Misael thank you for your kind words and for realising you need to pay attention to every word. I hope others will follow your (and my) advice. Keep in touch. TP

Nothing like seeing progress in one's own playing. Play on!

Some may say he's just a natural. But everything happens for a reason! Thanks for sharing. TP

Many thanks Scott. Much appreciated and I'm glad to hear you are back on the horse again!

I'm really interested in hearing the way players interpret these techniques. It really allows me to develop my explanation and delivery. Thank you. TP

Thank you Leif. I find students are too easily convinced by great players alone. Having my students demonstrate is a much better way to convince players that these techniques actually work. I'm pleased to know they are helping. TP

Thanks Chris, I totally agree. It clearly demonstrates that balance can substitute strength. The better the balance between the physical components the less strength is required. Pure efficiency! TP

Robert that's great to hear. I'll share more tips in future videos which i'm sure will further help your development. TP

Hi again Jeff. Thank you. I put a great deal of time and effort into delivery. I almost walked away too so this channel is for those who did and those who didn't. The problem is that the "answer" is always different from player to player. Setting potential is the first step but unfortunately that's generally what's missing in trumpet pedagogy. I've been working on a fundamentals method for ages now. It's almost done but it's so important to get right because it creates and shapes the path of the player. I hope it will finally help the players of tomorrow avoid the same range and endurance issues we did.

Thank you for your comment. It's no longer a channel for advanced players only! I'm pleased to hear it is helping you. TP

Thank you. I too wish I had worked things out a bit sooner. Sounds like you did ok though! All best, TP

Gary, thank you for making contact. It's stories like yours that really make every second spent making these videos worth it. The answer to your question is easy. Just click the link to reveal the answer!!! (This is not a scam!) kzfaq.info/get/bejne/g8l9naiCucnGiZ8.html

Hi! Sorry i didn't get back before. I left swch about 6 years ago but I'm glad the videos are helping. Hope all is well. Paul

The same. I have little control over my chin. So I just shake the trumpet now, lol.

Just do it! I'm definitely going to make a video for my "senior" followers. You are all truly inspirational!! TP

Yes they would help whatever brass instrument you play. Experiment! TP

Hi PB and thank your for your message. It is great to get feedback and the appreciation is very much appreciated! Sounds like you're getting on well with two of the tips. Focus now on creating resistance and using the high tongue. Watch from 14:54 and spend some time experimenting and let me know how you get on. Good luck. TP

The Trumpet Prof: making progress, coach. Very early in the morning when my chops are springy and fresh I can get to a soft quiet first “a” above the staff, from there I can toggle B then to blow my desired C ( first C above the staff) as the days wears on I can continue get to the “A” but longer can I get to middle valve B or open C. I feel this is cheating to some degree because i cannot blow an open C at will without climbing the later...a work in progress, I am enjoying viewing your video’s multiple times. The one thing I am excited about is how much air pressure I am sensing on my first A above the staff, it’s a vet secure feeling for me hopefully soon I can move to a B-flat for my first starter note them move to my C. Thx 🙏 so much, Paul. I trust all is well your way.

Charlotte so sorry I missed this comment and didn't respond before. Yes this makes absolute sense. You have made a positive rebalance. It takes time - I really can't stress that enough, but your experience and perseverance is the perfect example of the way this needs to be approached. I agree with your second point too. When I started this channel I underestimated the beginner and intermediate player and that they have the same aspirations in the long run as a more advanced player. The only difference is your starting point. These videos are very much for you as well!! Thank you. TP

If you are getting louder and not higher you need to create more resistance for the air.

Hi. I'm not saying you can't or shouldn't have contraction in some of the facial muscles. Just not the top lip. This is an issue for many so I'll do a video just on TLR. I think the other thing I can't stress enough is it will take time. At first you need to mentally override the desire to contract the top lip. That means you have to totally isolate that aspect of your playing until you achieve it. Then you need to introduce a simple tune which takes no thought or processing power and maintain the sensation of TLR. It will be several months before you can play challenging or new music without those old sensations returning. It will be worth it though I assure you! TP

Hello Ellen, thanks for the question. I'm not entirely sure what you mean because your explanation crosses a couple of ideas but I'll address both. Upstream/downstream really refers to the direction of the air stream. If you blow air up your nose you are blowing upstream and if you direct it at your chin you are downstream. So upstream players will have their instruments pointing up because their jaw will jut forward, and downstream players point the instrument down as their jaw is back as with an overbite. There are plenty of examples of great upstream and downstream players so this causes no obstacle. You mention placing the mouthpiece low on your upper lip. The border between the white and red area of the lip is called the Vermillion border (great name!) and placing the mouthpiece below the VB is considered to be bad practice. I don't entirely agree it is always bad but in most cases it would be better to place the mouthpiece a little higher. The less top lip mass you have in the mouthpiece the easier it will be to play high BUT it will be more difficult to gain technical control in other areas. If you actively use your facial muscles to predominantly control your playing, a low placement probably isn't such a wise choice. If you have good TLR (top lip relaxed) it is less important. Hope that helps? TP

Hi. This one! I haven't spoken too much about it but this video from 13:50 refers to two very basic ways to set your tongue technique. (unless you mean articulation which I haven't done yet) TP

It is not uncommon for certain notes to change sound but in your case I would persevere and give it a little more time to develop naturally. If it doesn't, there are things that you can do. TP

Hi Victor. Checking TLR in the higher register is possible but not straightforward. Better to create and become comfortable with the feeling of TLR and then try to transfer that to your higher notes. You will get some increase in the level of tension as you ascend and it is best to allow this to happen until you are at your desired pitch when you can then try to let go of it or reduce it. I will be going in to more detail in future videos but I hope that helps for now. TP

Hi Ray. When you cough you kick the air. If you huff aggressively you kick the air. Try blowing out a match through a straw! That's what I mean by kicking the air. TP

Thanks Erik. I'm so glad you left this comment. My ideas are different but unless players adopt a "different" approach they will all play in a similar way and have similar issues . . . HIGH NOTES!! So conventional techniques produce common problems. The main trouble with "different" is it's not "the same" and therefore human nature makes us feel sceptical and wary about it. That's fine, I understand that. Listening to me talk and demonstrate my own techniques isn't really going to convince anyone (and shouldn't) that they will work for others. But getting my students to demonstrate proves they work. Not just one student but lots. Students of different ages and abilities: Alex Brain, Lucy Humphris, my son and the 15 or so students in my first TP video. And you will see many others in future videos. Thanks again. TP

@@TheTrumpetProf Hi on a nice monday😊 Thank you for the rappid answer. Read thrugh my first comment and I do apologize for my spelling... That was too bad but you read it anyway! Thank you. Resently I had a surgery in my lip, so I do need a way of playing that advocates the most relaxing lips. Your ideas seems to go in that direction. In addition to that I like the ideas of "the body" plays the trumpet! A last advice for now... Do you advocate small and flat mouthpieces? Thinking of less air in the cup an higher resistance also? Thanks again😊👍

@@erikandreasbonde551 Hi. I believe in playing the smallest mouthpiece you can which produces the very best sound. It is important to create the highest level of resistance away from the mouthpiece. Your mouthpiece will then just add further resistance and give you even more help but start with YOU and what YOU can produce in your most natural state. That's your default. You should never need to totally "rely" on your mouthpiece. Hope that helps. TP

@@TheTrumpetProf That was a very usefull answer - as you always do! - now I know where to go. Thanks!

Hi Nathan. I thought I'd replied to this but obviously not!! I suppose the easy answer to this is unless you try, you never know! I really believe in experimenting with different approaches. Be creative with your thinking and if you find something, take it to the extreme, because it's easy to reduce something but not increase it. All my techniques and methods work; not just for me but for the many. I test them and develop them with my students so I'll never put out anything that doesn't have substance and benefit. BUT, I really urge players to take them as general principles or rules and then experiment. If you discover something let me know. I love doing this stuff and we can all learn from each other. Best, TP

Hi and thank you for kind words. That's a really interesting question you pose regarding practicing with closed front teeth. I think it can be beneficial in setting but not in playing. So, try placing your mouthpiece/trumpet with teeth closed and as you sigh/blow, gradually drop your jaw (either before or after the sound starts). Experiment with how much but try to maintain a higher level of resistance. You want the sigh to feel heavy. Let me know what happens. TP

@@TheTrumpetProf hi paul, thank you so much for your answers! it feels great to be able to get in touch with a real master, and actually for me ar real master is not only a person who is exeptionally good in what he does, but also someone who wants to pass on his knowledge to interested people and students. i am now trying what you suggested, for the moment i start with closed teeth and after the sound has started i carefully open the teeth and try to maintain a similar feeling of the embouchure. and so far it seems to work - to the quite high level of resistance there comes more control and more resonance and of course a better sound. next thing i have to work on: i tend to place my mouthpiece quite low, the upper part of the mouthpiece already hardly gets over the upper limit of my upper lips. like that for me it feels like i have more control and can play higher notes more easily. and the upper lip still can vibrate. but i think i have to stop this, and get more to the middle again with my mouthpiece. thank you again for your time and for sharing your knowledge, best wishes, gerd

@@seifenstander508 Hi - great to hear you have had some success with that! Mouthpiece placement is a very personal thing but my advice is to have the mouthpiece as low as possible but above the vermilion border. You can probably guess what the vermilion border is - the border between white/red. The reason is simple; less mass will vibrate faster. So when you take it off your lips after playing, just be aware of the top of the "circle" and where it is. Keep me posted and good luck! TP

@@TheTrumpetProf hi! that's an interesting and unexpected answer! As i mentionend, i had already experienced things easier with a quite low mouthpiece, but i always thought somehow, that's cheating, better not do that, better try to keep it in the middle, even though it feels more difficult. My fear was to maybe block the upper lip too much with a too low set mouthpiece, to give it too little space to vibrate. But your explanation about the vibration sounds very reasonable to me, so i will go on with that without a bad conscience. But besides this i will also continue to try to get high notes with a centered set mouthpiece - for practicing reasons. And i think on my stage, as an absolute beginner, it's maybe a good idea too keep experimenting, try different things, practice very variably, to get a better feel of what different setups do. However - it's great fun for me to practice, and the trumpet is an absolutely fascinating intrument. I am so eager to reach some little senses of achievement every day, so practicing never becomes boring. Thank you again for your time and your commitment! All the best, gerd

Great band!

Hi Nick sorry for the delay in my response. The Prana is THE mouthpiece for me. I owe it far more than I really let on but it is not for anyone looking for a quick fix which clearly you are not. The concepts I am teaching will definitely allow you to get the most out of the Prana and for the Prana to work its magic for you. It took 3 months for me to really settle on it. Jason who works at Monette was right on the money when he told me to give it time. The first time I tried it I was devastated because I was expecting things to happen immediately. On paper and in theory it was the perfect fit for me but the upper and lower registers were weak and transparent at that time. It taught me a valuable lesson and not one I would I could have learned any other way. Hope that helps. Let me know if you get one and how you get on. TP

The Trumpet Prof. Thanks so much, Paul, for the words of experience. I’m actually awaiting the arrival of the Prana now. Appreciate the advice to not expect too much too soon. Monette talks a lot about center of pitch and I’m wondering how much I’ve unconsciously adjusted my notes previously. We will see. I’ll keep you posted. Thanks again!

The Trumpet Prof Paul, just letting you know I finally got in the monette mouthpieces (you had asked me to let you know). Actually, one I ordered had gotten lost in the mail and so I ordered a second one but now both have showed up: a B6 S1 and one like yours, a B4S S1. Holy cow, I feel like I’m having to learn to play a whole other instrument. So far, I’ve only gotten about 2 notes out that I like, the rest sound thin and strained. But every once in a while, it (Me) loosens up and feels really easy. I have to admit I’m stunned at how tight I must still be playing since I’ve been working for months now to relax my approach. Your story is an encouragement to me, though, so I’m going to dedicate 3 months to it, like you did, and see what happens. Any pointers in these early days of adjusting?

Hi Nick. Make sure you read up on the mouthpiece and the thinking behind it. You've probably done this already but there's plenty of info on Monette's website. I'm a stickler for reading instructions (I think everything should come with instructions including trumpets but that's some way off |I think) but Monette does provide them. It will be a journey, but your objective here is to let the mouthpiece help you to let go of control. When you put the M in the receiver you are releasing the handbrake on your car! Think of it like learning to ride a bike as a kid. Most have stabilizers attached to get started but once they are removed it takes a while to find balance. When you find balance you relax more and develop the confidence to go faster. That's what I found on my mouthpiece. Give your body time to re balance. My Monette is my most valued possession and I hope it will become yours too. Good luck and keep me posted. TP

Hello Andrew. The corners can be firm. The lower lip can contract. Just don't let the top lip contract. You won't be able to do it to begin with so don't expect quick results with this. Just aim to let go as much as you can as often as you can and try to let the mouthpiece support the the top lip more. TP

Hi Deshai, that's not an easy question to answer! Keep wiping them regularly (that's a pretty obvious suggestion and one I'm sure you've considered). Keep the rim of the mouthpiece (that sits on your lips) clean. When it is, it has a bit more "grip" to it. Have you tried mouthpieces made of different materials? Sorry not to be more help. I'll give that more thought! TP

The Trumpet Prof Wow, thanks for noticing my comment! For marching band I use a silver Bach megatone 3c On our cheap King trumpets owned by my college and for my lessons I use a regular Bach 3c however it has a gold plated rim on my Bach trumpet.

@Stuart Bowes Great advice Stuart. Not a problem I've heard before but looking at diet makes sense. To take your suggestion further maybe look at not only avoiding certain food types but introducing certain types that "dry" the mouth. Many players suffer dry mouth (opposite of you and Deshai) and I remember a colleague suggesting that brushing your teeth before a performance will augment the problem. Thanks. TP

Thank you@Stuart Bowes , This comment was very helpful! I will definitely consider this things. Slightly changing my tonguing method may help some. Maybe a way that my tongue is a bit further from the opening of my lips.

@@Shaibutta54 Two factors may be involved: The Megatone will give you different resistance due to the increased metal surrounding the outside part of the cup. Second, gold plating with a wet embouchure tends to slide around for some players. Try using the same silver plated mouthpiece for a period of time, keeping in mind your mouthpiece contact points with your inner embouchure.

Yes these techniques will help. They are not necessarily instrument specific they are techniques to allow natural interaction with whatever vibrating system you play. Frequency doesn't care what instrument you have in your hand and these techniques will help you get your lips vibrating faster more efficiently. TP

Again you make a very good observation and raise an important point. My son has a relaxed top lip and I have built his engine in a way that is unique to him. It is not wise for me to get specific with my video content yet because it wouldn't work for everyone. Everything so far CAN work for everyone but it all takes time. Relaxation is important but so is contraction. I prefer to talk about the muscles that need relaxing (top lip) rather than those which require contraction because again everyone will be different. In general contraction will happen naturally anyway. The only muscle which you need to keep relaxed for now is the top lip! TP

Hi Matt. It's all about resistance. There are so many ways to increase resistance and I have touched on a very basic one in this video at 13:50. Yes I am regulating as I go high and low but what "I" am doing probably won't help you which is why I'm not sharing that yet. What am am sharing will work for everyone and allow you to understand in practical terms what I am explaining. TP

Yes sort of but it is more about the delivery of the air. Blow out some candles then sigh out some candles. The delivery is different. TP

Hi Alessandro, that's quite normal! Keep working on the TLR and Sigh techniques and you will improve. This exercise will allow you to see your development. Thanks. TP

The b flat is an interval for open on trumpet, in the opening he is just doing lip slurs up and you can tell after the g he goes to the b flat before high c

Hi Anthony. In your practice yes. Even if the lower notes don't sound as good, try to play with the tongue "locked" because your other components will rebalance in a positive way. Remember the exercise from the first video, going in on a higher note and dropping down the harmonics? Don't worry about the sound of the lower notes to begin with. Thanks for the question. It's really important and useful for me to know how everyone is interpreting the instructions. Good luck. TP

The Trumpet Prof - Got it, thanks TP!

when you set the tongue position I mean towards the end of the video thanks

Hi Hans. I don't "put" the tip of the tongue anywhere. I let it go where it wants to go. We mustn't try to control everything, only certain areas of our technique and certain components. When I set my high tongue position using the whisper technique the tip of my tongue naturally falls behind my front lower teeth. When I set it using the cheek tapping technique it floats. Both techniques set the tongue high but set other areas differently. It is not important to set the tip of the tongue only that it acts sympathetically and indirectly. TP

@@TheTrumpetProf my tongue floats in both positions but I have always been told that the tongue tip should be behind the lower teeth. I can get high notes when the tongue floats but not when i force it behind the bottom teeth. Thanks for your input.

The ratio is often different depending on the way a player sets up. High mpc placement gives less lower lip mass so the upper lip is the dominant vibrating force through most registers. Low mpc placement often means the lower lip dominates the lower register and the upper lip the higher register. For me lower placement is more efficient but it depends on the dental structure and lip size. TP

heres his channel kzfaq.info/love/ZWBfoERwqf5dQutc7GX1pwvideos

kzfaq.info/get/bejne/rtNxoLuhsbXZgok.htmlsi=QUViWpVHfsJ79XWS

Yes plenty, but I'll make them in a video! There are two main ways to improve stamina: 1. Fatigue or exhaust the muscles then rest and repeat the process 2. Change something physically Most players will at some point try the first option which is likely to bring some progress but is not an efficient approach. This "type" of player will lose range when tired. A highly efficient technique will still become tired in feel at some point but won't lose range as a result. All the things I have shared in my videos so far will help improve stamina because they are the building blocks to playing more efficiently. It's no different to any other physical discipline which requires you to generate power. It's a balance between relaxation and strength. Technique will take you closer to efficiency. Hope that helps. TP

My advice is in the videos. But you have to LISTEN TO EVERY WORD. You won't play high unless you have resistance and create air pressure. Make sure your lips have enough space between them so they don't buzz freely without the trumpet. TP

No. Anyone can play high notes if they find the right way.

Blow some air at your hand and slowly close your lips until they are shut. You will feel the air pressure build because you are gradually increasing your resistance to the air. TP

@@TheTrumpetProf So you're saying that resistance is aperture size?

@@AndrewPinke Yes it is but most think of the "aperture" as the lips. You can form an aperture other ways like raising your tongue toward the roof of your mouth or gradually closing your throat etc, I'm not telling anyone to specifically do any of those; all I'm saying is create resistance somewhere preferably in a way that allows the top lip to remain relaxed. Hope that helps. TP

Hi Arthur. Lip stamina is developed more through relaxation than increasing strength. When you suddenly blow faster what happens? If the note gets louder try to experiment with your lip and tongue settings until the note goes high; even by just one harmonic step. If you are primarily using your lips to change pitch, your stamina will not increase as quickly or efficiently as using a different approach. Good luck. TP

Sorry for the delay. Search for the Trumpet prof on facebook and you'll find me.

This might help kzfaq.info/get/bejne/rtNxoLuhsbXZgok.htmlsi=QUViWpVHfsJ79XWS