2019 Trumpet Year-In-Review

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!

A Cancelled Tour Means Practice, Practice, Practice!

This past winter, our six-week tour with the Brian Setzer Orchestra was cancelled a few days before hitting the road. Yes, that was a kick in the nuts. But! There was also a trumpet-nerd upside. For the first time in nine years I was able to extend my practice experiments beyond a year’s time.

In prior years, I’d revolve my routines around getting ready for our end-of-year tour. After the tour, I’d reassess and make a new plan. This time, by being able to focus on a few exercises – just about every day for over a year – it has been a wonderful period of growth as a trumpet player.

In some ways it feels like a ‘return to my youth’ in the sense that I don’t feel the need to be quite so careful with my chops anymore. Here is what worked for me.

What Worked For My Embouchure

First of all, I have tried a ton of stuff. While everything we experiment with along the way all counts, I will attribute the feeling of a strong, connected embouchure to just a few concepts applied through a simple routine.

Basically, the route that worked for me was exploring embouchure mechanics and physical cues for playing. Then, reinforcing those cues every time I touched the horn, until they became habit.

There were three embouchure-specific tips that seemed to make the biggest difference. First, Rienhardt’s lips touching inside the mouthpiece before and after all playing. Then, Farkas’ lining the top and bottom teeth up as closely as possible both up and down as well as front to back*. And finally, licking the mouthpiece rim before playing to reduce friction and further challenge the embouchure ‘grip’.

*This also helped BIG TIME with symptoms of tinnitus and TMJ.

These mechanics were most succesfully applied first through the pedal range. The pedal range proved to be a great register to make these changes, as it already felt weird to begin with. Learning to control and extend the pedals also taught me the ‘roll-out’ or relaxing of the chops into the cup that you sometimes hear about. This sensation opened up the ability to mouthpiece and lip-buzz – for the greater good of my chops – as well as Cat Anderson’s, teeth-closed ‘whisper G’.

Ideas On Compression And The Glottis

With the embouchure feeling solid, I started looking at compression again. When I was younger, I felt that I compressed the air in my throat – something most would agree is a big no-no. But, I could play well in the upper register with hardly any embouchure technique to speak of.

Recently, I’ve learned that what we do is control the the flow of air from the lungs with the glottis. There are lots of people who’ve written about this technique over the years. And with advocates ranging from Philip Farkas to the Tastee Bros, you’d think the concept would be more-well recognized.

Think about it. How you could possibly play soft without resisting the air first in the throat? Isn’t a completely open exhalation always going to be loud? How could you play long phrases? An open exhalation empties the lungs in a second.

If the mouth is sealed off, then the air will fight to go somewhere. It’s entirely reasonable to think that a player experiencing a tight or sore throat from playing is having this issue because they are trying to play too open. Without regulating the air first from the glottis, a massive amount of compressed air is trying to escape the body. Perhaps the the throat tenses up to prevent the neck from herniating.

To get a feel for glottis-control, blow the trumpet like you’re fogging up a mirror. That is the glottis resisting the air column. This creates additional compression and extends the breath. You can also imagine you are vocalizing, or singing the note from the throat aperture (glottis) while you play. This helps me a lot and I often fall back on it when my chops start to get tired.

If you have additional questions about controlling the glottis, throw them in the comments below. I plan to write an article on the subject this year.

My Biggest Mistake In 2019

I am a lead trumpet player, and as such have to play high notes every time I go to work. But never, not once, have I gotten ‘just trying to play higher’ to do anything productive for me in the practice room. Well, that’s not entirely true. It always reminds me of what not to do.

My biggest mistake this past year was allowing myself to use all sorts of mouthpiece pressure to work on high notes. If you don’t know any better, fine. For me, this was plain stupidity. It got to the point where my embouchure became so tired – and I kept playing – that it’s possible I shifted a tooth. I’m not exactly sure about that, but 3 months later – I’m still feelin’ it.

Please, do not push a tired embouchure.

Is The Trumpet Really That Frustrating?

I mean, yeah, it can be. But what I’m realizing is that it’s more like the trumpet makes you acutely self-aware of the things you hate about yourself.

Someone I really like once said, ‘the older you get, the more perfect you have to be’. Well, right on, brother. I’m tired, busy, stressed, and grumpy – just like you! If I’d go to bed earlier and lay off the vice, things would probably improve. But why do that when I can just bitch about not having enough time to practice?

Let’s Do This, 2020!

2020 is going to be a musical year. There’s still a fair amount of lip slurs to do, but for the most part, it’s time to sing some songs, play some music and have some fun.

My friend Morgan (introduced in the last blog post) has all of his students maintain an active repertoire of seven songs. If you find another song you like better – it replaces an old. Genius. We call it the ‘power-set’.

This year I’m dedicated to my power-set and making more playing videos for BTB-subscribers (ask and ye shall receive). I also want to beign building more lesson-series for the site, and offer them through an affordable subscription-based learning platform.

So far I’m brainstorming ideas like:

• Ear-training MP3’s
• How to write songs you know
• Fundamental music-theory
• Jazz improvisation
• Lead trumpet styles

But the most important thing is what you would like to see. So let me know.

Have a fantastic year and drop a line below.