Weekly Trumpet Tips 12/7/10
The Shadow
Welcome to Weekly Trumpet Tips!
Please always feel free to respond / comment on any of the tips listed in these weekly posts. Your input may help clarify details for someone else!
Check out the Chops Rehab and Jazz Improv courses. These are designed to be 4 weeks worth of lessons to help the student gain insights and skills in each specific area. We are currently running a “Back To School” promotion on Chops Rehab…
A couple of updates – We’re literally a couple of weeks away from the release of the new book! I’m most excited about it as I’m sure it will be very beneficial to everyone who reads it! The interviews are intriguing and extremely informative!
We now have t-shirts! Check out our new t-shirt design! We have the “adult version and the school friendly “student version!”
Here Are your Weekly Tips:
Lose The Tension In Your Top Lip!
I touched on this last week but wanted to bring it forward again because I had a great experience focussing on this very thing. By maintaining a relaxed set with my top lip and not allowing it to tense and release as I ascend and descend from one range to another. My endurance was spot on for a 4 hour show Saturday night and again for a Sunday evening show… by doing this one simple thing, you are essentially forced to start using your air more efficiently and thus putting into play what many of the great players always talked about.
Try this – Start on G below the Staff and ascend up to G above the staff without changing valves or tonguing. Then climb up the G major scale – doing 2 octave leaps on each scale tone. Ascend as far up as possible. Find where the tension starts. Comment this week and let us know how it works for you!
Talent is a VERY Misunderstood Word!
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my adulthood it’s that many of our words and their meanings have been skewed in recent times. To most (including me until recent times) I was under the impression that talent meant being “born” with a certain aptitude or skill set relating to music, instruments, art, acting, sports, etc. What I’ve learned through interaction with greats such as Maynard Ferguson, Arturo Sandoval, and other trumpet heros, talent and natural ability comes down to having the devotion and dedication to our craft. I once heard a comedic ventriloquist say that the one thing that bothered him the most was all the people who were calling him “the new guy” on the scene. He said that most didn’t see or care about the 30 + years he spent honing his craft and working day and night to make his mark.
All too often we forget about the hard work that each and every one of us (including the trumpet stars) have had to endure just to get where we are or want to be.
So the next time you listen to someone who blows your mind with their abilities, just remember that it was their dedication and devotion to their craft that got them there. And you are no different! Just as talented, and just as deserving of those abilities!
“Champions aren’t made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them – a desire, a dream, a vision.”
Muhammad Ali
Three-Time World Heavyweight Champion Boxer
Have a GREAT week!
Sincerely,
Keith
Incoming search terms:
- james ryan trumpet
Comments
8 Responses to “Weekly Trumpet Tips 12/7/10”
Got something to say?
Yes, I agree in principal with the “Talent” label being misused. There are certain tendancies that cannot be taught, though, don’t you think? Like: instincts, perfect or even good pitch sense, musicality, sense of rhythm, heart, soul. You can work on all of those, but something has to be there to begin with.
If hard work and dedication was strictly all it takes, Major league caliber baseball players would be a dime a dozen.
This doesn’t mean I don’t love all your tips, now!!!!!! I’m just saying what I think.
Hi Wayne,
I’m really pleased you commented about this… it’s a topic that I think can actually hinder people from believing in themselves. Such as younger players – therefore I thought it was important to address it.
I do agree with you that there are some characteristics that come more easily to individuals – but I believe just a plant needs ideal conditions to grow and thrive, so do talents and abilities. Having a loving / supporting family and community, as well as a coach or a teacher that will encourage, inspire, and challenge in the proper manner.
I’m really glad you brought those points up! Helps me clarify my thoughts on this as well…
Sincerely,
Keith
I’ve seen some people struggle and sweat and strive at great length to master what others pick up in minutes. Often the latter are more advanced. Did they struggle sweat and strive at twice greater length? Or, given the disparity in actual learning times, did the latter spend 100 times the hours per day that the former did? The “it only takes enough hard work” school of thought lacks something.
Often the greater degree of advancement comes from more rapid learning. Additionally, some may learn quickly on an instrument, but slowly on vocabulary skills, or math skills. I think learning and comprehension rates are related to something that may as well be called talent.
Mmm…interesting discussion. I’m a trumpet teacher and I can’t tell you how often I come across “gifted” students, who have the “perfect” natural set up with their chops and could achieve some high notes in the initial stages but never had much more than a passing interest for the instrument. I often thought what I wouldn’t give to have their natural embouchure but I’ve noticed it’s often the way. I would venture to say that most if not all of my most successful students have not had a fantastic set up initially but through dedication and hard work, ( me cracking the whip!) have done rather well. From a student’s point of view, I would rather learn from somebody who’s had to overcome obstacles to succeed so that they can show me how they did it.
The physical nature or our instrument demands a certain work ethic that once in play, consistently and with the prescibed doctrine can result in some amazing things. Talent, I believe, has to preceed this, like the kid who can sing harmony in the back seat of the car in perfect pitch next to the one who wouldn’t know the right pitch from the right glove. One can rise only to the level of what our creator gave us.
What I know is — My first 25 years of trumpet were at a mediocre level, mainly cause that is what I believed was my limit, what I was “taught” to believe. In range, endurance, and musicality — we are talking High C as a limit, 1 hr of endurance, and musicality to about G on top of the staff.
By taking what Keith and others have said, and about 3 hrs a day for the last 2 years. The High C is now a Double High C, enurance to 2.5 hrs anyhow, and musicality to at least the F or G above High C.
and octave leaps – the tension starts about there – the F or G above High C.
That is all I know – for now.
I’m not talented, but I work very consistently and diligently – it is hard work – but it yields results
kieth,GOD BLESS YOU!Yes leaving the top lip a little looser did work for me once that i remember.Then of course i lost it trying all different systems.Kieth,do you have an instructor near my city of Jersey City,NJ 07306.Iam a vrey active Senior with no range.Before the LORD takes me I would like to hit those notes those Latin Band trumpeters hit in double octives. or some solid hi c’s and up. Sincerely,Tom Cappadona 551 208 0941 cell.
Hi Keith,
Something to consider;
I have recently changed my aperture from 1/2 top,1/2 bottom lip, to 1/3 top,2/3 bottom lip. It was a litlle raggedy t first, but now I find the upper register a little easier to play with added endurance as well. Please let me know your thoughts on this.
Mark