bill Posted February 25, 2003 Share Posted February 25, 2003 B) Hi. Are you there? i saw your posting on the message board about practicing your range and how much you practice, the best advice to give is to not play so much high range and merely work on peddle tones and chromatic scales from peddle to three octaves and back down and back up, then half octave work. this will improve your range as well as improving your tone quality and pitch in that range. many mistakes of kids, especially dci soloists is playing in the upper range but with poor quality and not actually finding the correct pitches. work on these chromatic exercises and you will be amazed how quickly your problem will diminish, i hope this helps.phil brass caption head for 7th regiment B) ....I'm not a big fan of pedal tones...as they tend to get too much blood goin' in the lips and actually cause too much swelling...of course this is just my opinion, but I might add it's also the opinion of many respected, studied performers, educators, etc....6 of one 1/2 dozen of another......soooo, find something comfortable for you...... Bill Kilties :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brassguymike Posted February 26, 2003 Share Posted February 26, 2003 [b) ....I'm not a big fan of pedal tones...as they tend to get too much blood goin' in the lips and actually cause too much swelling...of course this is just my opinion, but I might add it's also the opinion of many respected, studied performers, educators, etc....6 of one 1/2 dozen of another......soooo, find something comfortable for you......Bill Kilties :P Definitely depends on the player and his weapon of choice. A lot more low brassers love pedal tones than high brassers. I could play them all day long; I can't get enough of them. Heck, pedal tones is my email address. But my college tuba professor couldn't play more than a couple pedal tones before his chops were shot. For a trumpet player, don't think of your lower range work as having to be pedal tones. When your playing in your lower range (and you most definitely should), play around low C not pedal C. Let the lower, more comfortable notes be the teachers of the upper notes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjwbrass Posted February 26, 2003 Share Posted February 26, 2003 yes that is def. true. i am not saying concentrate on pedal tones but merely work on them. they are what builds your chops and better the sound quality. then you can work on your upper range. i would never tell my students to concentrate on pedal tones, no way. but lower brass players do enjoy them more yes. probably because of the sound. but also, there is nothing better then a well developed screamer. lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brassguymike Posted February 26, 2003 Share Posted February 26, 2003 another reason why some of us low brassers might enjoy good ol' pedal tones could be how they slot on our horns. In spite of popular belief, the true fundamental of all of our horns is different. Because a horn isn't a closed tube, the physics of a string don't apply to horns. Many believe that the true fundamental of a BBb tuba to be the Eb one octave below the first leger line. Many believe the pedal Bb that we play is a "priveledged tone." Last night I read the following about trumpet fundamentals... "For Bb trumpets the fundamental is much lower than the Bb at 233.08 hertz and is 38 cents flat of the F below the aforementioned Bb." I understand this... sort of. The man I just quoted gets way into physics for me to understand. Check out the tuba he designed to be perfectly in tune on all notes in all registers. http://www.penn.com/~youngfj/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheezedogg 23 Posted February 26, 2003 Share Posted February 26, 2003 Well a simplified "adams" technique, Proffessor of music and trumpet at Indiana. Is to play with lots of Wind, air is stagnent, wind moves (just a mind game). And expand up and down. And always make sure your having good tone and blowin through the notes. If your backin off to hit them, then work towads going through them instead. But pretty much long tones in middle range and work down and up, back and forth to where its not full and easy anymore, then keep workin to exapnd whats full and easy to play. Whats a bigger muscle? you're diapragm/lungs or your lips? Use the bigger ones... this is slightly simplified but its all on wind flow. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apuljushgurl Posted February 27, 2003 Share Posted February 27, 2003 I personally love playing pedaltones, and im a high brass. It feels reall good and it doesnt make me as tense for playing the next time. But too much pedal tones will make my lips swells and thats just not fun to try to play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjwbrass Posted February 27, 2003 Share Posted February 27, 2003 yes my teacher also talks about air a lot also. and the response the physics aspect. this does not have much to do with playing higher or lower. embouchure, apeture, air and strength along with which direction you move your air is the most important. experience also helps a great deal. if you notice when you play, lower register playing moves the air directly across while as you move up in the register your air consistantly changes to cold air and the direction begins to angle down. when you begin to understand your own horn, you personal horn and feel the pitches and let your mind teach your body to play, then this along with scales, chromatic or whathave you on top of pedal tones and longtones, lipslurs, all this will begin to come together and improve your range. but also, a great misnomer with dci, the best players are not the ones who can play triples c,d, and g's. they arethe ones who can play these and other registers with quality. please dont forget to work on these. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brassguymike Posted February 27, 2003 Share Posted February 27, 2003 the best players are not the ones who can play triples c,d, and g's. No, they are the ones who just stand on the front sideline and never have to march. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brassguymike Posted February 27, 2003 Share Posted February 27, 2003 if you notice when you play, lower register playing moves the air directly across while as you move up in the register your air consistantly changes to cold air and the direction begins to angle down. The lower the note, the higher the flow rate of wind and the lower the intercostal pressure. The higher the note, the lower the flow rate and the higher the intercostal pressure. Back in the 50's Arnold Jacobs did an experiment with the Chicago Symphony brass ensemble. When they each played the enharmonic pitch C4, they all had the same flow rate and intercostal pressure. So, for the tuba player to go up to the C, he had to decrease his flow and increase the intercostal pressure. For the trumpet player to go down to C (D on a Bb trumpet), he had to increase his flow and decrease his intercostal pressure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stylites Posted February 27, 2003 Share Posted February 27, 2003 It is important to expand range in both directions. BUT, in developing range there are 3 things that I think are absolutely needed: 1) Implementation of a good breathing program. Daily warm-ups without taking the time to remind your body how to breath correctly can be detrimental to developing range. You need to repeatedly train your body how to use and focus air to continue to be a good player, but especially a range player. 2) Mouthpiece only. If you do not take time to do mouthpiece only and "siren" buzzes, especially continually strengthening the range around your break point, then range will not come either. You have to work on what you have before you work up or down. Work on no pressure by laying the mouthpiece on your knuckles so that you get the feeling of playing without forcing the lips into an unnatural, compromised position caused by using pressure. Not only will you get a better sound on the high range, but you will also find that you will be able to play longer and higher. 3) RELAX. If you are getting frustrated that your range is not going well, you need to take a break. Relaxation is the key to proper airflow and support. Spend some time streching at the beginning, middle and end of your workout as well as times when you are getting frustrated. You need to relax when playing and not force the high notes out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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