to Chicago and spent some time in the practice room with him before I got started. He is a wonderful player and a great Christian role model.

Regards,
Phil

John Mohan · Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2002 9:49 pm Post subject:

The way you are doing his material seems kind of strange to me, jumping from one of his books to another every week or so. Did he tell you to do it this way or is this your own idea?

John

PACtrumpet · Posted: Tue Nov 05, 2002 9:44 am Post subject:

Hi John,

Yes, that is the way Bill started me on the routines. What problems do you see in it? I will value your opinion and suggestions.

Phil