Pinching off my sound?

KevinInGeorgia · Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2002 7:33 pm Post subject:

I am having a problem I’ve tried to fix but seem to have a Mental hurdle to getting past it. As I go up in my register, (About top line f & above) my sound starts to chock or pinch off. Sometimes I can even catch my throat moving or closing it seems. In the past I’ve even had problem with my throat being sore from it pinching off. In my lessons I can work on it & get my sound to open up & relax a little but then it comes back soon there after. I think it’s a learned behavior; I’m having a difficult time breaking.
Any ideas on how to relax the throat? I’m so close to getting the sound I want, I just have this Big Plateau I’ve hit because of this problem. Any Ideas? Breathing Exercises? Mental Exercises?

_Don Herman · Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2002 7:47 pm Post subject:

Breathing exercises can help, and can help the mental part. Check the ITG links hub for Brian Frederickson's site -- he wrote Song and Wind, and has a variety of the breathing aides Jacobs advocated.

Many people tend to tense up and close the throat when ascending, when we (or at least most of us) really need to do the opposite -- relax and open up to let the air flow. Breath more often, for starters, and keep that mental song in your head.

A couple of suggestions:

(1) Play a middle G about mp while thinking "gently' smoothly, softly, zero tension". Relax, inhale deeply and just exhale into the horn to make the note sing. That's the feel you want to strive for when you ascend! Sure, more pressure happens, but keep that low note, no tension idea in mind. This is an exercise given to me by Jim Donaldson, one of my teachers, a great guy, great player, and The Schilke Loyalist. Minimizing tension is advocated by Jim Manley, among others. My lesson with Jim was very interesting -- he picked his horn out of the case and blew up and down, down and up, from pedal G to G over high C, effortlessly! He had me feel his tummy and cheeks to prove he wasn't tensing up. A revelation.

(2) Get a PVC pipe, or toilet paper tube (empty!), stick it in your mouth, and breath through it. Try it with your head tilted back and the tube pointing at the sky. Note how open your throat is. Again, try to carry this concept to your playing.

Whenever you find yourself tensing up in practice, stop and perform one of these (or whatever else works) as a reminder, and focus on relaxing. Take a short break (few seconds) to shake off the tension, slump down, whatever. Then, pick up the horn, get the sound in mind, take a big breath and let it go right into the horn (don't hold it, or you'll just tense up and static air ain't wind and thus can't produce song).

HTH -- I'll try to think of some other things if these don't help, and hopefully some others will chime in. Check out Dave Bacon's posts on air and such -- he's a Chicago guy with lots of experience! - Don
_________________
Don Herman/Monument, CO
"After silence, that which best expresses the inexpressible, is music." - Aldous Huxley

TPTXC · Veteran Member Joined: 06 Nov 2001 Posts: 112

I also struggle with the "pinching" you speak of I thought I had a pretty good range, at least by far the best at my school. However our new marching band director is also a drum major for the Reading Buccaneers Drum and Bugle Corps, and he obviously knows his stuff when he says that the lead trumpets and I are pinching our sound. Our show is VERY demanding, and he keeps telling us that we're pinching. The scary thing is that sometimes I don't even realize it. It is easy to say "relax" and stuff like that, but to march at 168 metronome marking in 3/4 time while playing high d's its pretty hard to relax. Any other suggestions would be helpful. He repeatedly tells us "more air, less pressure". I think once i get more comfortable with the music and drill it will be easier to relax and focus on breath support.

Brian Montgomery

[ This Message was edited by: TPTXC on 2002-08-09 23:00 ]

_Don Herman · Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2002 8:13 pm Post subject:

Brian -- free advice is worth what you pay for it! Yup, easier said than done -- I know! Marching is hard work, and so is trumpet playing! Breathe more often than you think you need to. Exhaust the stale air in a quick puff, and draw a nice deep breath of clean air. I bet you're starving your body of the oxygen it needs. And, yes, as you practice with the band, you'll get in better shape and adapt to the stress.

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