basic high register

[chuck in ny]

i am determined to progress my playing using simple and common sense methods.
with range i am up to high C. i don't own it but can hit it. i hit it and sometimes hold it for an extra beat. having the energy you could play multiples but right now it's usually the one.
it's an uncomplicated matter. having a small measure of control over high C i am able to hit C# with valve 2. C will have to be worked on for a period of time before C# comes into any sort of focus.
better technique will hopefully come with time and observation.

[trickg]

Here's a question - how is your sound and technique down lower, from 5th space E and down?

Do you do a lot of long tones, articulation and flexibility work in your lower register?

It has always seemed to me that there's a correlation between how solid your foundation is in the "comfortable" register of the horn and how strong your upper register is.

Take my thoughts with a grain of salt - I don't have much in the way of stratospheric range, but I have the ability to play a rock band gig where I have written notes up to about D# where I can cleanly play them, even in the 4th set of the night. For whatever that's worth.

I always wanted that really scorching upper range - up through G - but I've managed to do a lot of work for pay using everything from second ledger C on down.
_________________
Patrick Gleason
- Jupiter 1600i, ACB 3C, Warburton 4SVW/Titmus RT2
- Brasspire Unicorn C
- ACB Doubler

"95% of the average 'weekend warrior's' problems will be solved by an additional 30 minutes of insightful practice." - PLP

[JayKosta]

[onlyson]

I attended a clinic years ago where the speaker (I can't remember who it was. It was 50 years ago. Sue me.) said we can't play high notes because we don't play enough high notes. It didn't make sense at the time but I think I understand now.

So....practice high notes. How? Play Clarke #1. As high as you can go. This week maybe you'll own a G. Next week an Ab. Etc., etc.

Play Clarke #5. Everyday day. Memorize it. Maybe 6 months from now you'll own that High C.

Play the two octave Stamp articulation exercise. That's nearly a dozen high notes right there.

It's like pushups. How many can you do? 5? 10? Whatever. But if you do them everyday for a month, how many can you do then? More for sure.

High notes are like that.
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Yamaha 9335CH
1951 Martin Committee Deluxe #3 Bore
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Couesnon Flugel
Carol Pocket Trumpet

[trickg]

[mograph]

What we hear and read is only a suggestion. It might not apply to us.

Adding to the others, I'd say that it's incumbent on every trumpet player to:
- pre-hear what excellent tone sounds like
- pre-hear the pitches they want to play
- develop sensitivity (yes, over time) to what they feel inside the embouchure, oral cavity, and trunk
- be ready to adjust any variable inside there, gently and incrementally
- listen carefully to the tone produced, and adjust if necessary
- keep what works, and write down a reminder (in their own way) in case they forget.
- refine and repeat.

It's up to each of us to work with our own body to make music.
_________________
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1980 King 601 (it's bulletproof!)
1978 Couesnon flugelhorn
Playing for fun since 1979.
Fmr member 48th Highlanders of Canada Mil Band
Into that jazz devil music

[Croquethed]

Patrick and onlyson are hitting good analogies. Mine is also athletic, but not pushups. It's training for a longer race like a half marathon or a marathon.

Have a strong base first (middle range). Then stretch that range, slowly and patiently.

I will add one last wrinkle. If you are doing this on your own - and there is no reason you shouldn't - you will need to experiment with various embouchures. A pre brute "more air" or "faster air" without some sort of embouchure adjustment garnered me inconsistent results. I made one small adjustment and that brought me consistency up to E. I don't play for anything other than my own enjoyment so I kind of stopped there, though I occasionally stretch for the F, but if I wanted to hit the G all the time I'd employ the same stretch method with the embouchure. I understand it gets harder as the partials get more narrow, kind of like going from a 3 hour marathon to a 2:30 might not be awful, but getting to 2:15 would be. But the important thing is that it has to be your discovery, about what changes you make in embouchure help you get there. You're right, it's simple and common sense, like Edison trying 99 light bulbs before the 100th worked.

[jkarnes0661]

There's some very good ideas presented here. One thing that hasn't been mentioned that has helped me a lot in the past is practicing the low, middle, and upper register at very soft dynamics. There's some great youtube videos out there that demonstrate this.

Everyone's embouchure is different but for me the soft dynamic practicing does two things, it helps train the embouchure to form a small aperture and it helps me train my arms/hands to apply less mouthpiece pressure. This can be done with any exercises, Clarke, Arban, Schlossberg, etc.

Alan Vizzutti's book "High Notes" has a number of pages at the beginning where he talks through some great concepts. The exercises in the book all recommend practicing between pp-mf dynamic levels.
_________________
Jonathan Karnes
Grand Rapids, MI
jonathankarnes.com

[abontrumpet]

[trickg]

Aaaaand with that, I'm out - with the armchair experts (and who knows how qualified they actually are, or how much real-world actual gigging experience they have) now proliferating on this forum and complicating things unnecessarily, it's time for me to take a hiatus from the stupidity once again.

And it's always the same old garbage - you get guys who want to parse every little thing in some kind of bizarre effort to prove they know more. The net result is that it muddies the waters for people just trying to find some simple ways to get better.
_________________
Patrick Gleason
- Jupiter 1600i, ACB 3C, Warburton 4SVW/Titmus RT2
- Brasspire Unicorn C
- ACB Doubler

"95% of the average 'weekend warrior's' problems will be solved by an additional 30 minutes of insightful practice." - PLP

[kehaulani]

Not aimed at anyone in particular but - Yep.
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"If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." Bird
"I wouldn't play like Wynton Marsalis even if I could play like Wynton Marsalis." Attributed to Chet

Yamaha 8310Z Bobby Shew trumpet
Benge 3X Trumpet
Benge 3X Cornet

[abontrumpet]

[chuck in ny]

thanks for the pompous thoughts.

[Halflip]

[steve0930]

Good Morning
In your post Mograph if I was to pick out two words you used "Body" and "Trunk" someone posted a day or so ago a video of the Doc playing and I was struck by how much body and trunk he was using - the way he was dropping his shoulders going high.
I am NOT a high note player ¹ but in a quest for more endurance I have decided to think more about body and trunk playing in the Staff these last couple of days - my thinking being the more "heavy lifting" (even for NOT high notes) I can do lower down, below my neck, the better for anything above my neck.

I think this is a great Forum and one of the reasons is the discussion it provokes so hope to see you back some day Trickg.

cheers Steve

Note ¹ I think you guys with mastery above the staff are like F1 drivers and there is always something to glean from your thoughts for an ordinary car guy like me.
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[kehaulani]

Just keep in mind, there's a difference between support and tension.
_________________
"If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." Bird
"I wouldn't play like Wynton Marsalis even if I could play like Wynton Marsalis." Attributed to Chet

Yamaha 8310Z Bobby Shew trumpet
Benge 3X Trumpet
Benge 3X Cornet

[steve0930]

Hi Kehaulani
Very good point and my goal is to take tension away - from everything above the neck especially - bit fanciful I know but my idea right now when i'm playing - after a large relaxed inhale - as if breathing the fresh air at 6 in the morning outside the tent by the Loch - I have now set up "The Wave" the foot of the wave is in the pit of my tummy and I make sure I can feel it as it arches right through my body.. mouth and eventually the tip of the wave is out of the bell of the horn where I try to "let go" of the Note . so I'm trying (more consciously than before) to support the phrase of music on this wave (of supported air)
I warned you - a bit fanciful!
cheers Steve

PS I'm into Waves.. i took my Number 1 Supporter a month ago on a slow bus from Lisbon to Nazare in Portugal where they have the world's biggest.. and it was flat calm - a big disappointment (for me)- but the bus ride back was great - as it always is.
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[Jerry]

[Shaft]

New York is a big state and I’ve seen you post on here a lot. Its obvious that you enjoy the trumpet. If you’re close to somebody that can teach high notes and good trumpet technique maybe there’s somebody close by that can help out too. You’ll get it!

[chuck in ny]

observations on the high register.
i play in a chet baker style and the human singing voice doesn't go to or above our high C. to the purposes of playing i don't need the register much or mostly at all. it's a more relaxed circumstance from a player that needs the register to be employed.
you can't ignore the physics of the instrument and having a high register is beneficial to performance. if you can stretch the scheme higher, you can play the notes below easier. on the personal level it's a challenge and i won't back down from its pursuit while i have breath.
we go through the journey and i won't know how i feel until i get there. perhaps at E there will be no reason to go further, or maybe it's G. other people have and there is no reason to believe i can't do it.