Upper Register Mentality

[paulnewcomb]

(okay so this started out as a single paragraph, now it's a short story!)

Hello everybody,

I've been playing the trumpet for about 10 years now and I've always been considered a pretty decent player by most people. That being said, my main problem was that I always had trouble with the upper register (tensing up, psyching myself out). I've even gone through a few aggravating embouchure changes in the past couple years. Just recently, I've started to realize that I can change my embouchure and do isometric excersises until my head explodes, but my playing will not improve until I get past some mental blocks.

It's kind of a strange thing. Long story short: In my early high school days, I could scream out double g's - even c's sometimes without giving it a second thought. It was fun! Nobody ever told me it was a difficult task. But, as I started playing more seriously and headed for college I lost that certain "innocence" in my playing and started losing my confidence as a player for reasons I won't go into just now. Somehow, I slowly convinced myself that playing the trumpet was supposed to be difficult & strenous until I could barely even sqeeze out a g above the staff without tensing up my whole body and closing off my throat. It was not a pretty sound might I add
This eventually led to embouchure changes, hours of useless isometric exercises, over-analysis, and as you can imagine, much frustration.

Anyways....I dropped out of college about 6 months ago because I was just too frustrated with my playing - and some other miscellaneous reasons. Since then, I've adopted a new mentality to playing my trumpet. I call it the "I don't give a $#@?" mentality. I play to have fun and relax now. I don't have anybody to impress anymore and I can play however I want to.

Now bare with me here; this is definitely not something you would want to tell a student! It's just a nice change for me and is actually very relieving.

I have seen more improvement in my playing these last 6 months than I have in all my years of playing the trumpet. I'm changing my approach back to what it was is my younger years. I think of all the notes being equal; playing a double g should have the same mentality as playing a low g. I try to convince myself that whatever needs to be changed in the embouchure to reach different registers will happen naturally. I don't need to give myself a heart attack by analysing the countless details that go into playing a single note. I just do it. Playing the trumpet in the upper register is not an incredible feat.

I have also been using a technique that my previous trumpet instructor has taught me. As I play I imagine that I am actually playing a low C the entire time. I try to emulate the same feel and relaxation that I would when playing an open & relaxed low C. I also picture the note in my head. All that needs to be changed from here is the size of the aperture and air flow, but this happens unconciously. This method has been EXTREMELY helpful to me!

I do still catch myself from time to time freaking out when I approach high notes; usually when I'm not thinking about low C. Old habits die hard. In a way, you have to trick yourself into thinking that you're playing a much lower note than you actually are in order to keep yourself relaxed.

I am now convinced that a strong mental approach to playing the trumpet is the primary foundation to all other aspects of trumpet playing. I just wish this were stressed more in teaching - especially for beginners.

I would really like to know if there are any good books/articles on the subject of the psychology of playing the trumpet (or any other brass instrument perhaps). I would also really like to hear what anybody else thinks about this subject.

Thanks!
Paul Newcomb

[ This Message was edited by: paulnewcomb on 2003-11-15 14:09 ]

[ This Message was edited by: paulnewcomb on 2003-11-22 19:00 ]

[mafields627]

I'm currently a college junior and up until a short time ago, was a music education major. For various reasons (including stress and the "I suck" mentality) I decided to change majors. About a week ago in my lesson, my teacher made the comment that I have been playing so much better since I decided to drop the music major. As a non-major, I've realized that I don't have to live up to the standard that the freshman prodigy girl is setting or the other advanced players that are in my year. I merely play for me now, and it's paying off. I used to spend time fiddling with exercises and range methods and lip slurs until my lips fell off. The best thing for me was just to get on first part in marching band and have to play in the upper register for an hour and a half every day. This morning when we were warming up as an ensemble I slipped in a double C at the end of a chord progression -- never been able to do it before. I played the E, went for the G and didn't stop.

One thing that my teacher has been stressing with me is not to focus on the notes -- it's ok to miss a note or two as long as you're focusing on the music. Some might disagree with that but, I believe that there really is something to the "paralysis by over-analysis" idea. When I'm teaching my student, I play a G on top of the staff and she things that's high. To me, it's not a high note -- I don't even think of it as being in the upper register. When I tell her that it's not a high note she trips out on me, but it's slowly changing as she develops a better control over that note herself.

One of my favorite things to do is to go down in the basement, or anywhere in the house when i'm home along, close my eyes and just play -- nothing specific, just whatever comes out. Focus solely on the sound coming out of the horn. Try to do things you've never done on the horn, or didn't think you can. I think that when you've eliminated all distractions, a new level of playing will be opened to you.
_________________
--Matt--

No representation is made that the quality of this post is greater than the quality of that of any other poster. Oh, and get a teacher!

[trumpetplayer87]

Welcome Paul (and hi Matt!),

My range is horrible, I've always thought it was really hard to play up there. I've been anticipating an audition for months. I thought it was a hard piece (and played it accordingly!), so I'd not practice the piece, just because I couldn't stand the way it sounded when I played badly. Last night, I had the opportunity to talk to the lead player of the Air Force Academy Band (great band!). He said for range, you need to relax, and just learn how to play up there. Don't try to think about the mechanics of it. Just try to play up there. Listen to what comes out of your horn. With the audition out of the way (and I think I sucessfully failed) I'm going to work more on this theory, and I think it'll really work!! It's worked for this guy..and he's incredible. Anyhow...that's my $.02, and if you're at a point where you're not finding a solution, it can't hurt to try.

Bonnie

[plp]

Now wait just one minute here people.....you mean y'all suspect there is a mental approach to trumpet playing? And that performance anxiety can adversely affect development in range, tone quality, technique, etc.? You might be on to something here......

Now that my tongue is removed from my cheek, you are exactly right in your observations. In the past almost year of reading this forum, this same question has been said in so many different ways, but all comes down to the same answer. Confidence in one's ability is a fundamental, just as important as breath, setup, or any other physical aspect of playing. If you think you suck, you will project your expectations to the point that you will suck. Happened to me 22 years ago, to the point I put it in the case and didn't open it again until 10 months ago. This is entirely the wrong thing to do, in life as well as trumpet playing. If you are not challenged, you will not progress. According to the pros here, there is a school of thought that you should always suck when you practice, i.e. always practice beyond your current ability. All the high note methods I have read say essentially the same thing, play as high in practice as you can go, and the only way to know how high that is is go until you fail.
If you choose to go the route I have chosen, playing for enjoyment, for me, with no performances or goals, then know you will never get beyond a certain level. If trumpet playing is a hobby, fine, no problem. If you choose to make a joyful noise, and have that noise heard by others, you have to accept that it becomes work, and you have to develop the mental attitude that while there is always someone better, you can be better today than you were yesterday.

Relax, and play musically, rather than technically in performance. I never knew there was a difference when I was a student. A golf instructor asked me what I thought about on my backswing. I started to recite a litany of knee and elbow position, wrist pivot, etc. He said that was my problem. At that point, all I should be thinking about is hitting the little ball with the stick. Range, direction, club selection, ball placement should all be decided before I stepped onto the tee box, and the technical aspects of the swing should be done on the driving range. Your driving range is the practice room. Develop your technique there. Gain the confidence for performance in rehersal. When you get to the stage, think about the music and forget about how you produce the music.

[trumpetdiva1]

Maynard Ferguson told his lead trumpet player Patrick Hession to "look down at high notes" and not up. This is Maynard's approach to it and has changed my perspective on looking at the upper register. Now I have to go and practice this approach.

[JackD]

I have exactly the same problem. I think it is important to be conscious of the use of pressure (for me, this is connected to the 'stress' of high register playing) and to focus on pushing more air through. It's sort of like a catch-22: you can't play confidently in the high register until you're confident you can play in the high register.

[trumpetmike]

When I was learning, no-one told me the upper register was supposed to be difficult.

I was quite happy playing above the stave and didn't think anything of it. Only once I started playing at a higher (pardon the pun!) level did anyone express any surprise that I could hit a double C.

I try and get a similar attitude in my students. If you don't consider a note high, the chances are better that you won't panic about it beforehand. If they say that a note is too high I will ask them why they think it is too high. If they just say that it is too high I will play it up an octave for them to prove that it isn't really that high. It seems to work.
Some of them are very relaxed about hitting high C (a couple of twelve year olds seem to think it's very funny to put the last notes in a piece up an octave, because they can - good lads ) and I am sure that a lot of it boils down to the fact that I have never told them that these notes are difficult.

[trumpetplayer87]

Hahaha, I tried relaxing today, and I still couldn't hit any higher than C. Then I just was standing there, and I looked in the mirror and had my eyes opened the next time I tried, and a D came out with hardly any effort! I have a habit of scrunching up my face when I play up high. No more! Concentrate on keeping everything open.....lol

Bonnie

[paulnewcomb]

Thanks for all the replies everybody.

I guess what I really wanted was some reference to any good books or articles that refer to the subject of psychology & trumpet playing. I am very happy with how I play and the way I am finally able to relax in the upper register. I would just like to find material that can help me even further.

Any suggestions?
Thanks!

Paul Newcomb

[DaveH]

I can't really add anything to the discussion on the "up tight" state of mind as it relates to range, but I do believe that in general, it does affect the whole trumpet playing experience...I know that I played my best under relaxed and enjoyable conditions...when those conditions were absent, things took a downturn...

A few years ago, I was involved in a playing situation with a few of these "trained" players with their performance degrees and music degrees. Not just on trumpet, but with some other instruments in other sections as well.

I found this experience to be very stressful due to the attitudinal approach that some of these people took toward the instrument and performance. I also believe that the "life and death" approach that they had hindered their own playing at times. After about six years of that situation, I quit. I also found that over that time, my attitude toward the trumpet changed for the worse. I found myself getting to the place where I did not want to play or even enjoy it anymore. And all this was occurring in an all volunteer church orchestra. There wasn't even any money involved. Most of these people didn't have any perspective on themselves either; although they might have been so called big fish in the local, small pond, they would have drowned in the big pond of the real world, had they actually tried to compete with some other top pro players in the big pond...

Before I got into this situation, I loved playing the trumpet. During my time in that orchestra, my playing skills actually worsened, even though I had other "professional" type players around. My attitude toward the instrument soured.

I feel better about playing again because I now approach it for fun and amusement. I do not play for a living. Music is not my career. So, I do what I can to the best of my ability, but there is no pressure to be something or do something in a certain way, or meet some kind of group expectation. And, I am probably playing better now than I was at that time.

I think you benefit from a challenge, but I think it should be a challenge of your own choosing. One that you are free to meet or adjust as needed. And if you have a day where you just don't feel like it, that's no big deal...

My father, formerly a high school band director and accomplished pianist, used to tell me that performance anxiety would substantially alter a player's abilities. He used to say that it wasn't uncommon for the usual level of playing skill to be reduced by as much as 50% due to the physical impact of stress, etc...

[ This Message was edited by: DaveH on 2003-11-22 07:59 ]

[Blue Devil]

Paul -

Great post and great responses from everybody. One specific book that I have read on performance-related issues is "The Inner Game of Tennis" by W. Timothy Gallwey. I don't know if you're familiar with the book or not (it's been around for a long time), but the author - a tennis pro - originally wrote the book as a guide for tennis specifically, despite the fact that only one chapter in the entire book is directed toward physical tennis technique. The book quickly took on a life of it's own and achieved trmendous success when everybody started to realize that what the author wrote can be applied to a lot more than just tennis. The book is about "general performance" of anything - sports, music, any other day-to-day carreer, life. I had heard about the book before as applied to music, and finally decided to buy it and read it a couple of years ago. I really think the author is dead-on with his observations of performers and what happens within ourselves during performance situations, and his accompanying advice.

The success of this book spawned other similar books - "The Inner Game of Golf", "Inner Skiing", "The Inner Game of Fencing" to name a few. There is also an "Inner Game of Music" that most people involved with music would be tempted to jump to first (seems logical, right?). While I have read Tennis, but not Music, I did buy Music and have browsed through it. The original Tennis author didn't write the Music book, he only consulted on it. I have noticed in the Music book that a lot of it has specific exercises to play that obviously are specific to music, which I think is kind of contradictory to what was the case with the Tennis book. I have also heard the comment that the best part of the Music book is the first couple of chapters that explain the "Inner Game of Tennis" concepts. I'm not trying to criticize the Music book since I haven't read it fully yet (I do plan on reading it), I'm just recommending to read the Tennis book first, since those were the original author's original concepts.

Another performance book that a friend recommended is "A Soprano On Her Head" - I haven't read that book either, but it's also supposed to be a good book.

Mike Trzesniak

[hazmat]

I agree with the mentality. And of course it can be applied to every aspect of playing. Whenever I am giving lessons to younger, more influential students, I always keep one thing the same. I try to never say something is hard or tough or that other people have problems. Sometimes I will even go as far as saying that I expect them to pick it up no problem being easy and all (But I don't like to do this because then it can instill false hope). This approach almost always works for me now. They tend to work themselves until they get it instead of saying "Well it's hard and it will take me a long time." I'm not saying that this is the best approach to everyone's playing because lying to yourself is not good. But isn't that what you are doing when you think you can't get it as well?

Yet again my $0.02

[Fast Freddy]

I've always felt that playing an instrument is 98% mental 2% physical. Granted, just thinking you can play double C doesn't mean you can, your level of development will still dictate what is possible for you at a given point. Your mental approach however will make every aspect of your playing better and much easier.

Don Jacoby wrote a book many years ago, and I still have a copy somewhere, that talked a great deal about the mental approach necessary in playing the trumpet. It really changed the way I looked at trumpet playing... highly recommended. I'll dig around and see if the book is still available if you're interested. I seem to remember having to write someone in Texas to get the book... it's been many years though.

Good luck.

[trumpetXcore]

I have to be careful not to overcompensate, I find sometimes the note is closer than I think. From 2 years of lessons one of the most important things I've learned is to see the note as further away rather than higher, helps you put more air through the horn, it is a mind game.

[_Don Herman]

A book? On the mental aspects of playing? Hmmm.... Let me think a minute... How about these?

Arnold Jacobs: Song and Wind, Brian Frederiksen, Windsong Press

Arnold Jacobs: The Legacy of a Master, Collected by M. Dee Stewart, The Instrumentalist Publishing Company

Great insights into trumpets and people who play them, and a few other brass instruments.

Thanks to Charly Raymond for this one (others have, too, but he's the one who got me to buy it):

Zen in the Art of Archery, Eugen Herrigel, Vintage Books (div. of Randomhouse)

HTH - Don
_________________
Don Herman/Monument, CO
"After silence, that which best expresses the inexpressible, is music." - Aldous Huxley

[cperret]

I think Don's made some excellent suggestions - Arnold Jacob material is the first thing that comes to mind...

I'd like to add a few, if I may:

-The Inner Game of Tennis (believe me, the best of the 'inner game' series)
-Effortless Mastery, by Kenny Werner (focuses on Jazz players, but applies to all)

[Annie]

Lol, I actually experienced an interesting phenomenon recently with playing high and mentality.

Before my lesson this week, I closed my eyes and listened to a recording of Wynton playing the first movement of the Hadyn in the PAC's "Hang out area" - Green Room. Also, before hand, I had concentrated a lot on relaxing - in five days I went from my instructor telling me to start learning the bottom line to not even mentioning it! Anyone else find listening to recordings of great players helps them play better/relax?
_________________
~Annie

*I may not be great yet, but I'm working hard on it and one day I'm gonna be there.*

[AccentOnTrumpet]

[Chaser]

Ok, this might be hard to explain, but someone gave me an image that helped alot 15 years ago as a high school student.

The 'slots' on notes are much wider the lower you go and much closer together the higher you go. It's almost like standing on traintracks and looking at the crossties. They are (due to the distance perception illusion) very close when you look 50 yards ahead, but very wide right there at your feet. This means that all things being equal, it requires more 'work' to slur from lower harmonics (low c to g on the staff) than it does to slur the upper harmonics (say high e to high f or g.) So, the higher we go, the less lip/embouchure movement thus making you that much closer to the next highest note.
To drill the point home, he had me do lip slurs from low c to middle g specifically concentrating on how solid the 'wall' between the two notes was (the edge of the slot) and then do the same thing for Bb above the staff (fingered open) to high c. It felt much easier to break through the wall on that slot, and it was even easier on high e to high f.

I know that it was all a mind game, but when I felt like (providing my embouchure strength was sufficient) the higher notes were 'closer together' I immediately became more sure and adept playing above a high c. After you rach high a (and lose the horn slotting the notes for you) you can wrinkle your nose (j/k I just meant that it's very easy with very little movement of anything) and go from high Bb to dbl c.

[NTlead]

On somewhat of the same point as the previous post: I read this somewhere recently.

Most people think of playing notes as sort of a ladder going up (probably because of the way music is written) with all the notes on each rung, and they keep trying to get higher and higher, but it's mentally (and physically) exhausting.

He suggests setting it up where instead of thinking up on those high notes, put the base of the ladder by you, pointing away, with the higher notes gradually getting farther and farther out.

I was never able to do it, but supposedly this is a good mind tactic.