Up-streamers/Down-streamers

[BlueStar98]

I am curious to see how many people are familiar with the up/down-streaming concept and if there are any players out there who marched using it.

Often, instructors insist on having a specific placement of the mouthpiece (50/50) to try and create a unified sound, though this is not always the best course of action. The "streaming" concept has to do with physical makeup and size; jaw, teeth, gums and face of an individual. The idea is that for different physical makeups is a different placement of the mouthpiece, which means that the air is traveling to a different place in the cup for different partials.

Upstreamers generally find it easier to play higher and focus the air stream away from the throat and closer to the "top" of the cup. The stream is focused more towards the throat for lower pitches and up for higher pitches. Mouthpiece placement would have the rim just above the top lip. For downstreamers, everything is reversed, the air is focused towards the "bottom" of the cup for higher pitches and the rim is just below the bottom lip.

This can vary and these examples are of the extremes. I know this may sound fishy, I thought so when I first heard of this from my studio teacher. When I was introduced to it just after I aged-out, I almost immediately made huge improvements in my playing. I know this may not have flown when I marched, so I'm intersted to see what everyone has to say.

[CSGreen]

That's one problem I have always heard from Private Teachers about their students marching Drum corps. Too often Hornline instructors try and change the way a person plays for consistency of the hornline. This can be great in terms of fixing problems (ie Bad habits, closed jaw, too much tongue, etc) but some instructors fail to take into account certain physical traits that may prohibit the technique they are trying to play.

I know when I marched in 1992 I was a shy timid player, made 2nd soprano, and was 7th out of 12 trumpets in HS. I had (and still have) a SEVERE overbite. During the summer I improved a great deal. Well by mid 1993, I had seemed to reach my peek, and the soprano tech (instead of trying to figure out why I had levelled out) tried to change the way I played. Instead of simply tilting my head farther back to compensate, he tried to push my bottom jaw forward. This changed my throat, airstream, as well as several other components. I had a rough time the next 2 years because that is what I thought was best...

After 1994 I changed back to my old style, and jumped from not making all-city band to making all-national.

When I got to college, my private instructor spent time working on my style of playing and maximized the uniqueness of me physically. He kept all the good techniques I learned in drum corps, but really made the instruction personal, something many corps simply can't do (with time, size, and other limitationts).

When I came back I jumped into section leader of the mellophone line.

My point... there are lots of schools of thought about what works best... but in reality, it truly is what works best for you. There are somethings out there that are just not good period. There is not 1 *set* way too to play a brass instrument, and a good brass instructor will realize that and still be able to produce a unified sound from their hornline (and can unify the approach to the instrument)

[kimelabari]

Great words of wisdom Chris!

thanks

Kimelabari

[DSGMUSIC]

Chris,

I agree wholeheartedly when you write, "My point... there are lots of schools of thought about what works best... but in reality, it truly is what works best for you. "

Over the years I have loved nothing more than getting to sit around before and after shows & rehearsals, and talk to instructors/players, players, judges, arrangers, etc., and have people share their thoughts about what works best, what methods they have tried, etc. From the very things you mention, to the pivot system, upstream, downstream, concepts about mouthpieces (for example, one season my junior corps instructor put all the Sops & Mellos on one mouthpiece, all baris on another mouthpiece, etc., because that was a new, still-to-be-proven concept at that time in the mid 70's. . . . that one could create a better unified sound if everyone played on the same mouthpieces, section by section. I am not sure how long we stuck with that concept, but I personally could not play as well on the mouthpiece chosen (Schilke 14A4A) because the rim was too sharp for me. I improved when I could move off that mouthpiece.) to warm-ups, ear-training, developing physical memory, how long it takes to change a bad habit, to - you name it! It is especially exciting over the years to have been able to have these conversations or dissertations with some drum corps greats!

And as the years go by, the list grows as technique and concepts and technology, etc., are shared from one field to another, and within drum corps.

I have often told horn lines that there are probably as many methods or concepts as there are instructors, and that over time, most instructors tend to stick with what has worked for them and their lines the best of the years. Usually, that does not make one instructor more right or less right than another, unless one is advocating poor or harmful techniques.

You discard what has not worked, and enhance what has worked, always wanting to learn. Most great instructors continue to learn and add to their own repertoire/method as time goes by. I can always take something away from another instructor - and playing members! - with an eye to improving my game.

But you are right - not every method or approach or embouchure or concept works for EVERY player because there are so many exceptions to the rule, and as you found out, there are physicalities that may demand another approach or embouchure, etc.

There are some great books out about anatomy and the musician that explores the effect that the body, one's anatomy and overall healthy/shape has over one's performance. These are excellent for someone who wants to learn more, or explore these deeper issues/concerns.

Too bad you wasted two years trying a method that did not work for you. I could understand a short transition period, but two years?? That is too long for something to get to work.

Doreen