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What is your range?


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What is the highest note you can hit reliably?
G (sitting top position of staff)
4%
 4%  [ 7 ]
A above the staff
4%
 4%  [ 6 ]
B above the staff
0%
 0%  [ 1 ]
C above the staff
15%
 15%  [ 22 ]
D above the staff
21%
 21%  [ 31 ]
E above the staff
9%
 9%  [ 14 ]
F above the staff
18%
 18%  [ 27 ]
G above the staff
9%
 9%  [ 14 ]
Beyond G above the staff
14%
 14%  [ 21 ]
Total Votes : 143

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ashenfang
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 10, 2018 1:57 pm    Post subject: What is your range? Reply with quote

Curious to see what everyone's upper range is. As in, the highest note you can reliably hit - not squeak out.
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cheiden
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 10, 2018 2:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've cast my vote though I take issue with the description of notes you can "hit". To my mind, that sounds like notes you swing at and sometimes you hit them and sometimes you don't, which isn't a very good metric. I suspect that what you really want to know is how high can folks reliably play.
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Christian K. Peters
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 10, 2018 3:02 pm    Post subject: What note Reply with quote

Hello all,
Somebody once quoted that 98% of trumpet playing was below C above the staff. So, unless you have the specialty of the lead book or equivalent, that might be good enough. I voted. I have a playable range to E all the time, tired or not, and am able to continue whatever I am playing without much problem. Ask me to play an F or F#, and I am kind of wasted after that. There is not much reason to go beyond, for me, except for bragging rights. Though I have attained the G's in Satin Doll from time to time. Certainly not with reliability. There you have an honest appraisal of my ability.
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Brassnose
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 10, 2018 8:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I am with CK Peters here. I can play a high e but really only need it rarely. I am not a lead or similar player and most of the time there is no need to go above high c. As another player on the german Trompetenforum put it: blow in nicely and it will come out nicely ... being in tune and time withe the rest of the band/orchestra is more important to me at the moment than being Mini Maynard
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Brassnose
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 10, 2018 9:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oh, I forgot. Playing high did get a lot easier after consistently practinging my air support and toungue along with an embouchure change a few years ago. Plus I switched back from Monette to my very first mouthpiece, a Klier USA 5C from 1980.
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Croquethed
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2018 3:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

For anything above high C, my manager comes out, takes my mouthpiece, says good job, and calls Lionel in from the bullpen.
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Yamahaguy
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2018 5:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Playing up to double D reliably is not an issue, although I really don't need
to on a daily basis. The majority of what I get paid to do doesn't require me
to play above a high C...although sometimes there are G's and A's above
that are optional, but are by no means necessary.
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jhatpro
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2018 6:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I sold all the horns that would tempt me to try to play above the highest note in West End Blues.
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TrumpetMD
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2018 6:41 am    Post subject: Re: What is your range? Reply with quote

ashenfang wrote:
Curious to see what everyone's upper range is. As in, the highest note you can reliably hit - not squeak out.

These questions can be interesting, but the answers are often skewed, because not everyone replies. If this was an accurate survey, with everyone replying, the majority of people would likely select option 1, 2, or 3. But at this point in the poll, the majority of respondents state they can play above a C.

Mike
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ohnecael
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2018 8:00 am    Post subject: Re: What is your range? Reply with quote

TrumpetMD wrote:
ashenfang wrote:
Curious to see what everyone's upper range is. As in, the highest note you can reliably hit - not squeak out.

These questions can be interesting, but the answers are often skewed, because not everyone replies. If this was an accurate survey, with everyone replying, the majority of people would likely select option 1, 2, or 3. But at this point in the poll, the majority of respondents state they can play above a C.

Mike


Thats the problem with these polls as well. some people just answer they can play above at or above a high c just to inflate thier own egos irreguardless, most playing really doesnt require that range in most settings if you arent a lead player which most of us aren't anyway so it doesnt really matter that much.
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John Mohan
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2018 11:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

jhatpro wrote:
I sold all the horns that would tempt me to try to play above the highest note in West End Blues.



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Brad361
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 12, 2018 7:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Regarding who needs a range above second ledger line C: depends on the genre....which I guess is obvious.
If you’re playing primarily concert/ community band/orchestra, first part, C-D above the staff pretty much adequate. Big band lead or second part, and for LOTS of other “commercial” settings, you really need a solid, useable F AND HIGHER above that. I doubt that guys like John (above) could get by with just a C-D.

One thing I remind my students of is if your top end is maybe F, your C-D should be stronger, better quality and more useable.

Brad
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DaveH
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 12, 2018 8:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes, in my opinion, this is the most significant generality for the development of usable and playable range above second ledger line C (what we used to call high C)....it is like having more horsepower in the engine. In general, the more "headroom" (high end), the potentially easier and more effortless the "cruising" speed (the normal or ordinary range). My musical demands never required more, but then I can only speak for myself and what makes up my own personal experiences.

And, of course, a good low register is needed as well.

But, I think you can be a good trumpet player with a reasonable and usable range - to high C or thereabouts. When I was taking lessons and playing regularly many years ago, it seemed that high C was the goal by the senior year in high school for anyone who was a serious player taking private lessons. Anything that was added after and beyond that was "extra credit", helping to provide a more effortless lower and middle range.
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John Mohan
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 12, 2018 10:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Brad361 wrote:
Regarding who needs a range above second ledger line C: depends on the genre....which I guess is obvious.
If you’re playing primarily concert/ community band/orchestra, first part, C-D above the staff pretty much adequate. Big band lead or second part, and for LOTS of other “commercial” settings, you really need a solid, useable F AND HIGHER above that. I doubt that guys like John (above) could get by with just a C-D.

One thing I remind my students of is if your top end is maybe F, your C-D should be stronger, better quality and more useable.

Brad


Well said Brad. In the playing situations that the vast majority of trumpet players encounter, a good solid High C will suffice - and a solid High D is icing on the cake.

And you are right, there's no way on earth I would have gotten hired to play any of the major musicals I did if I couldn't play (not just "hit") the highest notes in the shows, which were at minimum, an E above High C (in Hunchback, and there were a number of them, and also I remember Phantom as just going up to E) and in most other shows, somewhere around an F to a G. Starlight Express has a written Double B and The Producers has a sixteenth note run up to High C that has Up 8va in the ink, though after playing it once I was told by the Music Director to never take it up again (the band for that production played in a small room off stage and that room had no sound absorbing material except a heavy curtain on one wall and my bell was pointed directly toward the side of the MD's head and only about 6 feet from him).

I will add this: Through out my career we who were chair holders on the shows always had to deal with trumpet players who wanted to be subs but just couldn't hack it because they were obsessed with high notes. Many of them could play higher - a lot higher - than us full-timers could. But they were "musically challenged" (no pun intended). Bad tone, bad intonation and not accurate. But they could peel paint off of walls with amazing high notes. Well, most of them could. The saddest cases were the ones who obsessed about high notes at the cost of all reasonable playing ability, yet couldn't even play them well.

Claude Gordon often said to me, "Don't worry about the high notes. High notes are inevitable if you are practicing correctly! They'll develop right along with the rest of the machine."

My own experience as a player and now a teacher confirms that he was right.

Best wishes,

John Mohan
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JetJaguar
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 12, 2018 12:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sub-poll

At what point in this thread will the fists start flying?:

-first page
-second page
-third page
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bike&ed
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 12, 2018 1:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

John Mohan wrote:
Brad361 wrote:
Regarding who needs a range above second ledger line C: depends on the genre....which I guess is obvious.
If you’re playing primarily concert/ community band/orchestra, first part, C-D above the staff pretty much adequate. Big band lead or second part, and for LOTS of other “commercial” settings, you really need a solid, useable F AND HIGHER above that. I doubt that guys like John (above) could get by with just a C-D.

One thing I remind my students of is if your top end is maybe F, your C-D should be stronger, better quality and more useable.

Brad


Well said Brad. In the playing situations that the vast majority of trumpet players encounter, a good solid High C will suffice - and a solid High D is icing on the cake.

And you are right, there's no way on earth I would have gotten hired to play any of the major musicals I did if I couldn't play (not just "hit") the highest notes in the shows, which were at minimum, an E above High C (in Hunchback, and there were a number of them, and also I remember Phantom as just going up to E) and in most other shows, somewhere around an F to a G. Starlight Express has a written Double B and The Producers has a sixteenth note run up to High C that has Up 8va in the ink, though after playing it once I was told by the Music Director to never take it up again (the band for that production played in a small room off stage and that room had no sound absorbing material except a heavy curtain on one wall and my bell was pointed directly toward the side of the MD's head and only about 6 feet from him).

I will add this: Through out my career we who were chair holders on the shows always had to deal with trumpet players who wanted to be subs but just couldn't hack it because they were obsessed with high notes. Many of them could play higher - a lot higher - than us full-timers could. But they were "musically challenged" (no pun intended). Bad tone, bad intonation and not accurate. But they could peel paint off of walls with amazing high notes. Well, most of them could. The saddest cases were the ones who obsessed about high notes at the cost of all reasonable playing ability, yet couldn't even play them well.

Claude Gordon often said to me, "Don't worry about the high notes. High notes are inevitable if you are practicing correctly! They'll develop right along with the rest of the machine."

My own experience as a player and now a teacher confirms that he was right.

Best wishes,

John Mohan
Skype Lessons Available - Click on the e-mail button below if interested


Awesome commentary as always John! I will not toss my hat in the poll, but rather will say that, on more than one occasion, I have replaced players who can make higher-frequency sounds on a trumpet than I can... 😇
(Oh, and I’ve played lead on The Producers twice, but I cannot effectively execute that 8va run, quite unlike Mr. Mohan)
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GardyParty_11
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 12, 2018 11:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I find myself playing a lot more piccolo trumpet these days. A school group I played in earlier this semester did the Millar Brass arrangement of Wagner's Meistersinger, so I'm working to expand my accessible and reliable range just in case I need F#'s and G's in the future like I did a few months ago. Also, it would be cool to have Brandenburg chops on demand.
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nieuwguyski
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 15, 2018 12:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I played the lead book on a big band dance gig tonight. The highest note was an F in the Nat King Cole arrangement of "Walkin' My Baby Back Home."

My vote in the poll was that F.

I just wish all the gigs I play with this band limited the lead trumpet range to F's.
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jhatpro
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 15, 2018 2:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I asked our tuba player what his range was and he said "about 15 yards." His horn looks like it, too.
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Blackquill
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 24, 2018 10:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This may sound strange, but on a regular trumpet I can only play a high C (concert B-flat) almost always, but I can play high D only sometimes. On a picc, though, I can play a high E (concert D) consistently.
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