A handy shortcut if you want to use less arm pressure.

[Lionel]

Note: This is not a post which either condones nor condemns the Stevens-Costello System. I have merely taken one simple exercise from the system and worked through. Again I'm certainly not a complete advocate of Stevens System. In fact a good sized portion of the approach didnt work for me at all. I just want to emphasize one point from his book.

I try to remind myself that different trumpet players follow different paths. So that things which seem important to me? Well they might not be the best path for you. And so far as high range is concerned? What works well for someone like me could be pure anathema for someone else. So please dont think that what I'm suggesting is something that I consider is always "The Holy Word" in trumpet playing.

However that being said? I still notice a good number of people struggling with some of the same things that used to stymie and make my own trumpet just a bloody chore at times. Instead of a joy. Which brings me to the topic:

Reduction of arm pressure to increase endurance, range and power. Maybe I should add "to gain flexibility, accuracy and control" to this list too. Because as my upper register would start to "decay" as a reult of playing high notes with extra arm pressure? Then other technical skills would break down at a similar rate too. In one of his many excellent videos Maynard spoke of the "Five minute hero". This the guy who could pound the high G's like you wouldnt believe. Yep he sure did.

For five minutes. Then he was cooked. Stick a fork in him. He's done. And this was exactly how I used to play in my younger days. Impressive high notes! Big sound. Totally worthless after the first set...

So back in the day the way I handled it was through compromise. I didnt really need to play high F to keep the gig. So I just stayed at high C. And took a liitle volume off the tone too. Just so I could stay in the game. That at least kept me in playing paying gigs.

Now this arm pressure compromise wasnt a bad idea at all. That and it kept me employed but there was more that I sought. In fact it really wasnt until many years later when through various forms of practice, work and experimentation my upper register sort of "clicked" into shape. At this point, May of 2017 I wasnt employed making music aa much as before but I still felt duty bound to get my act together. To have all my skills working but for five hours a day. Not 5 minutes.

Enter the "Palm Practice Technique". But not following the Roy Stevens method. Just playing my normal way. I'm not an "upstream" player. Nor do I throw my jaw out. I dont shoot for those extremely high, wispy statics which the Stevens System advocates insist upon implementing. I can not play a Triple C. Maybe I will some day but my double C is a dandy. I'm okay with just that.

I better end this post quick or it'll soon turn into a "pro-Stevens system" topic. Or maybe an "anti Stevens system chat. I dont want that at all. Isnt my point. And that's if the+ post doesnt get ignored altogether anyway. So please please consider incorporating a little palm practice into your regular practice. Both long tones and flexibility studies. And again, forget about changing your embouchure like Stevens does and/or blowing those wispy little statics and squeaks. Unless of course you find that system helpful.

What I absolutely love about the palm practice technique is HOW QUICKLY IT BUILDS ANYONE's chops up. That's just from playing normally. That and the most important thing Ive found with practicing on my palm was not to first try and play as high as I could. But just play ordinary stuff on it. Things like flexibility studies, bugle calls and articulation. Low C to a mere G top of the staff. I want my chops to feel nice and relaxed. Until I start to feel right at home with the horn's valve casing weighing on my palm. Then and only then do I want to start taking it on up.

My point here is to,

Just get comfortable playing with the horn resting on my palm. Yes just playing ordinary stuff with the horn barely just layin there truly seems to develop my upper register skills as well or almost as well as anything I've tried before.

In fact as the horn began to feel "at one" while just laying on the palm? My ease of playing high notes followed almost automatically from that point on.
_________________
"Check me if I'm wrong Sandy but if I kill all the golfers they're gonna lock me up & throw away the key"!

Carl Spackler (aka Bill Murray, 1980).

[Shaft]

🎺
_________________
🎺

[tomba51]

In a similar vein, a technique that I find helpful is to balance the horn on your 2 thumbs. The right thumb is positioned under the lead pipe, between the mouthpiece and the valves. The left thumb is placed between the valves and the bell. It is easier for me to finger the valves using this technique than using the palm method.
_________________
Tom Barreca

[GeorgeB]

Great post, Lionel. I combine the palm method with a 19/30 exercise: playing 19 notes starting at middle C and down chromatically, holding each note for 30 seconds, resting 30 seconds, etc. I do this at least twice a week or more often when I find myself slipping back to using too much left arm.
_________________
GeorgeB
1960s King Super 20 Silversonic
2016 Manchester Brass Custom
1938-39 Olds Recording
1942 Buescher 400 Bb trumpet
1952 Selmer Paris 21 B
1999 Conn Vintage One B flat trumpet
2020 Getzen 490 Bb
1962 Conn Victor 5A cornet

[John Mohan]

Though not as radical as the Palm Exercise or similar exercise where almost no pressure is used, I instruct my students to do something in the Part Two exercises of Claude Gordon's Systematic Approach to Daily Practice book that is different than what Claude instructed. Claude felt that one shouldn't worry about how much mouthpiece pressure they use, but instead, let proper practice and development take care of the amount of pressure used. My own experience over the years led me to realize I was using too much pressure on the higher notes, causing a situation where around G above High C my lips were being clamped against my teeth to the point where they could not move under the mouthpiece to assume the position they needed to be in to attain a good, free vibration for the notes above the G above High C, causing a stagnation in my range.

I was able to overcome this problem by starting to attempt to use the same amount of mouthpiece pressure on the top note of each Systematic Approach high range arpeggio exercise as what I used on the note an octave below that top note. Even though it makes it feel harder to get up to that top note, counter-intuitively, this helped me break down the barrier I was encountering at the G above High C, and reach the higher notes. Doing this - limiting the pressure used on the highest note to the level used for the note an octave lower not only freed my lip to be able to move to the position needed for those higher notes, but it also forced me to rely more on the air power, control of the air power via the arching tongue, and embouchure muscles to get the notes.

I hope this info is helpful.

Cheers,

John Mohan
Skype Lessons Available - Click on the e-mail button below if interested
_________________
Trumpet Player, Clinician & Teacher
1st Trpt for Cats, Phantom of the Opera, West Side Story, Evita, Hunchback of Notre Dame,
Grease, The Producers, Addams Family, In the Heights, etc.
Ex LA Studio Musician
16 Year Claude Gordon Student

[Lionel]

Good replies all.

And apparently no one took my initial post as dogma. Thank goodness.. As even several great players can crank up the arm pressure yet still play well. From what Lynn Nicholson said online Maynard used more arm pressure than did he. And some sources say that Wayne Bergeron needs to jam pretty good for his double C.

So obviously extra arm pressure works okay for some. As for me though? If I may say my greatest "gift" as a trumpet player was that the upper register did not come so easily. Instead I needed to read everything I could find. That and keep some tidbits from most every system. Then discard even a few ideas from systems which I otherwise bought into almost completely.

Like John my initial ability to play the high notes came as a result of the pedal tone system from which Claude Gordon initially developed his plan fom brass players. Instead my first method that addressed the extreme upper register was "The Louis Maggio System For Brass".

His was a heavy pedal tone practice and significantly puckered chop formation. The "Maggio Monkey" I think they called it. For me it was a system which initially helped me develop a fat high F. Unfortunately I needed to jam pretty good to hit it. However a high school junior with a useable high F (concert!) was a pretty rare thing. And by my freshman year in college I beat out all the music majors for the lead trumpet job in the jazz ensemble. Even including all the upper class men. But was relying only upon arm pressure and sheer determination. I think you call it "guts".

Anyway if I'm able to emphasize just one thing? That is to just learn to get comfortable playing ordinary middle & lower register materials with the horn resting upon the palm. For some reason just the ability to gain comfort with the horn resting on the palm was a godsend to me. Ot helped developed the onner musculature which allowed the really high notes.

At first however I did not do this. Instead I tried to go up the ladder with horn on my palm. Going as high as possible. Initially stymied at a weak E above high C? I worked a year ot so and could only just barely squeak a high G. Thst however was when I decided just to learn how to get comfortable on the palm. I forgot trying to play as high as possible just for gaining in over all technique. This was when I also found the fantastic mouthpiece which I play today. We're going back some 2 & 1/2 years to May, 2017.

It seemed that having the best mouthpieve for my condition and just learning to gain comfort playing on the palm have helped me turn the corner. I can now get close to a double forte on the high G with horn ONLY ON MY PALM! That and just yesterday I nailed another good double C at a little better than forte. Again,

Only on the palm of my hand! And as stated its still a work in progress. However within six months from now I think we'll start seeing some serious scream notes from old Lionel. Without any embouchure change. Just common sense and perseverance.
Thanks all!
_________________
"Check me if I'm wrong Sandy but if I kill all the golfers they're gonna lock me up & throw away the key"!

Carl Spackler (aka Bill Murray, 1980).

[Trumpetingbynurture]

In Chop Builders Pops shows a way of holding the horn so you can play without much pressure. basically you just hang the horn on the thumb and pinky of the left hand, without gripping.

On another note, i think the rim makes a huge difference to how,much pressure you play with. For me, that rounded Del Staigers style rim you get on all the Claude Gordon pieces works like training wheels. It actually seems to slightly grip your face without any sharp edges, so you don't need to pull it into your face. And if you do start pulling too much things will stop vibrating pretty quickly so it keeps you on the straight and narrow.

[Lionel]