Play don't Hit

trjeam · Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2003 5:20 pm Post subject:

At my trumpet lesson Mr. Blount introduced to me a whole new concept to high notes.

He said that he is going to teach me to play the notes not just hit them but actually play them.

My whole life in highschool I've been surrounded with people that are happy with me just hitting a note.. so playing the high note is a whole new concept to me.

A very simple excercise yet effective is to play lyrical studies up in the upper register that way you play the notes and just not hit them...

I'm just wondering what you guys think about this approach.. I heard maynard ferguson use to the same thing.
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INTJ · Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2003 6:55 pm Post subject:

Pops told me the same thing my first lesson with him....................

_PhilPicc · Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2003 6:59 pm Post subject:

No matter where you are in the range you should still be playing music. After all that is what we are supposed to do.
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_swthiel · Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2003 7:02 pm Post subject:

I believe Roddy Lewis says the same thing in his book. I should have included this idea in the "What Have You Changed ..." thread in the Fundamentals forum. All through my previous trumpet playing history, I was hitting the high notes. Now I'll push my range, but I don't include anything in my "quoted" range that I can't play musically.

Steve
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Castle Bravo · Heavyweight Member Joined: 13 Apr 2003 Posts: 542

One bit of advice that Jarrett Ellis reminded me of was "play up high with a beautiful sound at all costs". Practicing this way has an amazing trickle-down effect into other registers as well....

fuzzyjon79 · Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2003 4:27 pm Post subject:

I LOVE this snippet from Eddie Lewis's webpage. It goes along with this topic:

Phrasing:

If you don't work on phrasing and spend all of your practice time on high notes, you will sound like a trumpet "meat head" when you perform in public. People think that high note playing is exciting because of the high notes, but it's not. The single most exciting thing about high note trumpet playing is the phrasing. From Maynard to Arturo, it's all about phrasing. If you don't work on phrasing, you will sound like a Jr. High player with lot's of high chops. No one will want to hear it.

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StewMuse · Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2003 7:30 pm Post subject:

My two method books on upper register playing, "Courting the Upper Register" (classical), and "Courting the Upper Register II: JAZZ," both provide melodies that are gradually transposed from the middle and low range into the upper register specifically for the practice of playing melodically to develop the high range. All melodies go (by the end of the transpositions) to at least Eb above the staff, most a few notes higher...

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trickg · Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2003 4:37 am Post subject:

Nice post George. For me, there is a big difference between hitting a note and playing a note and it's what I refer to as practice room range and on the gig range. On the gig, I'm good to an Eb. No more. In the practice room, I can "hit" up to a double G. I've played the G on gigs, but it's never something that I want to bank on and I won't go for it unless I'm pretty sure that I can nail it.

I think that John Blount's method of doing lyrical studies "up there" is a great way to build range. It will help to get your head out of it and change your perspective because there is a big difference between hitting and playing up high.
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AccentOnTrumpet · Heavyweight Member Joined: 03 Nov 2002 Posts: 878

No doubt about it man, play don't hit, like PhilPicc said we're musicians not just guys who pop out high notes. If you're going to play high, great, but do it like a musician and not like you're doing Clarke excercises.

As for the audience thing, always play at your best, don't worry about what other people say or are satisfied with, always strive to improve.