My main man and internet trumpet brother Jeff Lewis had me on his podcast awhile back. We got into lots of chops, lead trumpet and education talk, plus loads of other nerdy trumpet material.
Enjoy and be sure to check out Jeff’s sweet YouTube channel and other podcast episodes!
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2020: What a year.
Global pandemic.
Lock-down.
Masks.
And oh yeah, I completely trashed – and then rehabilitated – a severely overused playing embouchure. So, if you feel like things aren’t quite right – or are dealing with long-time damaged chops – this one’s for you. …
Rehabilitating A Severely Overused Brass EmbouchureRead More »
It’s that time of year again, folks. Time to head back through the practice journals for BTB’s annual ‘Trumpet Year-In-Review’. Inside you’ll find what worked, what didn’t and some general tips for time in the shed.
But before we get into that, here’s a little poem about trumpet playing:
It ebbs and flows,
It goes and goes.
Why do we do it?
Nobody knows!
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Hope everyone is doing well this fall. With the changing of the seasons comes, you guessed it, BTB’s latest RoutineTracker.
Here’s what’s inside:
Enjoy! …
(Embouchure Change, Day 1)
Many BTB readers are trumpet players embarking on the path of finally getting their playing in order. Sometimes, this is after a long string of consistent practicing and performing, and other times it’s a comeback after many years of not playing at all.
Either way, most of us understand that after that initial burst of motivation there comes the realization of the sheer amount of work it takes to make seemingly small amounts of progress. That, coupled with fact that it can be difficult to know what we even need to practice in the first place, it’s easy to get bummed out and off track. …
The Embouchure Change Chronicles: Part 1 (Days 1 – 52)Read More »
(Maybe I had a little too much fun with these “stickers”…nah)
Well BTB readers, the title pretty much says it all on this one. Let’s bring in the new year with a fresh FreeTB Course!
Here are the details of BTB’s latest addition, “Five Videos To A Stronger Trumpet Embouchure.”
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New FreeTB Course, “Five Videos To A Stronger Trumpet Embouchure” Now Available!Read More »
If you are reading this, it’s likely you’ve read some of BTB’s other blog posts. You must have, right? There’s no effing way Google sent you here otherwise.
Anyways, I recently had sort of a revelation about playing, and in particular my own journey with this demon hell-pipe while skimming through a copy of Roy Stevens’, “Embouchure Self-Analysis.”
Before reading the book, the only thing I knew about the Stevens-Costello approach to embouchure development was that the players who master the techniques can rest the trumpet on the palm of their hand and rip up to loud-as-shit double and even triple C’s!
Roy goes on to explain how setting the embouchure in a particular way with regards to the teeth and lip placement promotes healthy development of the embouchure muscles. This ultimately leading to consistent, day-to-day ease of playing and extraordinary range.
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This Took Me Seven Years – You Can Do It in Half That Time (And It’ll Be Worth It!)Read More »
Why add resistance to lips?
As discussed in Resistance is not Futile every note requires a specific balance of air flow and resistance. This resistance is collected from a number of different areas in the body and the balances vary from repetition to repetition. These balances are dictated mainly by practice and fatigue.
Since the muscles of your embouchure are relatively small – and not connected to bone – there is a tendency for them to fatigue quickly. Once the embouchure is fatigued the necessary resistances will travel to …
Routines can be something that we love and hate. Do we need to do them? What kinds of things need to get touched? What’s the most important thing to focus on?
Does anyone actually know anything about this damn instrument?
What I do know is this …
To Grind or Not to Grind (Practice Hard or Easy?)Read More »