Be Your Own Teacher
Quick and Easy Trumpet Help
By Clint ‘Pops’ McLaughlin
Smashwords Edition
Copyright © 2011 by Clint Pops McLaughlin
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Table of Contents
Intro:
I include sound files, web pages, drawings, video files… Some people will watch the videos but some will download them. Because not everyone worldwide has high speed service yet; we kept the clips short and the resolution low for faster downloading. (Remember 33k dialup takes 100 times longer than broadband.) So sorry about the resolution but we had to make sure it was accessible for everyone.
You get to see me play some. Yea. You will notice when watching me talk that one side of my mouth droops. This happened in 98 and to this day things still feel different. From time to time someone will make a comment on a you tube video and I wonder how well they would play after several small strokes. I think that you can still get the idea even if I am not the player I used to be.
Although I have written many books on brass playing; it never occurred to me to write a do it yourself embouchure book.
I always described the different embouchures. I wrote about what kinds of physical actions worked well with this embouchure and what worked well with that embouchure.
They were great educational reads and many people made playing improvements from reading them.
However; they never really dealt with doing a complete embouchure change. The reason for this is that unless we have a way to break old habits; then every embouchure change is different. After all we all have different habits.
The scope of this book is on MAJOR issues that affect ALL embouchures.
I don’t get embouchure specific here. For detailed info on how the Farkas, Maggio, Stevens … embouchures work and how they differ then look at “How The Chops Work” http://www.bbtrumpet.com/works.html
Most people obsess about how the lips LOOK instead of how they vibrate. For all of those embouchures and all of those looks it breaks down to 2 basics. Vibrating outside of the lips or inside the aperture tunnel.
Here is a 2 minute clip showing 5 vastly different embouchures. I even get crazy (well goofy) and TRY to make the bottom lip cover the top lip. Yet once the air causes the vibrations to happen most of the differences disappear.
Although we can put the lips into lots of shapes they actually vibrate in a limited manner.
http://mallstore.biz/TC/lres/erehdfg1.wmv
For 20 years now I have used off the horn exercises to help break habits. For relaxing I used a soft low loose lip vibrating. I called it purring because it was so soft like a cat purring.
Several years ago I started using a didgeridoo.
I discovered that the didgeridoo broke the facial habits in 1/10th the time of anything else I ever tried. (This has gotten so popular that some of my competitors now sell didgeridoos on their web sites.)
I decided that since there was so much outside interest in this now that I should tell them how to use it and why we use it.
How problems started:
The average brass player starts when they are in the 5th or 6th grade.
That is so young that their jaw is still growing. This is important because when bones are still growing; the tendons and ligaments around them are much more flexible than when we are grown. This flexibility allows for the muscles to have more play than when we are grown.
So we play a note and try to firm up using muscles that are both springy AND weaker than when we are fully grown. This means that we use 50%, 60% of our strength to play those lower notes.
Our mind registers only a feeling based on our maximum strength level. It doesn’t register (low c needs 2 pounds of tension).
Instead it registers (low c needs 50% of our total strength).
That was true on day 1 but after a week it wasn’t true anymore. It was sadly already a habit and one that would carry on for many people all through their lives.
This habit wasn’t an issue the 1st year that you played. It didn’t matter much for 2 reasons. First you and everyone around you had a very limited range and limited amount of endurance; so you didn’t push. Second your facial muscles were not strong yet and so they couldn’t tense the lip enough to hinder vibrations YET.
Fast forward that habit 10 years.
Your jaw is fully formed, your tendons and ligaments have lost some flexibility, your facial muscles are much stronger and your range and endurance demands are much bigger.
http://www.trumpetcollege.com/video/relax.wav
Fully explains this problem.
Now we have a problem because tension almost always has a negative effect. Tension is a static isometric contraction of facial muscles. Almost all trumpet players do it and almost none of them know they do it.
Tension stretches the top lip and makes it harder for it to vibrate. This actually makes it much harder to play high. High notes vibrate really fast. Double high C vibrates 8 times faster than low C. Because it vibrates so fast the size of the vibration is much smaller. Those small vibrations are easy to disturb. You simply can’t supply enough air to make the lips vibrate high when you make them that stiff.
And
More volume happens when the lips vibrate at a bigger amplitude (farther front to back). 2 things make you play louder. More AIR (to push the lips harder) and more RELAXED lips (so they vibrate easier).
Tension hinders both things.
Tension doesn't blow more air.
Tension doesn't help the lips vibrate.
Tension does NOT help you play loud.
Tension tires you out, lowers your range, diminishes your resonance, ruins your tone and shortens your endurance.
Tension OVER-dampens the lips and cuts the volume in half. Tension makes it HARDER for the lips to vibrate and it takes MORE air to make the same volume as a relaxed player.
A relaxed player turns 100% of the air into sound and a tense player turns 50%-20% of the air into sound.
I see this change in players EVERY day. When they relax they get LOUDER and add resonance.
Many people are still programmed to give 50% effort for those low notes, even though now you are strong enough that 10% effort would do it better.
Those notes that you played the 1st day are now using 4-5 times more strength and effort than they should.