Trumpet Mechanics 1 2014
Trumpet Mechanics 1 2014
Trumpet Mechanics 1 2014
Trumpet Mechanics
January 2014 edition
Table of Contents
Prologue
Section 1: Wind
- Premise
- General Considerations
- Breathing In
- Breathing Out
- Throat
Section 2: Tongue
- Premise
- Part 1: Articulation
- Recommended Articulation Syllables
- Part 2: Manipulating the Size of the Oral Cavity
- Before We Get Started: A Word on Phonetics
- The Low Register
- The Middle Register
- The High Register
- The Top Notes Territory (aka TNT)
Section 3: Embouchure
- Premise
- Components
- Lips
- Mouth Corners & Chin
- Teeth & Jaw
Section 4: Arms & Hands
- Arms
- Left Hand
- Right Hand
Section 5: The Daily Show
- Warm-up, Routine, Practice, Play
- General Workout Strategies
- Specific Workout Strategies
- Some More Thoughts and Suggestions
Section 6: Prescriptions (Don't OD!)
- Circular Breathing
- Didgeridoo
- Double Pedal Tones
- Flageolets
- Free Buzzing
- Lip Bends
- Mouthpiece Buzzing
- Oral Cavity Tones
- Split Tones
- Whistling
Epilogue
Appendix 1: Mouthpiece Components and Choice
Appendix 2: Recommended Reading
Prologue
The trumpet is like a beautiful sports car. You can take it out when all parts
function properly, the gas tank is not empty, and you actually know how to drive.
This essay -- summarizing the findings of half a lifetime of being a motorist -- is
created for those, eager to look at each bolt in the engine independently, discuss
different gasoline grades, and talk shop about spoiler types.
Big fun! Nevertheless, this is a dangerous game: All of these components form a
system that functions as a whole, and its function cant be fully understood solely
in terms of the individual parts.
So -- when you work on the art of driving the trumpet, dont get hung up on one
particular aspect forever and a day; you want to shift your attention to various
factors, round-robin style, while paying close attention to them when they are
on.
Over time -- as your unconscious muscle memory improves -- you will develop a
sense of how everything comes together, working in sync with the natural
tendencies of the human body.
Comments? Contact me:
[email protected]
Section 1
Wind
Premise
- Without wind the trumpet is just a piece of tube.
General Considerations
- Posture: Unlock your knees, relax your shoulders, arms and butt cheeks. Now,
imagine there is a string pulling you up, lifting your ribcage and correcting the
position of your head to be in alignment with your straightened spine. Never
slump; the ribcage should be high at all times.
- When breathing in, the muscles responsible for breathing out should relax and
vice versa.
- Never hold your breath while playing. Breathing in to breathing out should be
one fluid motion.
Breathing In
- While keeping a ready to play tongue level, breathe in through the mouth
corners; take air in from the bottom of your belly to the top while maintaining
relaxed abdominal muscles and an open throat. See also: Section 2.
- Dont inhale before the mouthpiece has been placed upon the lips. The
sequence always is: place-inhale-play.
- The closer one gets to empty, the harder it is to get air out of the lungs. This is
why I advocate:
1) Taking in a relaxed full breath (breathing in to approximately three-quarters of
your capacity) all the time while you are in a creative musical situation that
requires flexibility, and
2) Not using up all the air until the last drop. Instead, take in a fresh breath before
running out of air whenever the music allows it.
- When you play written music, always breathe in more air than needed for the
upcoming musical phrase to allow the exhalation muscles to stay in their comfort
zone as long as possible.
- Be aware though that overbreathing is a danger, too. Our goal should always be
to have a balanced breathing strategy that is highly flexible.
2014 Thomas Heberer
Breathing Out
- A lot of methods emphasize abdominal muscle support when fueling the
trumpet with needed air supply. Rightly so! Nevertheless, I strongly advocate the
image of simply blowing wind through your lips. The impulse of blowing triggers
the abdominal muscles, not the other way around.
The idea is to avoid applying abdominal muscle support the way we do in
everyday situations (which leads to throat tightening and compressing the butt
cheeks), since we dont want to hamper air flow. See also: Throat.
Instead we should focus on the aperture, the "air hole" in the center of the
embouchure1 in conjunction with the abdominal muscles. The goal is maintaining
an open throat and relaxed butt cheeks while blowing. See also: Section 3.
- That said, lets take a matter-of-fact look at the issue at hand:
We need a consistent airstream to energize our instrument. That's why trumpet
playing requires active exhalation, generated by blowing wind and simultaneously
pressing the abdominal muscles up- and inwards. Additionally, pressing the
internal and innermost intercostals (the muscles between the ribs) inwards,
sideways and downwards boosts air compression even further. Again, remember
to maintain an open throat and relaxed butt cheeks at all times.
- Active exhalation is used whenever and whatever we play. The mental image is
that of a one-way street -- the intensity increases as long as we breathe out.
- There has to be a perfect synchronization between the initial impulse of blowing
and the articulation of the initial attack of a musical phrase.
- Each partial of the overtone series and each dynamic level has its own specific
air pressure2 and air quantity3 requirements.
- When playing a musical phrase with detached notes using one single breath,
dont loosen the abdominal tension in between but keep the tension until the end
of the phrase, always maintain an open throat.
- A common pitfall when descending: Dont weaken the air flow while releasing
part of the tongue/lip compression. See also: Sections 2 and 3.
1
The term embouchure refers to all things bouche (the French word for mouth) in regard to
playing a wind instrument: The use of lips, mouth corners, chin muscles, teeth and jaw.
2
The term air pressure indicates the amount of blowing resistance that the performer encounters
during the playing of the instrument. Low notes need less air pressure than high notes.
3
The term air quantity represents the actual amount of air consumed. Low notes need more air
quantity than high notes, loud notes more than soft ones.
2014 Thomas Heberer
Throat
- Abdominal muscle support triggers the throat to tighten when used in everyday
situations because air as pressure uses the same musculature as air as wind.
With wind there is always air pressure. With air pressure, there isnt always wind.
An example for illustration: defecation. A lot of air pressure is used, but no air is
moving beyond the larynx because the epiglottis, the throat gatekeeper, closes
the glottis to deliver the required downward pressure. The scientific term for the
closing of the glottis is Valsalva Maneuver.
The above example is the reason why we should never compress the butt
cheeks when playing the trumpet. It should be quite the opposite: Always relax
the muscles of the butt cheeks, particularly when approaching the top notes.
- Experiencing unwanted throat noises while playing is an indication of insufficient
air flow. Among the many possible causes are:
1) Your tongue arch is appropriate for the desired pitch but you experience an
imbalance between the resistance of the tongue and the efforts of the wind.
Remedy: Focus on moving wind through the aperture. See also: Section 2.
2) There is a lot of effort from the abdominal region but the glottis is fully or
partially closed (see above). Remedy: Focus on moving wind through the
aperture and relax your butt.
3) Your tongue arch is too high for the desired frequency. See also: Section 2.
4) The lips are too closed. See also: Section 3.
- One more detail: Yes, the throat should always be open, but the opening isnt
static since it is functioning like a valve (dependent on the pressure/quantity of air
needed).
Section 2
Tongue
Premise
- The tongue is multitasking -- articulating and altering pitches by manipulating
the size of the oral cavity (aka tongue arching).
Part 1: Articulation
- Articulation can be done two ways:
1) With the tip of the tongue behind the top teeth, where the teeth and the soft
palate meet.
The advantage of this strategy is the similarity to our approach of speaking our
mother tongue, resulting in precise, unrestricted attacks.
The disadvantages: One is that articulation and arching are separated
movements (which hampers the reliability of the top notes); the other is that this
strategy requires a different setup for slurring and tonguing.
2) With the dorsum, the top surface of the tongue.
The advantages of this strategy are its efficiency because it combines articulating
and arching into one movement, and slurring and articulating are done with
essentially the same setup.
The disadvantages are that this method might have a negative impact on the
accuracy of attacks, might hamper the dexterity of articulating and might limit the
variety of tone colors.
- That said, there are four valid concepts to choose from now (I favor strategy
No. 2 for my own playing):
1) Employing Both Worlds, Version 1: Tip tonguing behind the top teeth in the
low, middle and high register; switching to dorsal tonguing for the top notes, or
2) Employing Both Worlds, Version 2: Depending on the musical requirements
either tip tonguing behind the top teeth or dorsal tonguing in the low, middle and
high register; switching to dorsal tonguing for the top notes, or
3) Tip tonguing over the entire range to have a consistent approach, or
4) Dorsal tonguing over the entire range to have a consistent approach.
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Fricative consonants are produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two
articulators (e.g., the back of the tongue and the soft palate) close together. The turbulent airflow
is called frication.
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A particular subset of fricatives is the sibilants: In addition to forcing air through a narrow
channel, the tongue is forming a groove to further increase the intensity of the air stream.
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Section 3
Embouchure
Premise
- The embouchure allows the lips to
1) Set the compressed wind into motion, and
2) Function as a secondary air valve.
Components
- Two opposing muscle contractions work in conjunction to create the tension
necessary for lip vibration: The circular muscle around the mouth and a
combination of the muscles of the mouth corners and chin.
- Additionally, jaw position is vital to proper embouchure formation.
Lips
- The lips should always be flexible and moist to move freely in the mouthpiece.
- The Orbicularis Oris -- the circular muscle around the mouth -- is the basic
ingredient of the aperture. When ascending it slowly activates, incorporating
mostly the lower lip at first (being the more accessible one) and both lips in the
high register/TNT, and gradually relaxes when descending. An essential part of
successful trumpet playing, the movements of the Orbicularis Oris are very subtle
and work hand in hand with the efforts of the tongue.
- Some players use additional lip compression settings, sometimes referred to as
closed embouchures, to increase air resistance by rolling in the upper lip (in
some cases both lips) when approaching the high register/TNT. Be aware
though, that many symphony and jazz players dismiss these methods since they
tend to have a negative impact on sound quality. That said, I do advise practicing
rolling the lips in and out and learn to play with a closed embouchure setting as a
useful flexibility exercise that will raise awareness of lip movements and will help
you activate the Orbicularis Oris when playing with your regular embouchure.
- In the low register both lips vibrate. In the middle register the upper lip vibrates
more than the lower lip. In the high register/TNT, it's mostly the upper lip that
vibrates. Therefore: Beware of excessive mouthpiece pressure toward the upper
lip in the high register/TNT. Mouthpiece pressure should always be minimized to
the amount necessary to seal the lips.
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Actively opening the jaw has further advantages: Increasing the size of the oral cavity allows for
a bigger, more resonant sound. Also -- particularly in the low and high register -- opening the jaw
helps maintain the necessary air flow (lots of air [quantity] in the low register; fast air [pressure] in
the high register). See also: Section 1.
2014 Thomas Heberer
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Section 4
- Keep the pinky finger on top of the pinky ring, unless you need to free your left
hand.
- Place the thumb under the lead-pipe either around the first valve casing or
between the first and second valves.
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Section 5
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Section 6
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Flageolets
- The siblings of the pedal tones and the oral cavity tones, flageolets help finetune the upper lip for very high frequency production.
- They are produced without support from the abdominal muscles.
- Flageolets are generated by switching to an embouchure setting that
incorporates only the upper lip in the mouthpiece.
Free Buzzing
- Free buzzing without the mouthpiece requires the lips to be considerably closer
together to create the vibration than when playing the instrument. Contrary to
popular belief, the vibrating surfaces of the lips do not touch while playing the
trumpet. The surfaces vibrate concurrently but separately. Bottom line: The buzz
might be beneficial in the warm-up procedure, but should not be mistaken as
similar to the vibrations needed when playing the trumpet.
Lip Bends
- Lip bends are done by holding a note, lipping down to the note half a step lower
(or more) without changing fingerings, then returning to the original pitch. You
can also lip up, which is even more demanding.
- Be aware though that the tongue and the lips work hand in hand here.
- This method, used to play melodies on natural trumpets before valves were
invented, forces you to overcome the physics of the overtone series.
- You not only gain more lip flexibility doing this but will increase tongue strength
and control, too. Furthermore you will work toward a more efficient lower lip
position in the embouchure setting (and therefore a better lip seal). Last but not
least, practicing lip bends helps locate the true center of the original pitch.
Mouthpiece Buzzing
- Mouthpiece buzzing helps accustom the player to using more air. The greater
airflow allows the lips to relax and vibrate more freely, producing a more resonant
sound.
- Since buzzing while holding the mouthpiece in your hand can lead to alterations
of posture, using a buzzing device such as "The Berp" attached to your trumpet
might be to your advantage.
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- Oral cavity tones are good for figuring out your tonguing strategies because
they demand a very efficient tongue/aperture configuration. Thats why practicing
them increases the reliability of your embouchure.
- Oral cavity tones are generated by using only the air in the oral cavity without
abdominal muscle support.
Split Tones
- During regular playing, the upper and lower lips vibrate at the same speed.
If, however, the lips are set to vibrate at different speeds, two pitches may be
perceived. When done intentionally, this multiphonic effect is referred to as
split tones.
- Split tones are generated by aiming for the higher note, pushing the lower jaw a
bit forward and pursing the lips a little more than normal. From the higher note a
second, lower note should come out simultaneously. Be aware: Both notes are
initiated by the embouchure here (unlike growling, where an additional pitch is
produced by the throat).
- When not done intentionally, split tones are indicated as "double buzzing," a
consequence of fatigue.
Whistling
- Whistling is helpful for improving independence of the tongue movements from
the jaw.
- Practice slow glissandos and tongue trills in front of a mirror and make sure the
jaw is kept stationary.
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Epilogue
Although it is very helpful to look at trumpet mechanics from an analytical angle,
you shouldnt get obsessed with the methodology.
This is particularly important when in a performance situation: Dont analyze
yourself and your playing in front of an audience. In this case, you are asking
questions rather than issuing statements.
Be aware: Making music is an entirely different animal than what I have been
talking about in this essay!
When you practice, this is the time to condition reflexes through repetition to form
good playing habits.
When you perform in public you have to focus entirely on being a storyteller of
sound.
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