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INTJ
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Joined: 25 Dec 2002
Posts: 1986
Location: Northern Idaho
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 Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2003 6:52 pm Post subject: |
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I make these posts in hopes my journey might help someone else with theirs. I make no claim to recommend any of this stuff to anyone--it's just what's happening to me.
For those of you who don't know, I am a comeback player. Played trumpet until 1978 (senior year of HS) switched to french horn for college because I had no range on the trumpet. Dropped the whole music thing in 1981 and became a USAF pilot. In June of 2001 picked the trumpet back up. I started lessons with Pops this past Feb.
As I look back, there has been steady improvement since starting with Pops. When I started with him, "F" above High C was the highest note I could hit, but only rarely on very good days. High Eb was the usual top of my range. I definitely had the High E block. My playable range, however, was more like A or Bb above the staff, and it was not all that certain. I also didn't have any endurance. I was using an Asymmetric mouthpiece, which was bad for me because it stopped the development of my chops.
I am now using Curry mouthpieces. I can hit Ab above High C, and playable range is High D to Eb. I am on the verge of getting those notes up to High Ab into my range.
Even with all this, my endurance sometimes seemed lacking. Pops and I talked back and forth as to why this may be. We talked about taking good vitamin/mineral supplements (I was taking cheap stuff), and I even added amino acids. I don't know if the vitamins and amino acids have helped my trumpet, but man have they made a difference at the gym!
Well, I finally got frustated with my endurance and sent Pops an e-mail outlining exactly what I was doing each practice session. In short, I was warming up on Clark 1, and taking it all the way to High C. I'd notice how incredibly free my chops were, I'd put in the shallow cup mouthpiece (a 70M vs a 70MC), and I'd play some intervals, High C to G/Ab a few times. Then I'd do some tongue slurs, but nothing here above G on top of the staff. Next was Arban 126 with the top notes up an octave. I'd do High C, D, E, F, and sometimes G. F was usually thin. Then I'd play a melody up an octave, topping out on High F--if I could get it. All this would take 30-40 minutes. His response was interesting. I quote:
"bad, Bad, BAd, BAD, BADD!!!!!!
Clarke 1 several times on the deeper mpc followed by 30 seconds of rest.
.............
High C to G/Ab several times...........
Page 126
C,
D,
E,
F,
G
Just how many notes above high C is that now?
3-4 times as many as a big band lead player does in a show. But you did
it in 30 minutes and he does it in 3 hours.
You can bench press 50 pounds all day,
But 500 pounds should kill you.
Take some weight off of the bar."
So I called him, and he said he had no idea I was doing so many Arban 126 exercises. He thought he'd made it clear I was to do one each day. I said "oh." We did figure out I was playing High C and up 80-90 times each session.
Well, I cut back to one Arban 126. It is making a big difference. Endurance is improving, and when I do need to play high it's much easier. In fact, I'm tending to overshoot because it's taking so much less effort than before--probably because my lips aren't always in a state of stiffness..........To avoid overshooting I relax, and relaxing increases endurance, flexibility, improves tone, etc.
I am greatly looking forward to the next few weeks--I think I am approaching another "Aha" moment...............
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_dcstep
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 05 Jul 2003
Posts: 6324
Location: Denver
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| Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2003 7:00 am Post subject: |
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On 2003-07-22 21:52, afp wrote:
Snip background...
Well, I finally got frustated with my endurance and sent Pops an e-mail outlining exactly what I was doing each practice session. In short, I was warming up on Clark 1, and taking it all the way to High C. I'd notice how incredibly free my chops were, I'd put in the shallow cup mouthpiece (a 70M vs a 70MC), and I'd play some intervals, High C to G/Ab a few times. Then I'd do some tongue slurs, but nothing here above G on top of the staff. Next was Arban 126 with the top notes up an octave. I'd do High C, D, E, F, and sometimes G. F was usually thin. Then I'd play a melody up an octave, topping out on High F--if I could get it. All this would take 30-40 minutes. His response was interesting. I quote:
"bad, Bad, BAd, BAD, BADD!!!!!!
Clarke 1 several times on the deeper mpc followed by 30 seconds of rest.
.............
High C to G/Ab several times...........
Page 126
C,
D,
E,
F,
G
Just how many notes above high C is that now?
3-4 times as many as a big band lead player does in a show. But you did
it in 30 minutes and he does it in 3 hours.
You can bench press 50 pounds all day,
But 500 pounds should kill you.
Take some weight off of the bar."
So I called him, and he said he had no idea I was doing so many Arban 126 exercises. He thought he'd made it clear I was to do one each day. I said "oh." We did figure out I was playing High C and up 80-90 times each session.
Well, I cut back to one Arban 126. It is making a big difference. Endurance is improving, and when I do need to play high it's much easier. In fact, I'm tending to overshoot because it's taking so much less effort than before--probably because my lips aren't always in a state of stiffness..........To avoid overshooting I relax, and relaxing increases endurance, flexibility, improves tone, etc.
I am greatly looking forward to the next few weeks--I think I am approaching another "Aha" moment...............
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Great post. I took one, one-hour lesson from Pops and "he's the man." He's transformed me, after forty-four years of playing.
Personally, I start with five to ten minutes of extremely soft middle-line Gs, with as little effort and stress as possible. Then I start slurring from G-C-E-G-E-C-G, making sure the only thing I do is raise and lower the tongue to control the air speed. Next, I do the one of the Schlossberg lip flexibility pieces a couple of times paying attention to my tongue and the marked dynamics (#4, I think, it goes up to F above high C). Finally, I do a few arpeggios from low Ab to Ab above high C, hold the Ab and hold the G below it with good tone. Then I lay the horn down for five minutes or so. When I come back to the horn I practice whatever needs work, extremely softly, with as little stress as possible.
Once or twice a week, after the warmup, I'll work on playing a simple song (Danny Boy, Londonerry Aire, etc.) extremely softly and up an octave. Really focus on musicality, intonation, vibrato and beautiful tone, but keep it soft. Five or ten minutes of this is enough, then lay the horn down for a few minutes.
With this, I find that my range has gone from E above high C to G above high C in performance. Even if I only practice once or twice per week, I can still play four-hour rock gigs, hitting the Gs and F#s in performance, play my solos and still have something left over at 1 pm. I couldn't have done that before Pops. (Our opening songs is "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love", which has repeated Ds over high C, held out over and over. That's no bother at all to me now, thanks to Pops. Before, it would have killed me for the rest of the evening).
AFP, do you live in Dallas? Several of us gather every few months for a lunch and jabber. Ask Pops to let you know next time.
Ciao,
Dave
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INTJ
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 25 Dec 2002
Posts: 1986
Location: Northern Idaho
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| Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2003 5:10 pm Post subject: |
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Dave,
I like near San Antonio. I got an e-mail a couple months ago about a get together, but it was the week prior to my lesson and it was too late to adjust my schedule to come up a week earlier. Maybe next time their will be more notice.
Blaine
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