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"The E-flat Trumpet Player"



 
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BeboppinFool
Donald Reinhardt Forum Moderator


Joined: 28 Dec 2001
Posts: 6437
Location: AVL|NC|USA

PostPosted: Sun Oct 20, 2002 7:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Doc had all kinds of pet sayings and stories that he'd tell again and again.

But I remember feeling the most pathetic when he talked about the "E-flat Trumpet Player." He would cite about a dozen factors (of which I can't remember but a couple) and then say that the result is a guy who can play an E-flat (3 leger lines above the staff) big as a house, but he couldn't play you an E right above it if you put a gun to his head.

That was me! I was busted!

I had a dry embouchure. I dropped my jaw for my lower register. I wasn't using all four legs of my inner embouchure. My pivot was bass-ackwards for my physical type. I was a product of the Arban's concept of starting with a big fat low C and building upwards, and the ceiling of my range was located exactly at that very E-flat. How could he know?

Doc said that our range ought to "peter out gradually," not be able to play one big note and then no note. I remember feeling so exposed and even betrayed. Really, now, how did he know?

I'm happy to report that it didn't take long before I broke through my old E-flat ceiling . . . with all the detours in my life as a trumpeter (and bass trumpeter), I know that I'm on the path where I continue to get better every year and my old limitations are constantly being shattered. It's a good feeling.

And this forum has been helping me greatly . . . for that I thank all the contributors here who remind me what Doc taught and wrote and said.

Rich
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Wilktone
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Joined: 25 Aug 2002
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Location: Asheville, NC

PostPosted: Sun Oct 20, 2002 9:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yep, that sounds exactly like my range ceiling before I changed from a downstream embouchure to an upstream type IVA. I could hit a trombone high C sharp, but couldn't play a high D to save my life. Very frustrating, because I had worked very hard at my upper register according to the traditional way of building an embouchure - start with the "foundation" in the low register and build up, as if brass playing was subject to gravity!

Today, on a good day with a strong tail wind, I can play an octave above my previous highest pitch. My endurance and tone are better. My attacks don't split like they used to, and my flexibility is better than ever. And all this improvement was due to moving my mouthpiece placement where tradition dictated that it shouldn't work.

Why don't more brass teachers understand this?
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