Freaky Range.. wtf??

trjeam · Posted: Sat Dec 21, 2002 6:31 pm Post subject:

Lately I've been playing notes that i usually don't play. For example the G3 and the A3 I've been playing allot lately. I'm not complaining or anything but I would like to know how i got this range. The notes aren't as strong as i want them to be yet, but they are notes that i'm hitting.

I'm thinkining that maybe I got the range because of marching season (but that was like 2 months ago) During marching season in the song children of sanchez i had to master a F# to F# 8va slur. I played that slur allot until it came very easy.

Also after marching season I changed mouthpieces from a Bach 6C to a Bach 3C. I changed with the intention of trying to make my tone sound better. It worked but I was struggling with endurance. Then later about 3 weeks ago I changed bach to the bach 6C. I hadn't tried to play high notes until about 2 weeks ago and that when i discovered that i could squeal high notes. Know currently i'm at the point where I'm not squealling these notes I'm actually hitting them.

The only playing that i do is in band class wich is everyday. I don't practice that much by my self anymore. When I do practice it's only for about 30 minutes tops sometimes 1 hour. And the only thing I do is about 6 minutes of playing Low C's as a warm up 10 minutes of simple lip slurs in the staff. And then i do about 10 minutes of playing band songs....

Last year I would spend hours practicing Clarke's material and Claude Gordon stuff trying to improve my range. Know it's all just coming naturually.

I don't understand what's going on. Maybe I should just keep taking it easy. I just hope that I'm not jsut having a lucky couple of weeks. I hope that what I have is luck and that it will stay.
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Redlips · Posted: Sat Dec 21, 2002 7:58 pm Post subject:

Hey man, out of curiosity, why did you choose a C cupped mp to march with? Just wondering... for playing out in wide open areas like that, I'd think you would get much better response on a shallower cupped model... find one with the same rim, but shallower. I think you'd get a better (better= more zing, more edge...) sound and your "output" will carry farther. Just a thought...

Also, octave harmonic glissando's (your F# to F# slurs) are great range builders... start easy, down in a low range, and keep moving up by half steps... Make sure you hit the starting note solid, and on the gliss make sure you "bounce" off each harmonic till ya hit the octave (hit it solid too). It's a great one to get your air/chops going.
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Dale

blasticore · Posted: Sat Dec 21, 2002 9:00 pm Post subject:

"I'd think you would get much better response on a shallower cupped model..."

Our soloist marched on a (my) yamaha 16C4 GP for most of the season. He had plenty zing to his sound, and some left over. Great jazz soloist.
I myself started the season on a 3C, went to a wider (and less volumatic) Warburton 3S ("1-1/2E" bach equiv.), found I couldn't get too much of a full sound out of it and eventually went to a deeper Warburton 3M cup. I think I sounded better on the field with the larger cup. Some guys just don't sound great on the field with smaller mouthpieces. Myself included. The sound was just too thin for the amount of volume I needed to put out.
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SHS_Trumpet · Posted: Tue Dec 24, 2002 2:10 pm Post subject:

Wierd so you say that other than warmups there was no extra practice that would explain the added range. Well I'm glad you got a few more notes. I've been really working my SC and have gained a good strong performance double Ab. I have to sqeek out the Bb on two of our jazz band tunes.
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Andrew Fowler
MYNWA
"90% of trumpet music is below high C"