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anotherdave
New Member
Joined: 21 Feb 2020
Posts: 4
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 Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2020 12:37 pm Post subject: Another intro post! |
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After ~13 year break, I picked up a trumpet again around this time last year and joined a local community orchestra. Felt like coming full circle a bit, as I started off playing as a kid & learned cornet from a local brass band - 50p a lesson on a Thursday night 
I knew I'd be rusty going back but was surprised at just how bad I was! I never had fantastic range (as it was mostly learn by doing rather than much advanced technique), but couldn't even get an E on the stave cleanly anymore, let alone much higher — & littered with lots of crackles, gurgles and cracked notes. Endurance was zero.
You really can't beat the camaraderie of playing together with people though & kept at it. Lockdown knocked my motivation to rehearse the last few months as it was mostly wanting to be able to play well with others that was spurring me on.
But the last few weeks now, I had two breakthroughs — one was finding my old music folder from my brass band days & having a catalogue of marches and set pieces to go through. I was still playing on my own, but I could hear every note in my head of the other sections in the band!
The other was starting to check out videos and tutorials online of how to improve endurance and tone. Moreso than range, I was just looking for a clean sound. I know that there's lots of different approaches, and no one true Method, but just hearing people talking about "how to form an embouchure" — literally all of the technical basics were new to me. It was a real revelation to hear that all the mistakes (compressing lips tighter and tighter to play high) and almost be ticking them off on my fingers.
So started recently trying to put dedicated time into the real fudimentals. Have practiced everyday this week & yesterday hit my hightest note ever on the horn, high D (which I know is simple for most of ye, but I'm old enough now to be able to saw I'm proud of it & not really care  )
Really delighted to have found the forum — so many resources to go through. Saw Rusty Russel's 19/30 exercise in another thread here yesterday and going to start trying to weave that into my practice sessions now too!
Phew! Long post, but just wanted to say hello (rather than just lurking) and sharing my recent modicum of succcess. Onwards & upwards! |
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kalijah
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 06 Nov 2003
Posts: 3257
Location: Alabama
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| Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2020 3:47 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | compressing lips tighter and tighter to play high |
Uhm, everyone that plays higher notes does that action. It is only OVERdoing it that is a problem .
Buzzing is an instant way to learn overuse. |
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cgaiii
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 26 Jun 2017
Posts: 1543
Location: Virginia USA
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| Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2020 4:01 pm Post subject: |
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@anotherdave,
Welcome back to trumpet/cornet playing.
I liked your statement about being old enough to be proud of ... and not care.
Great attitude.
There is a lot of information on embouchure out there, much of it contradictory. You have to carefully sort through it, use what helps you and disregard the rest. There are lots of ways of achieving the ability to play and many routes to get there. In the end it is a journey of self discovery. Reading a lot and even more so getting someone to teach you can help you navigate the path of discovery.
Most of all enjoy it.
_________________
Bb: Schilke X3L AS SP, Yamaha YTR-6335S
C: Schilke CXL, Kanstul 1510-2
Picc: Kanstul 920
Bb Bugle: Kanstul
Bb Pocket: Manchester Brass
Flugel: Taylor Standard
Bass Trumpet: BAC Custom
Natural Tr: Custom Haas replica by Nikolai Mänttäri Morales |
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mikepodorski
Regular Member
Joined: 25 Jul 2020
Posts: 34
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| Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2020 4:35 pm Post subject: |
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I'm in my 4th month of coming back after a 25 year break, so I'm right there with you. It is very humbling to say the least, lol. I've had some significant dental work since I quit, so I've had to start from scratch with my embouchure.
There is so much info out there, its hard to descifer what is helpful and what is not. I've chased my tail several times after watching some YouTube video or reading a post. I've really enjoyed Brass Chats on Monster Oil's YouTube channel and Charlie Porter. |
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deleted_user_687c31b
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Joined: 03 Apr 1996
Posts: 0
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| Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2020 9:40 pm Post subject: |
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| Well, better late than never. Welcome back! I hope you'll get a lot of enjoyment out of playing again, and good luck with your embouchure! |
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kalijah
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 06 Nov 2003
Posts: 3257
Location: Alabama
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| Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2020 12:35 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | There is so much info out there, its hard to descifer what is helpful and what is not. I've chased my tail several times after watching some YouTube video or reading a post. I've really enjoyed Brass Chats on Monster Oil's YouTube channel and Charlie Porter. |
There is a reason that the stuff is hard to decipher.
1. It is INUNDATED with trumpet player "platitudes" that is basically nonsensical "scientific" or technical explanations that often lead players astray or just contribute confusion.
2. The actions described in the prevailing advice are often quite excessive and NOT what successfuctually players are doing. In other words, players have difficulty explaining how they play successfully. Execution of the popular advice can give less than good results, or worse.
Then there is the.advice of "get a teacher". Which, in most cases, just leads to more 1 and 2 above. |
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anotherdave
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Joined: 21 Feb 2020
Posts: 4
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| Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2020 12:56 am Post subject: |
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Thanks everyone, for the words of welcome & encouragement.
| kalijah wrote: | Uhm, everyone that plays higher notes does that action. It is only OVERdoing it that is a problem .
Buzzing is an instant way to learn overuse. |
hah, yeah very true! Wasn't trying to bat for one particular technique over another, it was just something that I'd noticed in my own playing when I saw it mentioned. In my case, I was definitely clamming up & overdoing it.
Feels like this time around I'm armed with at least more approaches and techniques, which is great. At least knowing there are many techniques, rather than coming at it from the same angle & getting frustrated. Looking forward to digging into different ones and finding out what works best for me.
| cgaiii wrote: | There are lots of ways of achieving the ability to play and many routes to get there. In the end it is a journey of self discovery. Reading a lot and even more so getting someone to teach you can help you navigate the path of discovery.
Most of all enjoy it. |
Yeah definitely agree that it's a journey of self discovery. I've come around to the "little and often" cadence of practice and I think it's working for me to make steady progress. I've signed up for my first lesson at the weekend, which I'm really looking forward to — as you say, to have some help navigating things and hopefully set me up with some good habits. Thought that now is the best time to do that, since I'm relearning everything again!
| mikepodorski wrote: | | I've really enjoyed Brass Chats on Monster Oil's YouTube channel and Charlie Porter. |
I really liked Charlie Porter's explanations — they were the first ones that gave me a real "aha" moment when trying a new tack and seeing results (which is addictive!  ). Haven't come across Brass Chats must check it out — cheers for the recommendations. |
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cgaiii
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 26 Jun 2017
Posts: 1543
Location: Virginia USA
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| Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2020 10:51 am Post subject: |
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Another thing you might look at is some of Jason Harrelson's Trumpet Momentum videos on Youtube. He tries to give a fairly balanced view of some of the factors that go into playing from a fairly objective point of view. I found some of this information useful mostly from the point of view of just how many factors there are in playing.
_________________
Bb: Schilke X3L AS SP, Yamaha YTR-6335S
C: Schilke CXL, Kanstul 1510-2
Picc: Kanstul 920
Bb Bugle: Kanstul
Bb Pocket: Manchester Brass
Flugel: Taylor Standard
Bass Trumpet: BAC Custom
Natural Tr: Custom Haas replica by Nikolai Mänttäri Morales |
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kalijah
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 06 Nov 2003
Posts: 3257
Location: Alabama
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| Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2020 2:09 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | He tries to give a fairly balanced view of some of the factors that go into playing from a fairly objective point of view. |
Objective? Not really. And there are less factors than you may think. |
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anotherdave
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Joined: 21 Feb 2020
Posts: 4
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| Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2020 1:04 am Post subject: |
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| cgaiii wrote: | | Another thing you might look at is some of Jason Harrelson's Trumpet Momentum videos on Youtube. He tries to give a fairly balanced view of some of the factors that go into playing from a fairly objective point of view. I found some of this information useful mostly from the point of view of just how many factors there are in playing. |
Thanks, will take a look! |
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