Exercise for Better Air Usage

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This is part II of a V part series on efficient tone production.  Click here for Part I.

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Learning to Use the Air Efficiently

Hello my trumpet-playing friends and welcome back.

With this email, you’ll learn an effective exercise for internalizing the feeling of efficient air usage while you play.

After that, we’ll discuss the general practice guidelines for drilling this feeling to the point of becoming an automatic playing habit.

And while it isn’t an overnight fix, taking the time to let these feelings sink in is a guaranteed path to easier trumpet playing.

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Exercise #1

To begin, take a nice full breath, feeling the body gently expanding as you fill up.

Once you’re comfortably full, release the air slowly – something like fogging up a mirror. If you like, you can even hum some easy pitch.

Listen for a slow and steady release of the air. To achieve this, you’ll employ the vocal folds in resisting the air on the way out.

Don’t overthink it, and whatever you’re doing is fine. 🙂

Take another breath and aim to stretch out the exhalation just a tad longer.

Good. 

Now that you’re feeling a bit more relaxed, take another full breath. But this time, while slowly exhaling, focus on relaxing the shoulders down by your sides as the air escapes the body. 

Relaxing the shoulders signals to the central nervous system to stay a bit more physiologically relaxed during the exhalation.

Now, repeat this exercise two or three more times. And with each slow and steady release of the air, focus on relaxing the shoulders, resting them on that supported bubble.

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Wiring (And Rewiring) Trumpet Playing Habits 

The key to getting your trumpet playing to feel more like this relaxed, passive release of the air is to practice in a way that associates the two on a habitual, neurological level.

Now, as fancy as that may seem, actually doing it is quite simple.

All it takes is going back and forth between this drill and your regular trumpet playing throughout the day. 

So, you’ll play a little bit, and then come back to this feeling as a reminder that ‘playing can feel more like this.’

By performing these skills in tandem, you create a new center in the brain which melds the two together on an automatic level.

And as long as you diligently remind yourself of this feeling in between bits of playing, your trumpet playing will begin to feel more like this passive release of the air. 

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Practice to Make Playing Easier

In terms of practice repetition, experience has taught me to come back to these playing ‘mantras’ (or reminders) in between almost everything that I play.

However, I came to drills like these in hopes of rehabilitating my long-abused trumpet embouchure in a desperate attempt to crawl back up from rock bottom and extend my playing career. 

In other words, I was pretty motivated.

That being said, I do understand that this can feel a bit tedious – especially if you aren’t necessarily having problems.

But make no mistake, this type of exercise will help any player discover greater ease with their trumpet playing. 

So, commit to mindfully performing the passive release as a warmup before playing. Then, come back to it at least a few more times throughout your practice session. 

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Old Dogs Can Learn New Tricks

Now, if you have been playing for awhile and are eager to change long-standing habits (such blowing harder or using excessive mouthpiece pressure to attain higher notes), you have a bit of additional homework to do.

As the key to changing these playing habits is disrupting old patters (and then creating new ones), commit, right now, to setting the horn down as soon as you notice those old habits creeping in.

Then, after a brief pause, perform the exercise above as a reminder that playing can feel this way. 

And if you want the most profound effects, only practice what you can do without those old playing crutches.

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Software Updates Every Three Months

You can expect this assignment to pay off after about three months of consistent practice. In other words, don’t think it’s going to make your gig any easier tonight. 😉

Some neat studies (along with some expensive equipment) have shown that 90 days is the general timeline for new neurological centers to show up as a physical location in the brain*. And in my own playing, I tend to notice a change in that 90-100 day mark.

And guess what? You don’t even have to believe that it’s going to work for it to work! All you have to do is carve out 5 minutes a day to go through the motions. 

Then, one day soon, it’ll click. And when it does, playing will suddenly and somehow feel easier. 

It’s at that point that you just keep it up. And by doing so, I think you’ll be shocked to find just how much you can play without much ‘blow’ at all. 

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Next Up: Exercise for Focusing the Aperture

In tomorrow’s email, you’ll learn an exercise for teaching the playing embouchure to shape a responsive aperture which freely vibrates to this passive release of the air.

In the meantime, thank you for reading, and happy trumpeting.

Read the next article –>

* PS. If you’re interested in neuroscience, check out a book called ‘Rewire.’ It’s super interesting and helpful on a personal level.