Controlled warm-up and maintenance to include:
a) FACIAL LIP FLUTTERING
b) LIP BUZZING
c) MOUTHPIECE BUZZING
d) CORRECT "ON-THE-HORN" ACTIONS
a) CONTROLLED INTAKE OF AIR
b) CONTROLLED RELEASE OF AIR
c) CORRECT USE OF ABDOMINAL MUSCLES TO CONTROL VARIOUS COMPRESSIONS/VELOCITY LEVELS
a) UNDERSTANDING AND CONTROL OF TONGUE POSITION(S) THROUGH SYLLABLES4. SELECTION OF CORRECT MOUTHPIECE
b) CORRECTLY DEVELOPED STRENGTH OF APERTURE GRIPPING MUSCLES
c) UNDERSTANDING AND CONTROL OF APERTURE TO CONTROL FLOW OF AIR AND SOUND QUALITIES
a) UNDERSTANDING OF COMPRESSION MAINTENANCE AND CHANGES (ALTERATIONS) OF AIRFLOW DETERMINED BY MOUTHPIECE ELEMENTS i.e.:
This article is an attempt to explain in a bit more
detail the importance of understanding these 4 fundamentals and how to
observe and hopefully apply this understanding to both yourself and your
students. I'm quite certain that you will get some amazing results from
this information and it should help handle a lot of your "queries" as to
why it appears so difficult to play brass instruments, particularly the
trumpet, with greater ease.
1) FEELING
OF THE LIPS
No brass player will have much success if they do
not feel some degree of case and comfort when they put the instrument to
their lips. The primary purpose of a responsible, workable warm-up is to
ensure this comfort thru producing a "familiar" feeling. Naturally, a younger
player's feelings will not have had as much of a "track record" so the
familiarity factor is considerably less profound. There have been numerous
systematic opinions as to what kinds of "exercises" should be played in
order to accomplish this warmed-up condition. Most all of them produce
a result of some sort, although not as consistent as one might hope for
on a daily basis.
Setting the instrument aside at first, we have learned
thru the medical and sports training professions, that a simple "fluttering
or flapping" of the lips and cheek muscles acts as a form of massage and
increases the blood flow into the muscles. This helps "clean" the muscles
of residuals such as lactic acid, etc. that accumulate from previous playing
periods. It also helps provide oxygen and blood sugar to the muscles, both
of which are necessary in, order, for the muscles to function at their
best. This "muscle preparation" should be done for anywhere from a couple
of minutes up to perhaps 5-10 minutes depending upon the individual as
well as the desired condition for whichever playing situation one is preparing
for. A few rest periods intermittently placed will help things settle and
will also help you OBSERVE the improving condition. Naturally, someone
preparing to play lead trumpet in a jazz ensemble would want a slightly
different result than someone preparing to play in a concert band or symphony
orchestra. BOTH, however, could be achieved by starting with the flutter.
The differences would be when the person moves on to actually playing,
ON THE INSTRUMENT the final step in the warm-up. A middle step which I
feel is very important, is to do a bit of mouthpiece buzzing after the
fluttering and prior to the playing on the instrument.
2) ABDOMINAL
SUPPORT OF AIR
This is one of the areas of brass playing that causes
a great deal of confusion. Much discussion about the importance of the
diaphragm has sent many a player down the road to confusion, inability,
and bleeding lips. The upper part of & torso contains a large FAMILY
of muscles that all have been designed to function in a teamwork fashion
specially when we do something requiring FORCED EXHALATION, i.e., blowing
out candles, spitting something out of our mouth, OR BLOWING ON A WIND
INSTRUMENT.
There are 3 layers of abdominal muscles from the
groin to the sternum (breastplate); there are 2 layers of muscles (inner
and outer) in between the ribs; there are back muscles from the lumbar
region upward to the shoulders; there is the diaphragm just below the lung
sacs; and there are muscles coming down diagonally from behind the ear
which connect to the top of the cage. When a person does a "forced exhalation",
the entire family is activated as a "one-family" movement. They ALL simultaneously
increase their tension levels in order to raise the internal compression
level (PSI) in the lung chambers. This moves the air FASTER, which is one
of the first necessary things that must occur when a player moves "upward"
in the register. The area that the player needs to become aware of is NOT,
in the diaphragm but in the center of the abdominal muscles, approximately
near the navel. The body has a natural way of centering itself if you only
just try to blow suddenly as ~f spitting a piece of rice or blowing out
a candle. By learning to control the variance of tension, either isometric
for holding a compression level or by tightening and relaxing the degrees
of tension based upon what you are playing, one discovers that it is really
the abdominal support that controls the air. This ab support certainly
influences the diaphragm but it is NOT the diaphragm alone that moves the
air. It is the FAMILY of muscles, all guided by the abdominal centering.
3) APERTURE
CONTROL
Easily the most misunderstood aspect of brass playing
is what is "supposed to be happening" with the lips and embouchure in general
when we play. For years we have been told that our lips are supposed to
be buzzing at all times when we play any notes. In fact, the lips must
vibrate but NOT in the close configurations as when we do lip buzzing.
The air, once compressed, must have a pathway to be released in a controlled
manner from the body, The air actually initially aims at the surface of
the top lip, hopefully as far forward as sensibly possible. When it moves
at a higher velocity, it causes the lip to vibrate from the impact of the
air hitting it. The air doesn't just go past the lip, it "spins" into an
eddy (a kind of whirlpool) which "bounces downward" as it spins out of
the eddy and this downward movement activates a vibration on the surface
of the bottom lip which also then spins into another eddy. These are called
vortices (vortex is singular) and they are the basis of a "sympathetic
vibration" occurring between the two lips-which IS WHAT PRODUCES
SOUND. The closer you put your lips together, the
softer, smaller, thinner, or more "pinched" your sound will be. When you
open up the size of the aperture, the first thing you will notice is the
freedom of the movement of the air, then the opening up of the sound. Once
the aperture is opened, the player must also increase the tension in the
ab support to increase the airflow which in turn must fill the larger gap
in the aperture opening. This forces the player to USE THEIR AIR, which
IS the more efficient way to play. All people ever talk about is AIR but
then the confusion hits when they try to explain how it works and what
the player is "supposed to be doing". Soft, delicate playing requires that
the player close the aperture down as the airflow is also diminished but
understand enough to know that when you "shift gears or hats" as a player
into a more demanding situation such as playing lead trumpet, the key is
to balance the support and air flow with the aperture. These aperture muscles
need to be developed properly as well. The best exercise I know for this
is lip buzzing as long as the player doesn't start to confuse the tightly
pursed lips necessary in lip buzzing with what is necessary and different
, when actually playing. Lip buzzing, also must not be done in long hard
sessions. It is best done conservatively , usually 30 second sessions done
around 10 times a day, a lot less to NONE on busy playing days.
4)
SELECTION OF CORRECT MOUTHPIECE
The use of an improper mouthpiece equates with trying
to drive nails with a screwdriver. We were all told at an early age to
"do everything on one mouthpiece" and "avoid those mouthpiece traps". Well,
I'm here to tell you that I TRIED that … for years and years. I kept believing
that someone knew what they were talking about. After all of the years
in this business, playing on. so many bands, sitting next to so many great
and famous players, I saw a different attitude about equipment. People
were always looking for the magic mouthpiece BUT, they WERE LOOKING !!
the activity of investigating, trying, asking questions about, whatever....
it's a great adventure and you eventually really can learn some very important
things about WHAT and HOW to use in the area of mouthpieces, perhaps different
for different situations. Some MAJOR classical players whom I know use
different pieces for different horns such as "C", "Bb", PICCOLO, etc. Some
players switch mouthpieces occasionally even on one trumpet just to help
improve the way they play a certain style of music. Sounds SANE to me ...
sorta, "THE RIGHT TO0L FOR THE JOB"!!
You can really help your young students by being more encouraging positive, realistic, and INFORMED about making adjustments in equipment.
Simply, if a kid is playing in your concert band, wind ensemble, or orchestra, it's recommended that he or she play on a lower compression (deeper cup) mouthpiece. It helps produce sounds that fit the music better and it makes the student feel greater ease in playing the style correctly. If the same kid plays in your jazz big band, suggest they find a high compression (shallower) mouthpiece which helps that player access not only into the upper register, but to just get quicker response from his or her efforts. This translates as ease of playing. Naturally, the "sensible" thing to do is to try to get a mouthpiece with a similar rim and inside diameter for both situations. This is pretty easy to accomplish as long as the student is playing on a standard, stock piece. It doesn't always have to be precisely EXACT, just close "in the ball park"! The younger students won't so much notice nor be adversely affected by slight differences whereby a pro will much more likely be more sensitive to minute differences ... but not always!
Don't be afraid TO TRY!! Better to explore and discover than to keep your head and mind buried in the sand of tradition (and mis-information). GOOD LUCK!!
BOBBY SHEW 1997