Help with trumpet?

[zhul4nder]

So i'm a beginner trumpet, about 1 week in the making...

I've recently been having A LOT of trouble reaching high notes. When i play the notes i want to play in arpeggios, i can reach them...but when they're within a piece, i just can't manage to get to the higher notes (from highest F# on the staff and up). I was wondering of anyone would give me tips on now to play them during runs and scales. I know that it's about the air pressure and not the purseness of the lips, but when i do it...i just blow air, no sound.

[Awww_muffin]

Ok for starters lets practice some exercises. First thing is first, I'm guessing your embechure is weak sooo..lets do some training.


Grab a #2 pencil and sharpen it.


Take the TIP, yes the sharp point and make you "playing" face and stick the point inbetween your lips. make sure not to go past the teeth nor let the teeth help you at all.

Hold the pencil straight out for 3minuets, then take it out and relax a bit. maybe.. 15-20min. repeat this step at least 3 times a day.


This will dramatically increase your playing ability, tone, range, and stamina.


#2 thing to do.

Use pressure of air.. not of the lips. Yes it takes a while to understand and get down but it works.

ZERO pressure pushing into your face. you want to be able to slide a peice of paper in there if u wanted to.


Make sure your lips are wet, or at least not dry.


Also.. Practice LOW notes alot.

Sounds dumb right? Nope.. It indirectly builds your range ;D


If you need more tips. let me know

AIM
trumpetplaya1
deathcomestnow8

MSN
trumpet_playa_1@hotmail.com

enjoy ;D

[Awww_muffin]

Also.
Please start playing on a 7C bach mouthpeice.

it's the begginers peice anyways

I can reach a Double G on it myself.


I myself play on a coustom 11b4 mouthpeice. which is hella shallow.

[zhul4nder]

yea right now i have a 7C mouthpiece...and for some reason, the school's trumpet case also had a 13A4A which i don't have a clue for what it is used for besides jazz?

[funmonkey54]

Muffin got it pretty much down. Additional practice that may help you with the feel of the mouth piece and embechure.

Take your mouth piece and blow into it. Aim for the highest note you can just blowing at first. Then, pull the mouth piece away. Your lips should continue to play that note even without the mouthpiece. It will help your tone significantly and if you do this regularly, can ensure you are not relying on the mouthpiece for your lips to buzz. It will kill you as a beginner to start this habit.

Next, opening your throat. When you are playing, make sure that your head/trumpet and body form a 90 degree angle. Hold your body up straight, no slouching, and sit on the edge of your chair. It will aid you in getting a full and comfortable air flow through your body. Take deep breaths before you play to develop your lungs for deep breaths while playing. Eventually, you wil.l want your trumpet slightly upwards at a 10-15 degree angle, but for a beginner, just getting the feel and arm strength will be immensely helpful.

And then remember this. DO NOT aim for the next note until you can play the curent highest note moderately comfortably. You want to develop your tone on each note because being able to squeek out a note will do you little to no good within the song seeing as how it will ruin tone and musical fluency. So make sure you are comfortable before taking that next step.

I am also very willing to answer any questions you may have.

AIM
FM54FFR

EMAIL
funnymonkey54@gmail.com

[Awww_muffin]

^_^

[kmay]

when i played i just hit the high notes by using my stomach. That is also what i was told to do by my chorus teacher, don't think its only your mouth that controls pitch. You also need to play the higher notes louder. It is much harder to hit high notes softly.

[kommisar[os]]

i've been playing trumpet for 6 years and the best trick i found to get used to high notes is playing long soft notes. this is great exercise to shape up your lips to hit higher notes. when you get used to playing it softly hitting it louder won't be a problem. Really it's all with time and practice but a professional jazz musician suggested I play high notes slowly. I was able to hit F# two octaves higher doing this

[Awww_muffin]

Using your stomach is dangerous. And not only a begginers mistake but a very bad technique. Best, and only way(professionals) is to use your Diaphragm to produce the power needed. Not by tightening your stomach up, but by leaving it loose. Or moderatly tight i guess. But not all the way?

It's not a good thing to rely on. Sure, u CAN do it.. but the results WONT be as awesome as just using straight air pressure. ;D

[Awww_muffin]

I can play a Quad F, if I try hard enough.

xD and Loudly at that. good tone and quality.

[funmonkey54]

Yeah, muffin, I was about ot say the same thing about the stomach.

Take the emechure and breathing exercises Muffin and I gave you and practice those over time. These will really help to develop you as a performer. None of this will be over night. Take your time to get it right. It will be very rewarding in the end.

[Cyanite]

The fact that he's blowing air through it but not sound might be a problem with the mouthpiece or the trumpet itself, actually. You should at least be making some kind of squeaking.

Everyone kind of covered most of the techniques, though. I never did a whole lot of exercises myself, and I've been playing for around 7 years on a 3C mouthpiece, I can get somewhere around double G without even straining myself. I guess it depends on what kind of music you play and how often you do it, though training exercises/practice can't possibly hurt.

[zhul4nder]

heh thanks...but that's with like...pressure on the lips? i recently (as in last night) started to lift off the pressure. the pressure now is about...i dunno, just enough to hold my lips together on the trumpet? yes i sound freaking horrible now and i can barely squeeze out an E the tendency that i run into is i start out my notes fine (on this new technique) like say lower notes (low G) to roughly about C/C#. After that point, my lips start giving way and as hard as i try to go higher on the chromatic...it just wont go. should i continue to push like that? I know from being on swimteams and general workout information for regular muscles that when you get tired to the point that you can't push anymore to give your muslces time to rid of lactic acid...which would improve endurance right? so would that same concept apply here? just taking X mins off from practicing? point is...how many mins if i should rest should i stay off for?


-edit-
I was just thinking about this whole air and no pressure thing.

Would this equation fit the description...

(air flow) X (lip pressure) = hieght of note?

[Cyanite]

No, the note's height is determined by the partial you're playing in, which is determined just from the velocity of the air going through your trumpet. From there all the other notes are the result of holding down the valves, which increases the amount of tubing the air has to go through, which lowers the pitch.

The partials are simply the notes you can play with open valves.

[Awww_muffin]

lol no.. Higher notes are really made because your making the hole of your lips super tiny,with alot of air being forced through. xD

pressure isnt needed.

[kommisar[os]]

one thing that helps is getting a jazz mouth piece if you want to have fun with higher notes. i have a 14b4 and it helps quite a bit in the long run

[clarinet89]

Well, I'm not a trumpet player, but here is my two cents.

Doing long tones is one of the best things you can do as a musician. Play a note as quietly as you can and as loundly as you can for as long as you can. Crencendo, decrescendo. When you play as long as you can on one note, it builds lung and diaphragm strength and using the dynamics lets you focus on keeping the note in tune and beautiful as long as you can. It's great.

Work on scales every day. All kinds of scales. Major, minor, modes(helps a lot if you play a lot of jazz). Scales appear in music A LOT. Practicing them early and often saves a lot of future practice time and effort.


Hope this helps!

[Awww_muffin]

Eh, I don't suggest getting a new mouth peice other than a standard one. You should build your embechure to the close 7c or 5c standards first. It will help you become fluent in alot of other pieces in the future.

Plus your only playing for what like 3months and then you have to stop? xD

[csoup1414]

dang for me being a woodwind player...
i cant play brass worth a hoot lol. but this helped my friend who needed help with high notes and some of it also could do with improving clarinet tone =]

[lord_carbo]

Originally Posted by kmay

when i played i just hit the high notes by using my stomach. That is also what i was told to do by my chorus teacher, don't think its only your mouth that controls pitch. You also need to play the higher notes louder. It is much harder to hit high notes softly.

Your chorus teacher told you to do that because that's exactly how you're supposed to sing-- through your abdomen. But that's not how you are supposed to play wind instruments.