Schulman System

[trptfun]

Has anybody tried the Schulman System? I'm curious to hear what your experiences have been.
Thanks.

Sean

[ This Message was edited by: trptfun on 2002-06-16 00:46 ]

[Kurick]

Well the shulman system is like a special neck strap. I've gone to Matt Shulman's house to try since he lives 15 min away from me. As for the Shulman system I think there something there to it. What it pretty much does is hold your trumpet stationary and also forces your body to align correctly. Hence it promotes good posture (better breathing) and also limits the movements of the lips and face so you do things like slurs, jumps etc more efficently. One other very cool think I like about it is the way the shulman system will make you ribcage vibrate when you hitting the center of the notes or the sweet spot.

The one thing that should be stressed it's that it's not automatic, although you do feel a significant change when playing. The fact is the more you use it the better it gets. It trains you how to play better by simply taking many of the factors of (holding the horn, adjustment, etc) away so you can focus on just playing.

I don't use it all the time though just for warm ups and for about half of my practice. What I try to do is get the same sense of ease and relaxation that the shulman system generates and translate it directly to my playing. It takes a while but it works. My playing has gotten more relax and flexible since using the shulman system.

Now is it worth the 200+ dollar. Well it's steep as heck but I think it is. I like to stress one more time that this isn't a fixer upper....it just makes you much more aware of the nebulous sensation that great players share....relaxation. So if you have the money go for it. Am sure it'll go down eventually since from what matt told me...the reason he has the price so high it's that it's a business starting and he doesn't have the man power to mass produce yet. Each one is hand made in vermont. So if you order one don't expect to get it in 2-3 day's it's more likely you get it in 3-6 weeks. Well I think it's great. Hope this helps.