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The most significant process Ive ever learned.



 
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Lionel
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 21, 2021 3:16 pm    Post subject: The most significant process Ive ever learned. Reply with quote

Since starting over on an absolutely new embouchure back in late 2019 (November, '19 to be exact), I have been thrust into a position that I thought Id never be in. That is being an absolute beginner once again. Just like I was in the fourth grade back in Sept of 1964. Roughly 57 years ago.

Certainly, I have some important advantages over what a true beginner finds himself in. I read music well, know all the fingerings. That despite not being able to play well, I am still a musician. I hear pitches well and can identify intervals etc. But as for my embouchure? It took me a full year before I could confidently attack our top line F. (I'm not talking about the third ledger line high F, A darn good note to have if you are a lead player like I once was). Just the mere F that sits with the line of the to treble clef running through it.

The most significant thing that I've learned since starting over is that our embouchure will and must ''grow in resonance''! This ability to vibrate affects everything from the quality of sound to endurance and how much volume we can generate. My upper lip wasn't ''born to play trumpet'' it had to grow in resonance. Until once so grown that I could basically take my embouchure for granted.

Then there are the little things. Like the ability to slide up the interval partial in what is called a ''Doit''. Just like in my early days on the horn in about 1965 thru 1966. The idea of glissandoes that could slide UP in register was once a foreign concept to my thinking. Other trumpet players, like Al Hirt, could do these ''Doits'', but I sure as heck couldn't. And I am going through that again now currently too.

I hope at least a couple people take an interest in my words here. This is because of the unusual factors that I bring to this field of study. As I once was a confident lead trumpet player and with impressive if not quite double C capable high notes. But here I am going through the process and suddenly I understand the emotional roller coaster that a young trumpet player goes through. As I used to think thoughts like, ''Will I ever get any good on this thing''? ''How soon will I be able to use a High G''? ''How about the A/High C''? ''Double C''? Etc.

These are good questions and they indicate that those who seek personal improvement on the trumpet tend to go through some harsh feelings. I recall that I used to beat myself up if I ''Spent too much time practicing high notes''. Instead of performing a more balanced regimen.

Oddly enough while looking back? I no longer believe that ''I was playing too many high notes''. Relative to other aspects of technique. And I have a good reason for making this observation. Because while it is true that overtraining often results from excessive and overly strenuous practice routines, I have also made similar observations about those young students who do not play many high notes,

Back in college, I used to REALLY work on my range. Man I would push and push myself to build my embouchure, Not knowing what I've since learned about physics back then, I never realized that despite how much I practiced, I would always have a ''Limited Embouchure'', Due to certain factors that prevented my range from increasing. However, I did improve my musical range. And while limited to a mere G/High C This ability was able to open doors for me that other trumpet players were never able to pass through. Even some of the otherwise more talented cats. One case was a man with a master's degree in performance from a distinguished conservatory. I didn't beat him out of the Lead Trumpet book exactly. In fact he just gave the book to me, Because despite his superlative technical skills which he possessed and yet I didn't?

He couldn't blow the lead book well and yet I could. The point being??

Range is VERY important. I truly believe that most of today's young students
are being taught incorrectly. There are certain principles that exist. Currently most of the top notch lead players come from the ranks of those with natural gifts. Their chops simply ''Line Up Correctly'' and they can blow the whole range of the instrument easily.

Frankly I'm not there yet but mark my word! I'm getting pretty darned close! Within say six moths to a year I ought to command a respectable Double C and all the tones underneath. This is because in Nov, '19 I took my chops apart and put them back together according to certain physical laws that guarantee that my eventual register will not be limited.

And even as I approach nearly Seventy years of age (okay I'm on 66 & 1/2)? I have no regrets, This is because so few of us ever get the chance to learn the complete range on the horn. Seen from that perspective (and others) I am a very lucky fellow.

Thank you!
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HERMOKIWI
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 21, 2021 7:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

What do you think is standing between you and your ultimate goal? What do you think needs to change between now and the point at which you reach your ultimate goal? Are you not employing all the principles and mechanics of Stevens-Costello? If not, what needs to change? If so, why isn't employing all the principles and mechanics getting you your ultimate goal now?

My own view on this topic is that high range is almost entirely a technique thing, not a strength thing. A reasonable degree of strength is necessary but not super human strength. You have enough experience that I would think that you developed the necessary strength a long time ago and, although you've reported physical issues that necessitated a new approach, I would think that in the time you've been working on your new approach you have already passed the point at which strength is an issue.

It seems that the constant in development, the thing that doesn't change, is the principles and mechanics of the Stevens-Costello system. So, if you're employing all those principles and mechanics and you have the necessary strength, what's missing?

What do you see as the issue that you need to overcome that is separating you from your ultimate goal? I think that impression would be valuable to those of us who have been following your posts about your progress.
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JayKosta
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 22, 2021 5:43 am    Post subject: Re: The most significant process Ive ever learned. Reply with quote

Lionel wrote:
...
The most significant thing that I've learned since starting over is that our embouchure will and must ''grow in resonance''! This ability to vibrate affects everything from the quality of sound to endurance and how much volume we can generate. ...

------------------------------------------
Yes, the KEY is the 'ability to vibrate' - and of course the physical internal air pressure that is needed to activate the vibrations.

If you look closely at the S-C method you'll see that it is mainly based in adjusting the lips, teeth, jaw, and using the tongue position to achieve the ability to vibrate. And not stopping vibrations with excess mouthpiece pressure.

The BIG struggle is learning the precise adjustments that are needed by a specific player. And there can be limitations due to individual physiology.
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Most Important Note ? - the next one !
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PLAY the next note 'on time' and 'in rhythm'.
Oh ya, watch the conductor - they set what is 'on time'.
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Lionel
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 23, 2021 1:26 am    Post subject: Re: The most significant process Ive ever learned. Reply with quote

JayKosta wrote:
Lionel wrote:
...
The most significant thing that I've learned since starting over is that our embouchure will and must ''grow in resonance''! This ability to vibrate affects everything from the quality of sound to endurance and how much volume we can generate. ...

------------------------------------------
Yes, the KEY is the 'ability to vibrate' - and of course the physical internal air pressure that is needed to activate the vibrations.

If you look closely at the S-C method you'll see that it is mainly based in adjusting the lips, teeth, jaw, and using the tongue position to achieve the ability to vibrate. And not stopping vibrations with excess mouthpiece pressure.

The BIG struggle is learning the precise adjustments that are needed by a specific player. And there can be limitations due to individual physiology.


Roy Stevens went into considerable detail regarding individual limitations. Yet these were mostly related to what he described as uneven teeth formations. Such as when one tooth juts out and puts a point directly on one of the lips. Either that or for the trumpet player who can't move his jaw forward enough to his (Stevens) prescribed positioning.

In a nutshell, the main point that I have found in the system was to make sure that every student of the system bases his embouchure setting on a position that allows him to initially squeak notes well above a High C. If a kid does not initially find out that he has the capacity to play some very high-pitched squeaks on his horn? He most likely will never develop them. Or at least fall short and develop some kind of ceiling in range. I realize that some fortunate trumpet players do upon occasion convert the embouchure that they initially formed in the lower register into becoming capable of blowing high tones. However, the condition is largely hit or miss and most of the time a miss.As some 99.9% of all the trumpet players I know of have range limitations. Even some pretty capable ones too.

I personally have taken this element a step farther by basing my initial setting (on the Stevens approach) on what I call an Air Pocket Squeak. I form this position by filling the area above both my lips with a pocket of air. Then by bringing my lips together on firmed-up mouth corners a series of high-pitched squeaks soon emanates. It is these squeaks that I based my initial embouchure on. Until I incorporated my amendment to the Stevens system? I largely got nowhere with it.

Although I did find that by abiding by the ''Two Aperture Theory'' (also described in Stevens-Costello) I was finally able to improve the endurance on my former receded jaw embouchure. But that was some 45 years ago. When I was young and out on the road. And this actually gave me a career in music for a while. However, Father Time + arm pressure played a toll on the body and in 2018 my dental structure broke down and I literally couldn't play a single note above the staff. A condition that I don't wish upon anyone here...

The Air Pocket Squeak is oddly similar to Balanced Embouchures Lip Clamp Squeak exercises. Although in his book Jeff Smiley describes this as only an exercise to help facilitate the Roll-In. Not as an actual playing position itself.

After successfully squeaking notes well above High C just on my lips alone? I then set my chops EXACTLY AS DESCRIBED in Stevens-Costello and following all of the physical laws that Stevens describes in his book. Again I then continued squeaking such notes well above the High C but this time with the mouthpiece and horn on my chops. I also like to sometimes ''Walk-In'' to these Air Pocket Squeaks. Meaning that I first execute the Air Pocket Squeaks without the mouthpiece and horn and then once buzzing say a High C, or at the very least a G/Top of staff I slowly bring the mouthpiece with horn attached up to my chops and ''Walk-In''creating a continuation of the high note but this time sounding through the horn.

My method of starting the tone is far more descriptive of the way than Stevens-Costello suggests how to initially start the tone. And is at least one more example of why I think that Roy Stevens, like many a teacher had a few limitations in his otherwise fantastic analysis of brass playing mechanics. You see, Stevens himself was, like so many teachers, a gifted natural player. He simply understood the mechanics of embouchure far better than the others. And this was represented by the far higher yield in successful students who followed his method. That is when compared to the others.

Me? I am certainly not gifted with a natural set of chops. As the way that I initially formed my embouchure was not conducive to becoming ever able to blow the complete range of the instrument. In other words, as the receded jaw player that I once was, I could not squeak high notes. About the best that I could do was to jam really hard on a well-exercised set of chops. This gave me a decent F above High C but not one note more.

What has only recently begun to amaze me is that I can now get MUCH MORE VOLUME out of just my Air Pocket Squeaks. Hey they almost sound loud! Enough to irritate an audience of moviegoers kind of loud...I guess practice/time + perseverance does pay off. This recently improved volume production has assisted my upper register at getting far bigger in tone than it was 20 months ago.

Someone asked ''What'' do I ''need to work on''?

Basically just keep practicing and equally importantly keep playing in local bands. I've always found that so long as my mechanics were on the right path (or at least as ''right'' as I could possibly make them at a given time) then I tend to improve the fastest by actually playing in rehearsal bands and/or gigs. Nothing like a paid gig to really improve your playing! As when your ability to eat/survive is based upon playing the trumpet well night after night?

Hey, you really get stronger fast!

Lastly, By utilizing my air pocket squeaks (APS) I was FINALLY able to start playing the ''statics or cyclonics'' that Stevens-Costello describes as being essential to the embouchure formation. In fact it was ONLY through these APS's that I was able to make headway with the ''Palm'' method of holding the horn. Remember: The palm practice technique was central to Stevens system. He demanded that all students be able to play at least a double C without arm pressure.

However at least initially I wasn't all that successful at ''Palming'' a decently loud note above High G or so. That is until recently. Now I LOVE to balance the horn on my palm during the warm-up. In addition I have added just a tad more upper lip into the mouthpiece and this has made a significant improvement in tone production on its own. My former ''squeaks'' have become real notes due to this factor.

I just want to grow a little more comfortable with the setting before making a video. Because once you put something less than perfect out there? You can never pull it back off the internet. People can be cruel. In the meantime, I have coached a student of mine on the Stevens System AND he is also incorporating the APS. They work well for him. And in some ways, he is more suited to playing the system than I am. At least on conventionally sized mouthpieces. This brings up my own mouthpiece and why I need a custom-built one.

But that is for another topic. It'll just have to suffice that one more way that I differ from Roy Stevens is that I can not pull off the trick on conventional mouthpieces. But give me one that fits me well? I progress rapidly and gain the same advantages as any of Roy's students ever had. I have a theory as to why this is so. Briefly:

Since most trumpet players tend to buzz downward, their upper lip tends to receive air best in between the roughly 0.625 inch distance between the left and right sides of a conventional mouthpiece rim. Upon pushing the jaw forward however? This can reduce the volume of tone that a mouthpiece is capable of producing. Not always but sometimes. This is why we see some apparent Stevens System players play great on ordinary lead pieces.Such as the old 10 & 1/2 C by Vincent Bach. Or the Schilke 14a4a I think that Faddis has used. And while he may not classify himself as having a Stevens-Costello embouchure? He more certainly is one. As was Bud Brisbois.

And yet I simply can't play a useable fortissimo on these pieces! Fuggedaboudit! So what I did was substantially increase the inner rim dimension. Roughly 20% or so. Whereas most trumpet players have an inner rim dimension similar to the size of a dime? Mine is slightly bigger than a US nickel. Only my cup depth is shallower than average. What this does however is essentially even out to the same displacement found within the depth of a conventional trumpet mouthpiece.

''No replacement for displacement'' is a famous Hotrodder saying. I compare my mouthpiece selection to a piston chamber. You can increase displacement two ways,

A. Make the piston travel farther down the channel. Increasing stroke length.
B. Increase the bore size.

Or perform both actions.

When you increase the length of piston travel? This is analogous to increasing the cup depth on a mouthpiece.

But when increasing the bore size? Same as increasing the inner rim dimension.

However despite minor changes probably only observed by a serious race car driver? The car will still drive down the highway as it always did. And indeed the sound that I get on my trumpet is substantially the same as what I used to achieve when playing on receded jaw chops but on a conventional-sized m/piece. Except that it tends to be a little more relaxed.

I like to call what I've done to my mouthpiece as ''Increasing the lateral displacement of the aperture chamber''.
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HERMOKIWI
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 23, 2021 6:39 am    Post subject: Re: The most significant process Ive ever learned. Reply with quote

Lionel wrote:


Someone asked ''What'' do I ''need to work on''?

Basically just keep practicing and equally importantly keep playing in local bands. I've always found that so long as my mechanics were on the right path (or at least as ''right'' as I could possibly make them at a given time) then I tend to improve the fastest by actually playing in rehearsal bands and/or gigs. Nothing like a paid gig to really improve your playing! As when your ability to eat/survive is based upon playing the trumpet well night after night?

Hey, you really get stronger fast!


So, the key to achieving your goals from the point at which you currently are is to just keep doing what you're doing but get stronger physically?
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JayKosta
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 23, 2021 6:39 am    Post subject: Re: The most significant process Ive ever learned. Reply with quote

Lionel wrote:
...
In a nutshell, ...

---------------------
thanks Lionel - that's a pretty big 'nut', but you've explained your process in a very clear and understandable way.
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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'.
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Lionel
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 23, 2021 5:08 pm    Post subject: Re: The most significant process Ive ever learned. Reply with quote

[quote="HERMOKIWI"]
Lionel wrote:


Someone asked ''What'' do I ''need to work on''?

Basically just keep practicing and equally importantly keep playing in local bands. I've always found that so long as my mechanics were on the right path (or at least as ''right'' as I could possibly make them at a given time) then I tend to improve the fastest by actually playing in rehearsal bands and/or gigs. Nothing like a paid gig to really improve your playing! As when your ability to eat/survive is based upon playing the trumpet well night after night?

Hey, you really get stronger fast!



JayKosta wrote:
Lionel wrote:
...
In a nutshell, ...

---------------------
thanks Lionel - that's a pretty big 'nut', but you've explained your process in a very clear and understandable way.


Playing trumpet correctly is tricky thing initially to understand. So perhaps it does take a few extra paragraphs to explain the thing

One more thing to HEROMOKIWI:

I need to really concentrate on playing with using as little muscular tension as I can possibly get away with and yet still keeping the sound going. This is the purpose of the ''Roll-In''. To my thinking nothing can so much make playing high notes easier than to get the ''Roll'' to do as much of the work as it possibly can.

This didn't happen to me immediately. In fact it took the production of my own mouthpiece design, that and a fair bit of practicing before I FINALLY was able to sustain those double Cs at decent volume and without arm pressure. ie with horn resting ONLY on the palm.

Initially I didn't play on the palm so much. As I wasn't improving so fast this way. It wasn't until I got into my 18th month or so before the tone opened up. As mentioned, it was only abt a week ago when I finally noticed that my air pocket squeaks were suddenly getting kinda loud. Hey, That means that it is happening! Because if you can free buzz a G/High C and actually get a little heat on the volume? Well shucks you eventually oughta be able to play anything.

I think that Roy Roman learned the Stevens System pretty fast. He was what they sometimes call a ''Ready-made customer''. Basically a cat well suited to blowing on a forward jaw set of chops. He just didn't know it. Prior to him meeting Roy Stevens he was such a sorry case. bruised lips, cuts, pain! Here is one of the times I find myself in rare agreement with Claude Gordon who said: ''Playing a brass instrument incorrectly is one of the most miserable experiences one can go through''.

Or words to that effect. I expect that the Claude Gordon supporters may come out of the woodwork now and blast me (again!) Or maybe not. Hey I agreed with him fellows! This time anyway. I mean we know that pedal tones do work at helping some people improve their register. They were however anathema to Roy Stevens. Ditto Donald Reinhardt who shared at least some common ground with Stevens. Actually I'm told that the two guys did not get along well at all, but this is a common condition among high note gurus.

My problem with pedal tone studies is the same as I have with all most other programs. They don't explain how the chops work! And while I have found certain things remiss even in the Stevens System? These were merely errors of omission. As mentioned, Roy Stevens was a self-taught trumpet player. In other words a good, player naturally. Like most of the greats are. As such he couldn't quite see absolutely all of the hidden problems his students sometimes had. I once chatted with a fellow (on this forum) who thought Roy was a ''terrible teacher'' and I totally understood his objection.

As just like I once was, he couldn't produce much sound on conventionally sized mouthpieces. This is the ''secret'' that I may have brought to the table. If I continue to succeed in my progress, and I fully expect this to be so, I intend to begin teaching these concepts. Probably relatively cheaply at first. As any good scientist likes to run experiments and collect experimental data first. Plus, I am retired and don't really need to make lots of money.

One of my students (he's 32 actually) excels on the Stevens System and on an ordinary Bach mouthpiece!

So it is not only working for me, but for others too. Simplicity is the key. Thanks to everyone. Sorry abt any typos, gotta run!
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Lionel
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 23, 2021 7:12 pm    Post subject: Re: The most significant process Ive ever learned. Reply with quote

HERMOKIWI wrote:
Lionel wrote:


Someone asked ''What'' do I ''need to work on''?

Basically just keep practicing and equally importantly keep playing in local bands. I've always found that so long as my mechanics were on the right path (or at least as ''right'' as I could possibly make them at a given time) then I tend to improve the fastest by actually playing in rehearsal bands and/or gigs. Nothing like a paid gig to really improve your playing! As when your ability to eat/survive is based upon playing the trumpet well night after night?

Hey, you really get stronger fast!


So, the key to achieving your goals from the point at which you currently are is to just keep doing what you're doing but get stronger physically?



{''Just one more thing'' said detective Columbo}

Yeah that's most of it. The other thought besides what was stated above (to ''learn to stay as relaxed as possible wherever possible''), is that it would help me greatly to keep the following thought in mind,

A tender, young embouchure such as the one I began in late 2019 simply can not tolerate excessive practicing. This is true of most any conditioning program and on any exercise and in every athletic endeavor. Just as a stalk of corn takes all spring and much of the summer to grow? A young embouchure won't well tolerate overtraining. it needs to mature. But after this? Well OMG! I ought to be able to play all day long and in any register. So I hope and so I strongly believe is actually starting to happen!

I recall how I learned my original, receded jaw embouchure way back when I had similar frantic episodes as I have today. I used to practice until I could barely get a tone out of the horn. Just like when Ringo uttered his famous complaint:

''I've got blisters on me fingers''

Back when the Beatles spent too much time in the recording session and the great drummer became most unhappy.

So overtraining creates a double whammy,

Makes my progress less secure.
Tends to bum me out. And heck, I should actually know better!

There's just so much progress that any group of muscles can make over a period of time. Also, in the future, my subconscious mind will become far better trained than it currently is. Those muscle groups that presently require ''X amount of energy'' may eventually only need say ''50%X'' amount of energy. That and will be able to sustain a tone for longer than they can presently. (endurance being another function of resonance in the embouchure).

One reason why I'm posting much of this material is so that after I finally feel satisfied with my progress, and/or am damned certain that I have a highly saleable product? Then all I'll need to do is to both retrieve and collect my posts right here on TH.

Basically what you read here today is a ''BEFORE'' picture. Similar to that poor three hundred pound girl who begins her dieting lol. Then one day a little while down the road I will most definitely put together a Youtube package. Granted that my chops certainly are capable of some impressive physical tasks even today at not quite two years into the effort. But as mentioned, one doesn't want to publish something that is only half-baked out on the internet. The audience out there isn't very forgiving. But regardless?

Every one of my documents, along with trials, tribulations and successes will be found right here. You'll see my whole BEFORE & AFTER picture with just a point & click. It won't be like I'm making something up. The whole trip, inc the Air Pocket Squeaks, the larger inner rim mouthpieces and other factors will be all documented right before your eyes.
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so what
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 01, 2021 9:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Lionel, Thanks for posting your thoughts on your course.
After reading your posts, I thought I should look into this.
I have not picked up a trumpet in more than a year.
Life's events get in the way sometimes.
Anyway, I have played since the early 1960s, off and on.
I have a moderately receded jaw. I've always played downstream. I realize now that all of the mouthpiece weight was on the top teeth. Essetiailly none on the bottom teeth. When I started playing, it was basically, just pick up the horn and play.
After reading your posts, I got out a trumpet and played with my jaw forward, bottom teeth just a bit in front of the top teeth, just like Costello says.

The first tone that came out made me think, Wow!, this is the tone I've always been working for. How did I get that after not playing for more than a year? (It is because of getting the pressure off my top lip.)

Then, in the first minute, I found that my hittable (not playable) range had increased by more than an octave, easily hitting double Cs and above. Never did that before. This was in the first minute!
Holy Cow !

When life cools down a bit and I have more time to practice, I am certainly going to pursue this new set up. It has opened a new world, a world that I thought I could never reach.

Thanks Lionel !
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Lionel
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 02, 2021 8:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

so what wrote:
Lionel, Thanks for posting your thoughts on your course.
After reading your posts, I thought I should look into this.
I have not picked up a trumpet in more than a year.
Life's events get in the way sometimes.
Anyway, I have played since the early 1960s, off and on.
I have a moderately receded jaw. I've always played downstream. I realize now that all of the mouthpiece weight was on the top teeth. Essetiailly none on the bottom teeth. When I started playing, it was basically, just pick up the horn and play.
After reading your posts, I got out a trumpet and played with my jaw forward, bottom teeth just a bit in front of the top teeth, just like Costello says.

The first tone that came out made me think, Wow!, this is the tone I've always been working for. How did I get that after not playing for more than a year? (It is because of getting the pressure off my top lip.)

Then, in the first minute, I found that my hittable (not playable) range had increased by more than an octave, easily hitting double Cs and above. Never did that before. This was in the first minute!
Holy Cow !

When life cools down a bit and I have more time to practice, I am certainly going to pursue this new set up. It has opened a new world, a world that I thought I could never reach.

Thanks Lionel !


How sweet it is huh?
Congratulations! You apparently represent a category of trumpet players who can make the conversion from receded jaw to forward very easily. These cats are referred to as ’’Ready Made Customers’’. But as for me?

I hate to say but I have my work cut out for me. The system, while still quite workable for me, certainly requires much more work and practice on my part than certain others need. That is in order to pull the thing off. Both Roy Stevens and his mentee Roy Roman noticed this. And for that matter?

My guess is that even Reinhardt noticed this tendency as well. Although he had nothing to do with Stevens. In fact, the two were business rivals.

But a goodly number of Roy’s students would perform near exactly as you did. They learned the fundamentals of embouchure production on a mere rudimentary level and then ’’POOF’’ turned into overnight screamers!!!

One of my students is kinda like this, BUT he doesn’t practice enough so it is hard to tell if he’s gonna make it. And yet on the first day that I set him up?

He actually blew a G ABOVE Double C!!!

So these things happen and I’m very happy for you and the others who pull this thing off. In time and as my own chops become more secure, I will begin teaching the thing to more & more people. The fact that the system does not come so easily for me does not depress me so much. Because I just figure that the Good Lord is just challenging me. He wants me to understand trumpet players better. This is why the Stevens system is more of a challenge for me. The harder it is? The more I must LEARN about it. And this process simply helps me communicate, and impart the message to others better. Among other things. I hope that my words do not violate the R & P policy. But I didn’t mention any specific church nor attempt to promote my beliefs on religion (or politics too!) for that matter.

Again, CONGRATULATIONS!!!
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