A big thank you to Jeff

[mike ansberry]

I wanted to thank Jeff for sharing his Balanced Embouchure theory. I started working on it in February. For me the pedal exercises were no problem, but I could not make the roll in embouchure make much of a sound. I kept after it. My playing improved, but not drastically. But I kept after it. Finally in August the roll in exercise started to work. Now my range and endurance have improved drastically.

I kind of wonder if some people give up on the roll in exercises too soon.
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Music is a fire in your belly, fighting to get out. You'd better put a horn in the way before someone gets hurt.

[trumpetteacher1]

Thanks for posting Mike!

There are definitely players who give up on some aspect of BE way too soon. Sometimes it is the Roll In exercises. The goal is to be able to play all of the exercises in the book, in order to better determine how to achieve a greater balance. That process varies from player to player.

In a lesson many years ago, I asked a more advanced high school student to play the Roll Out series. It went fine until he got to number 4. Normally he could play it up to high G (and above) but that day he couldn't even play an E above high C.

Seeing his frustration, I asked him to stop and switch to the Roll In exercises. This kid hated the RI exercises. He always did them poorly and with a scratchy tone. But he still practiced them on occasion.

Reluctantly, he played a couple of minutes of the RI exercises. At that point, I had him switch back to RO #4. Immediately, his high G was back again.

He looked at me in astonishment. In all seriousness he said, "Maybe you really do know something about trumpet teaching." True story.

It's a balance. To find a balance, you need to first go outside the boundaries of your comfort zone.

Jeff

[John Mohan]