The biggest misconception of CSO brass!

[_Don Herman]

Paraphrased from the article at http://www.midwestclinic.com/clinicianmaterials/2002/hagstrom.pdf

The biggest misconception of the CSO high brass is that huge quantities of air are blown through the horns. More air support is distilled to "Use more air!" which hides the fact that it's air support, in the immediacy and compression of the available air, which makes the difference in sound (endurance, range, etc.) So, it's the quality, not just the quantity of air that's important!

John says: "The goal of efficient high brass tone production is to have the action of the air at the beginning of the tone generating process. Combined with a strong and healthy mental image of what the player is trying to sound like, the lips and tongue gradually begin to react in balance with the air to create the desired sound."

FYI - Don
_________________
Don Herman/Monument, CO
"After silence, that which best expresses the inexpressible, is music." - Aldous Huxley

[Pat]

The word Hagstom uses, in the passage quoted by Don, that I find helpful is "immediacy" of the air. The free and uninterrupted air has to be there from the very beginning to get the tone started and the lips and tongue react to the air. This seems to be, in part, a timing issue. (although is goes without saying the quality of the air must be good)

Isn't this one of the things the Caruso studies have you work toward? You keep the lips set throughout an exercise (so you don't worry about lips) and concentrate on timing the blow and keeping it steady. You get the lips reacting to the timed immediate air.

Personal observations and ramblings (that may be obvious): For me its sure easier to make sure the air is immediate in the low range than it is the high range. Scales and octave slurs make the high range more responsive because the air is already moving and immediate. --When I was struggling with picking off high notes, say a high C, because of body tension I was not delivering the air to the lips at the beginning of the tone production process. My lips had nothing to react to, they would then contort, mouthpiece pressure increased and I would have no sound or bad sound . I would then blame my embouchure and/or the mouthpiece for the result. Once I really started to think about air, my embouchure stabalized and the notes came out. --So did I have an air problem or an embouchure problem? Maybe both, but it did make me believe that, as the former Chicago School moderator reported, Arnold Jacobs had it right when he prescribed that, when having playing problems, you first make sure you are truly using the air properly, and if that doesn't solve the problem, only then do you look at an embouchure change.

[_Don Herman]

Air, embouchure, sound? Chicken or egg? I believe that getting good air flow and good sound require a good embouchure, and every other way you say it (i.e., the relationship among sound, air, and chops). The catch is knowing when and what to tweak to fix the problem of the day. Jacobs, and many other teachers, use air and sound (wind and song) to drive an embouchure change, if needed, primarily because it's far too many things to think about (controlling all those muscles). The usual analogy is to walking -- thinking about it too much causes most of us to trip!

But, properly controlling the airflow makes most everything easier for me, too. I wish I had a dime for everytime my teacher told me I was sipping, not taking in a full breath. An ongoing battle, for me, I'm afraid.

Toodles! - Don
_________________
Don Herman/Monument, CO
"After silence, that which best expresses the inexpressible, is music." - Aldous Huxley

[slammer]

Do you guys know any good books about this stuff?

Slammer

[_Don Herman]

From an old post...

My favorite Chicago texts are both Jacobs-centric:

Arnold Jacobs: The Legacy of a Master, collected by M. Dee Stewart,
The Instrumentalist Publishing Company, 1987.

Arnold Jacobs: Song and Wind, Brian Frederiksen, Wind Song Press
Limited, 1996.

These are available from http://www.Amazon.com and other sources, as well as
Brian's website. There are also numerous articles in the ITG Journals
discussing various aspects of Chicago-style players and teachers.

There are numerous others, but I have these out the most.
HTH - Don
_________________
Don Herman/Monument, CO
"After silence, that which best expresses the inexpressible, is music." - Aldous Huxley

[dbacon]

DB

[slammer]

I have read "The Art of Trumpet Playing" and "Song and Wind." I will order Legacy of a Master." Thanks for the help.

Slammer