Trager Trumpet Talk

Trager Trumpet Talk

presents

Observations

Those of us that are trumpet geeks find ourselves constantly looking for a better way. Maybe a "magic" mouthpiece will do the trick? Maybe that special custom made trumpet? Then one day things are not working out as well as they usually do; you are having a bad day. What's the first thing you do? If you are the average trumpet student looking for that magic miracle, you probably start manipulating the mouthpiece, or maybe you start pivoting the horn in a direction that you have never tried during your entire playing career. You call it experimental practice. I call it stupidity. Most of us by nature, are not patient people. You are bound to have a bad day, everyone has one occasionally. Consistency comes from consistent practice, and keeping one's equipment consistent too. In other words, if you have a decent sound, and your mouthpiece is comfortable, then you should stick with it.

I recently went to a clinic featuring Phil Smith. Phil Smith in my opinion, has one of the most beautiful cornet sounds I have ever heard. I sat up front with one of my students. I watched him warm up in the corner, and I watched intently as he played. Phil Smith spent a lot of time discussing and demonstrating the differences between trumpet and cornet, but he also spoke about some of the exercises and techniques that he uses all the time. He spent some time demonstrating "lip bends". I noticed a slight pursing of his lower lip while lipping down the half step. I also noticed this same movement of the lips as he ascended into the upper register. After the clinic I dropped off my student, and headed home to practice some of what I observed that morning.

I immediately pulled out my james Stamp book, and went through the pedal tone warm ups, lip bends, and then some etudes. I noticed that the slight pursing of the lips forward used to focus the pedal tones, is near identical for the lip bends, and ascending into the upper range. This must explain why the incorporation of "natural pedal tones" (please read "pedal tones"),and lip bends actually help to increase trumpet range.

The next time you are having an off day during your practice session, put the horn down, and walk away. Set yourself up with a consistent warm up routine that incorporates pedal tone drills that move into and out of the pedal register, lip bends, long tones, and lip flexibility exercises. During your practice sessions, make this warm up routine the highlight of your practice session. In just a few weeks you will hear and feel the difference in your playing. The sound will be cleaner and more centered, your endurance will increase, your range will solidify and increase, and your playing will become more consistent.

Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions about pedal tones, lip bends, etc.

Sincerely,

Wayne

wtrager@msn.com