Trumpet Range?

[vferrera]

My take on pressure is that people use it because it works...up to a point. It works because it helps close down the aperture and reduces the amount of lip that is able to buzz, therefore allowing the remaining lip to vibrate at a higher frequency.

The point at which pressure fails differs for every player. Obviously, some people can play extremely high with pressure, while for others, it just shuts down tone production.

To get rid of pressure, you can't just stop using it, you have to replace it with something else. To me, that means figuring out how to reduce the aperture using other means. The benefit is having a fatter sound.

I'm not saying that playing high is just a matter of reducing aperture size, just that it's one component that is directly affected by mouthpiece pressure.

This, of course, is just my opinion based on casual observation. Hopefully the "science" guys won't crucify me for being a d######.

[Geneva]

My take on pressure is that people use it because it works...up to a point. It works because it helps close down the aperture and reduces the amount of lip that is able to buzz, therefore allowing the remaining lip to vibrate at a higher frequency.

The point at which pressure fails differs for every player. Obviously, some people can play extremely high with pressure, while for others, it just shuts down tone production.

To get rid of pressure, you can't just stop using it, you have to replace it with something else. To me, that means figuring out how to reduce the aperture using other means. The benefit is having a fatter sound.

I'm not saying that playing high is just a matter of reducing aperture size, just that it's one component that is directly affected by mouthpiece pressure.

This, of course, is just my opinion based on casual observation. Hopefully the "science" guys won't crucify me for being a d######.

Good points. As far as the breadth of the sound, accelerating lots of air is essential. To this end, keeping the throat open and not pinching and instead learning how to use the back of the tongue effectively to accelerate the air stream is important.

[sopranoman6000]

I plan on having a backup plan, I just don't know what it is yet.

Josh, I told you all this before. But you seem to be working under pressure. Just be sure you have a backup plan with playing (even with what has been said here) when the pressure system starts to faulter.

[Martybucs]

rock on, you play sop don't you?

I do play a G soprano in Bucs Alumni corps.

I've been playing both trumpet and bugle for over 40 years. Playing trumpet or soprano in the high register is a totally different animal than any other brass instrument. You have to do it, to have any real understanding and even then it's a life long learning process.

I think, you may find, that if you can cultivate a method that relieves some pressure, your chops will last longer.

Still, what is excessive pressure? You may actually be using the same amount as me or anyone else when hitting a double C.

[Martybucs]

Good points. As far as the breadth of the sound, accelerating lots of air is essential. To this end, keeping the throat open and not pinching and instead learning how to use the back of the tongue effectively to accelerate the air stream is important.

I have to admit, I truly do not understand the accelerating air thing or fast air. If I speed the air up, I also increase the amount of air going through the horn to keep the tone going. This, in turn leads to a louder tone. How do you increase the speed of the air without, increasing the amount of air going through the horn, thus increasing the loudness of the tone?

[sopranoman6000]

I play soprano with Gulf Coast Sound. I played trumpet in jr high and high school.

I do play a G soprano in Bucs Alumni corps.

I've been playing both trumpet and bugle for over 40 years. Playing trumpet or soprano in the high register is a totally different animal than any other brass instrument. You have to do it, to have any real understanding and even then it's a life long learning process.

I think, you may find, that if you can cultivate a method that relieves some pressure, your chops will last longer.

Still, what is excessive pressure? You may actually be using the same amount as me or anyone else when hitting a double C.

[vferrera]

Good points. As far as the breadth of the sound, accelerating lots of air is essential. To this end, keeping the throat open and not pinching and instead learning how to use the back of the tongue effectively to accelerate the air stream is important.

Getting a fat sound certainly depends on the volume/speed/warmth/etc of the air column. But I once saw a high-speed video of someone playing on a clear mouthpiece. The movement of the lips was very complex. The aperture opens and closes, but the lips also move in and out. And you can see both standing and traveling waves moving across the lips. It's pretty wild. My guess is that those complex movements contribute to the richness of the sound and anything that constrains the lips will also reduce the quality of sound.

So it's really a balancing act. On the one hand, you need to have enough tension/compression in the lips to achieve high frequency vibrations, but still allow them to dance around in that crazy way that gives the tone its richness and warmth. As you increase lip tension, you need faster air to make them dance. Tightening the lips without air support just makes the whole system shut down.

I'm still experimenting with this and I'm not a "screamer" by any definition. But it's fun to play around with and my upper register has gotten a lot better.

BTW, there used to be a school of thought that says the lips don't really vibrate. Maybe there still is. If you watch of one of these videos, you'll see how wrong that is. They also bust the myth of the open and/or round aperture. The aperture is flat and closed, yet the sound quality is good.

Check it out:

embouchure

[vferrera]

I have to admit, I truly do not understand the accelerating air thing or fast air. If I speed the air up, I also increase the amount of air going through the horn to keep the tone going. This, in turn leads to a louder tone. How do you increase the speed of the air without, increasing the amount of air going through the horn, thus increasing the loudness of the tone?

If you reduce the aperture, I think you can increase speed while keeping volume constant.

Loudness and pitch are both related to energy. Energy increases when you increase the amplitude (loudness) or frequency (pitch) of a pressure wave. The energy comes from the breathing muscles and is transmitted by the air. For the same amount of energy, you can have a faster air column passing through a small aperture, which produces a softer, higher tone. Or you can have a slower (but more massive) air column passing through a large aperture, which produces a louder, lower tone.

Of course, this is just my simplistic understanding. I'm sure if Mr. Crankypants science guy reads this, he'll roast my nuts for not knowing that none of this really applies to a non-Newtonian adiabatic whatever. Or is it Dr. Crankypants?

[Geneva]

I apologize if this has already been mentioned (I have not read the previous posts), but as important as the physics is, the intangibles of the psychological mindset can be the "make or break" of successful upper range playing. In other words, not thinking of the high notes as far off summits to be reached and thus psyching oneself out of their successful execution by falling into technical errors which are counterproductive and actually shut down the proper physics. I once spoke with a superb trombone player with an amazing upper register and the point he made was that he avoided thinking of the notes as high, but rather just notes which were a necessary part of the song like any other note. In this way he mollified the tendencies which would lead one to pinch and choke off the air stream. Certainly, the confidence that the notes are within the individual player's range is a necessary prerequisite to their successful production.

[Shadow_7]

Well in the school of thought that the lips don't actually vibrate... The Bill Adams master class I attended way back when explained that the lips sympathetically vibrated with the air flowing through the instrument. He asked how many people thought that the lips where what generated the noise, then proceeded to slap the mouthpiece with his palm. And asked if it was his palm hitting the inner cup of the mouthpiece was what made the sound?

As far as range, I tend to imagine that I have an extra octave above what I'm currently playing. The trick is to actually believe that you do have that extra range. I know it's just mind games to overcome the psychological side of playing. But it works for me. It also helps if you actually do have an extra octave above what you're tasked to play. It's almost required so that when you are fatigued, you can still play the assigned task. In either case, if you don't believe that you can hit the note, there's a 99% chance that you're not going to.

It was also interesting that the recommended reading after the masterclass was psychocybernetics. Written by a plastic surgeon about the psychological side of things.