Grainy Sound

[short_n_squeaky]

Something I've recently been running into is this really disgusting grainy sound when I'm practicing in the afternoon. I have Jazz Band practice for about an hour every day, which I play in maybe 45 minutes. I rarely get this grainy sounding stuff during those practices, but about 6-7 hours later when I'm putting in my hour alone daily, I get the grains

I'm not too sure if this is an embochure problem or more of a pressure/tension problem, but I'm open to any suggestions. I've been working on not pressing the mouthpiece on my face as hard and that seems to help a good bit, and I'm working on the breathing, but I'm still getting that gross sound around F on top of the staff. Thanks!

[JazzCatDRP]

If I'm reading your problem correctly, I know what you're talking about. Two of my former students had that problem. If I'm reading ya correctly, the problem is that a little air is escaping. Mashing the mouthpiece against your face might seem like the easiest solution, but I wouldn't do that (for the sake of pressure). The way I helped my students overcome this was to have them tighten their corners and use a little more air. That helps regain the seal without having to force the horn on your face. Hope this helped!

[tcutrpt]

Try playing some soft, low notes after jazz band. If you are playing a lot of demanding music in there, you need to get the lips feeling a fresh again before putting up your horn. When you pick the horn back up, play some soft exercises again to get the response going. Don't just start on music right away. Give your lips a bit of a chance to get back into it. After a while, the amount of time need to get the lips going again should decrease, but it always seems to take me at least a little while to get going again. Just my thoughts.
_________________
Matt Cyr
trumpetmc@gmail.com

[short_n_squeaky]

Both of those suggestions look like they'll help me out a good bit. But I had a quick question about the low notes. By low notes, do you mean things like low G's below the staff, or an octave lower in that really low octave (Is that called a Pedal tone?) I think a lot of my problem is physically I need to keep working on my chops, combined with things like keeping the corners of my lips up, but we'll see in a few more months I suppose ) Thanks for the help!

[MF Fan]

Playing softly is a good idea to regain responsiveness and to help your lip regain its vibrancy. Based on your description, I suspect the cause is using too much pressure during your 45 minute rehersal. When you get back to the horn later in the day your chops are still suffering the effects. You hear good players, particulary high-note guys, say they get stronger as the gig goes on. Their coordination and breathing is in the groove. I feel my best a couple of hours after a gig. I feel fully warmed up, and my corners have had a chance to recover a bit. If you feel and sound worse 6 hours after a session, that's not a good thing. You're probably playing with too much pressure. The cure? Let a fat, well-supported airstream protect your chops. The better you are at using air, the less pressure you'll need, and your endurance and range will benefit.
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MF Fan
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L.A. Benge 5x
Holton MF3
Lead Trumpet - My Basement Jazz Orchestra

[smithwatkinsguy]

I totally agree with MF Fan. I'm not too much of a jazz guy myself, but I do play lead in my high school band which is almost 1 hour after I have regular band. Usually by then my lips are pretty refreshed and of course I use a smaller mouthpiece (Laskey 80*). I am 100% behind the more air/less pressure idea. If using more air causes this sound to become more grainy (I had this problem after I got my braces off) then try to use the same amount of air but tighten up your embouchure a little bit and open up your throat, not to mention DROP YOUR JAW. My teacher inscribed that in my head for the longest time, if you look at those high-note guys, they're jaws are about as far down as you can get them, almost to the point of discomfort (Arturo Sandoval). I'm only giving you as many suggestions as I can think of. Also, you might want to check out your equipment, if your mouthpiece has a ding in the bottom of the backbore that could be a slight problem or maybe you might want to make sure that your spit-valves aren't leaking......not very likely with the way you explained the problem, but just check . Good luck
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Aaron G.
Bach Strad Bb 37G bell/Stork 1
Bach Strad C 229G bell, 25H pipe/Stork 1
Rhode Island All-State Orchestra
The Hartt School of Music