Flexus Pitch Bends

[kevin_soda]

Flexus, p.41, #14, 15. "As soon as [these] can be attempted, they should be played every day."

Should you do #1-13 daily as well? What do you do? Where do they fit in your routine?
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Kevin

[Dayton]

I didn't study with the authors, so can only tell you how I approached those exercises.

I started with 1 and 7, and then added exercises per the instructions (2&8, then 3&9...). When I got to 14&15 I subtracted 1&7. As I gradually added 16-23 I subtracted the remaining x-13 exercises. By the end I was doing 14-23 daily. They don't take very long.

I still do lip bends daily as part of my fundamentals routine. I don't always do those "Flexus" exercises, as I also like the lip bend exercises from the Flexibility and Strength sections of John Daniel's "Special Studies," and lip bends from David Hickman's "15 Advanced Embouchure Studies."

Have fun!

[kevin_soda]

[kgsmith1]

I do the bends pretty regularly and like to follow them with the flexibilities pp18-22 in the same book, working inside out (starting with pp19-22 and then the lower and higher drills). Not all of those, often just the odd numbers, to get the feel of slurring over the intervals I was bending.

John Daniel's book pp49-50 also has a combination of bends and slurs, like Dayton said. Daniel's book seems to help keep a relaxed approach to apply the strength that comes from Flexus, at least for me.

[Danbassin]

I"m happy to see this topic come up, as I've found the note-bending, and also the expansion of the Caruso 'six notes' to be some of the most helpful parts of the Flexus book.

To preface, I'm by no means a Frink student, nor were any of my important teachers dyed-in-the-wool Caruso adherents. I remember being introduced to the basic ideas years before I bought the Caruso book, and I actually came to the Flexus book after studying MCNeil's jazz trumpet method. So, my approach to using these exercises have been rooted in how useful I've felt them to be (which is a good deal) and also how adaptable I felt I could make them for my own purposes (which also proved to be helpful).

An aspect of note bending that isn't very clear in the Flexus text, but which I've devoted some time on is when and whether to 'return' to your normal, not note-bending setting. If we take an example of the six notes including bending, we have the option of:
Breath attack G, Tongue G-Bend-to-F#, Bend back-to-G
-or-
Breath attack G, Tongue G-Bend-to-F#-Bend back-to-G, Tongue G

How we 'fit in' the mechanism of the tongue relative to our pulling down (and holding) or if we focus on our air throughout the bend down, sustain, and bend back can yield some different results. Coordinating the former seems to me to test the chops a little more vigorously than taking the option that 'leaves out' one of the original attack points.

Finally, I like to apply these to the expanded six-note exercise, but I do it in a different way than set up in the book: rather than focus around open notes, I like expanding by a perfect fourth above and below. As an example, I'd play from G4-C5, then D4-G4, then C5-F5...then connect all by playing from D4-F5. This can extend down to A3-D4 and up from F5-Bb5, even working in pedals...

Interested to hear how others have made use of this book - happy practicing!
-DB
_________________
Daniel Bassin
Conductor/Composer/Trumpeter/Improviser/Educator
I play:
Monette - CORNETTE/PranaXLT-STC Bb/MC-35/Raja A Piccolo;
Kromat C-Piccolo; Thein G-Piccolo; Various antique horns
MPCs - Monette Unity 1-7D and DM4LD