Consistency and expanding the extreme upper register.

[number juan]

So I would like to think I have a pretty decent range for a high school senior. however, my consistency isn't where I'd want it to be, in a classical setting anyways. In jazz I can do 4th line GS, and higher, with a DHC on any given day, and even when tired. But for some reason, when in my regular band class, everything feels so much harder. Anything above the staff has a 10% percent chance of being cracked, when already playing, and if an entrance, like a 30% chance. How can I pass what I'm assuming is a mental thing to become more solid in my normal playing?

And with that asked, how can I work on the extreme upper register, without killing myself, and without too much free time at home. At the moment l, most of the practice I get is from playing in school, and during lunch, not so much at home because I can't be taking my horn home every day. At the moment my absolute limit is around an E or F above DHC, but definitely wouldn't want to perform with that, or play them in front of a director. Just what can I work on with my limited practice time

[Brad361]

If you’re in high school and you honestly have a double C, that’s not just a “squeak” or basically a sound effect, you’re ahead (in range anyway) of most people your age.

However, you said “At the moment, most of the practice I get is from playing in school, and during lunch, not so much at home because I can't be taking my horn home every day.”
So you don’t practice at home because taking your horn home is too much trouble?? Really? 😳

Not to sound negative or discouraging here, but playing in school band rehearsals is NOT the same thing as practicing, not if you really want to improve. If you REALLY want to improve, and not just your upper register, you’ll probably need to change how you’re doing things.

Brad

[number juan]

I know I don't practice as much as I should. But I really can't. My bus leaves really fast after school, and our band hall is on the opposite side of the school. If I go to get my horn, I'd miss the bus, and my parents can't afford to be picking me up from school. Anything they provide more than basic necessities is a big sacrifice from them as it is.
I said lunch, but it's really my entire 3rd period because my teacher let's me leave as I'm a student aid. So I really get an hour and a half of individual practice a day.
And yes, I actually do have a DHC that doesn't sound like an effect. Not perfect, and needs work like anything else, but it's there enough for me to be comfortable if I was asked to play a C at any given time. Please forgive me if I sound like I'm letting any ego slip through

[Brad361]

[number juan]

My tone varies from ok to good, depending on random little things. but never bad. flexibility is okay for me. i cant play fast, moving octave jumps on the first try, but i can learn stuff like that with some practice. consistency is always an issue, an im still trying to always be able to do certain entrances. endurance could always be better. i can double tongue and triple tongue, but i find it really hard and frustrating to do either while moving fingers, but so far i havent had a reason to practice that, as any tongued technical passages, ive been able to get away with single tonguing. low register is either full and rich, or kinda airy, like not wanting to produce a sound. and i just remembered, i dont very much like my staccatos. especially with pauses in between, and with anything above the staff. feels, weird. like, not classy enough. i have more stuff to say about my personal playing flaws, but i have general ideas on how to work on each. except the consistency thing. because it shouldnt be that much of an issue

[LSOfanboy]

Ok, so it sounds to me like you have your playing priorities all wrong.

I'm all for upper register development, but (regardless of whether it sounds good or not) having a DHC is pretty irrelevant to being a good player and, without wanting to sound mean- if, as you have yourself said, you are unreliable on entries above the stave (even if that's just in band) and 'can't play fast', then you're not a very useful player to anyone.

If you want to actually get serious about your playing then you should change the way you think about playing. Comments like 'I can reach an E or F above a DHC' are just silly. You should be sitting down to improve the weakest elements of your playing, and things that actually matter. I know you've vaguely mentioned these things, but ask yourself honestly:

How is your articulation? Can you tongue softly and smoothly, or with a clean staccato? Can you double tongue reliably and evenly? Triple tongue? Tongue below the stave (or above)?

What about playing scales? Can you reliably play all major/minor scales? (Bit of a silly one, but why not aim for something like this... https://youtu.be/VwO0GoqjnVE )

Then we get onto soft playing? Do you have a reliable quiet dynamic? How about playing above the stave at pp?

As a pro player I can tell you there are people who I respect for their 'range' and most of those guys would say they don't have a good Double A or Double C, most don't even try. But if you're on a session or show, and there is an entry on a high C or D, they'll virtually never miss. If you want to be considered as a high calibre player, it is far more important to really 'own' some of the notes just above high C than get bogged down talking about DHC.

I have two solutions for your trumpet/bus conundrum: either carry your trumpet with your after lunch (instead of leaving it on the other side of school) or see if you can buy yourself an inexpensive second instrument to keep at home that you are able to practice on.

Hope you heed some of that advice.

[Robert P]

[HERMOKIWI]

If you sometimes play the notes cleanly but also sometimes crack and/or miss the notes the problem is an inconsistent application of technique. In other words, sometimes you do it right and sometimes you do it wrong.

The fact that sometimes you do it right is encouraging because that shows that more consistency is possible. The difficult part of this is fully understanding the mechanical differences between doing it right and doing it wrong so that you can consciously set up the right way every time rather than depending on luck/the law of averages to get the result you want.

Typically players develop consistency through the process of using repetition to build muscle memory. The problem with this is that repeating ineffective technique builds ineffective muscle memory just as thoroughly as repeating effective technique builds effective muscle memory.

So practice is only one part of the formula. The other part is knowing the mechanical differences between effective technique and ineffective technique. When the correct mechanics are applied the note will always speak. The mental aspects are factors only in terms of how those aspects affect application of the mechanics.

Without understanding why things are happening the way they are you are left with trying to hammer out consistency through a long process of multi-directional/somewhat random trial and error. Teachers are supposed to be able to sort these things out for their students so that development can be consistently focused to align with the correct mechanics. The problem with that is that the "correct mechanics" vary somewhat by virtue of the particular physiology of the individual player. This leads to a lot of estimating, rather than knowing, what will work and what will not work. Sometimes trial and error is just the way things have to be processed to get better results. Still, the key is to be able to know with precision what mechanics are necessary for the individual player and to identify with precision how the individual player is deviating from those mechanics.

It's not easy. There are a lot of things that can go wrong when playing the trumpet and it can be very difficult to isolate why the player can't do things today that the player was able to do yesterday. My own feeling is that high range development is a very narrow specialty. If this is your area of focus you need to be working with someone who specializes in this, someone who can explain exactly how Maynard, Wayne, Doc, Cat, etc. do what they do.
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HERMOKIWI

[JayKosta]

[number juan]

I think I made my issues with playing sound worse than they really are. I DO have a decent tone in general. I do know most scales, just two of them I haven't memorized because I haven't had to play them for anything yet. I AM a very technical player. I would actually say my finger work is even better and more reliable than my range. I learned my region etudes within the first day and a half of having them, and played the 4th variation as a portion of both my college auditions. My tonging issues are aligning double tonguing and stuff with finger work. Like if I was told to tongue flight of the bumble bee, I probably wouldn't be able to do so with very much clarity. Sight reading could be better as anything, but I'm not bad at it. Better than most people I know anyways. I didn't mean to make it seem as if I was only worrying about range. The question about expanding more was more out of curiosity for tips. but range is not my priority. I really just want to be more consistent with entrances at the moment. Because I shouldn't be cracking notes that I normally wouldn't even consider to be high notes. It bothers me that I don't know why I'm cracking.

I apologize for not making myself clear with my priorities with what I was asking. I want looking to make my first post too long

[JayKosta]

Several critical parts of 'entrances' are:
1) Being able to 'hear' the note in your mind beforehand.
2) Having practiced the individual note entrances, and REMEMBERING the embrouchure and air setup need to get them to sound 'on time and on pitch'. At first the 'remembering' might be conscious thought, but after enough practice and repetition, 'muscle memory' kicks-in and becomes automatic.
3) Having the confidence and skill to USE #1&2, and then DO IT without hesitation.

Jay
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Most Important Note ? - the next one !
KNOW (see) what the next note is BEFORE you have to play it.
PLAY the next note 'on time' and 'in rhythm'.
Oh ya, watch the conductor - they set what is 'on time'.

[LSOfanboy]

[Brad361]

[John Mohan]

[Billy B]

[zaferis]