The Trumpet Prof hey, thanks for the great video it really helped me out. Also I noticed that when you play, your neck puffs out. Mine does the same thing but no one else at my school does. Do you know why this happens and if it affects anything? Thanks!

As one of my voice teachers said, high notes reveal bad technique. It's like walking a high wire vs. a low wire. The technique is the same for both, but the consequences of faltering on the former are much more obvious!

Thanks

Larnell Lewis once said something similar in about drumming. You sound the best when you are not overtaxing your brain, so the only way to play difficult things WELL (or reliably) is to learn how to play something even more difficult (i.e. increasing the upper bound of your ability)

yuh

It's not about playing high. It's what comes with it which is important. I will play that high because I'm pushing the boundaries of what is possible and so far achieving. I'm discovering new things both for myself and others. Composers are doing the same with the music they write and the sounds they create. Technical advancement is necessary for all. Forgive me for not responding to your second point but I have no idea what it means. TP

The Trumpet Prof Santa Clara Vanguard is a Drum Corp (Elite marching band) that in their latest show, showcased some ridiculously high notes

@@TheOnlyWay2Go. but they sounded like someone put a microphone in a beehive

@@TheTrumpetProf hes saying that santa clara vanguard can play that high

Hello Alan thank you! Hope I'm still playing at your age! Best wishes, Paul

Thank you for your service Alan 🫡

Could you still hit the double high C after you warmed up?

You're full of shit. Post a video

gb79126 yeah that’s just stupid. Not saying it’s impossible, but pretty unlikely that you went from high A to above double C just by watching a video.

@@ColinMroczko I believe he thinks that a high C above the staff is a Double C. Sadly it is not...

Brady Halsey ahh that makes sense. Still another octave to go lol.

how's your progress?

Gabriel Angelotti I got the pun😉😉 Unless the pun wasn’t intended...

Thank you Alan. They will give you a firm foundation on which to experiment. TP

Thanks. It requires a very specific way of playing. The biggest challenge is actually to develop the lower register sound to match the upper! That's what took me the time. TP

As do I !!!! Thanks Otto. TP

is that the e above the top bar line or just below it

@@spr6577 The one just below it

@@ruppeerupert thanks

@@spr6577 No problem

@William Ash what?

Thank you David. I hope your playing continues to improve.

Pasquale thank you. I hope you've loved every minute of your 38 years! I'm a few years behind you but I owe everything to it. Best wishes to you. TP

@@hawkeye2958 carmine caruso was one of the greatest Brass teachers ever

@@pasqualegallo8234 I studied with Joe Marcinkiewicz (excellent player, trumpet manufacturer, and teacher). He spoke very highly and based his own teaching methods on those of Carmine Caruso.

Good to hear and thanks very much.. Throw away the "rule" book! It's not easy to let go of conventional ideas and techniques but if we knew the true source of them we'd probably never have wasted so much time with them in the first place! Experiment with ideas that make sense and can be explained. Keep me posted. TP

Thanks for those remarks. That was it what I first missed, listening to the video !

Thanks for your comment. My first impression is that you do pretty much the opposite of what I teach! Important therefore for me to say that I'm not against any method or system because they all pretty much work for somebody. What I'm more concerned with is the level of potential each method / approach will set for an in individual. My views and beliefs are polar opposites to Steenstrup (that's for another time) and Friedrich approach I don't really know. If you're happy with your engine and it does what you want, then there's really no point changing it! TP

high A is way above high C!

That sigh thing actually came from trumpet players who regretted not trading the horn in for a guitar or a keyboard so long ago. The high range would be no problem and the chicks wouldn't think of your playing as being as obnoxious...sighhhhh....

Thank you. It is so beneficial but it can quickly disappear from your playing if you don't focus on it every day. I talk from experience! TP

Hi. Yes I'll do that at some point. I see very few advantages in lip buzzing if you want to set your potential at the highest possible level. The air inside the instrument can move your lips sympathetically when it is excited, therefore any tension or obstruction of free movement will only upset this process. There are some benefits to free lip buzzing but for me they are more to condition muscle strength. TP

Free buzzing has nothing to do with trumpet playing. Lip slurs, and dismiss the BS. Talk to A. Herseth, or my teacher, Charlie Geyer.

I think you mean air flow. Not air "volume".

That's probably why the oboe is felt as such a "difficult" instrument: requires quite little air, but very high pressure, something which is very counterintuitive. The trumpet and the horn (the latter expecially in the higher register) seem to be quite similar to the oboe in regard.

Don't try to make your low notes feel easy. Resistance is important in all registers of the trumpet and although it is possible to play low notes with very little effort it will not give you efficiency across your range and will limit your potential. Blow a narrow air stream into the mouthpiece which does not vibrate or buzz. The lips alone should not make a sound. The mouthpiece alone should not make a sound. When the trumpet is attached it will turn the air into sound so be patient and let the process happen naturally. Your lips will be drawn together you do not need to blow them apart. TP

Totally agree! TP

Hi. Yes there are a few so I'll include them in a video soon. I'm also starting a Tpt Prof Facebook page which will be a great place to expand a bit on the videos. Should be up in a week or so. TP

Hi Jon. Thanks! Yes you are absolutely right. The lip can be shaped in almost any way but still remain relaxed. Retaining a shape is vital because we still need "form". Hope all is well and hope to catch up soon. All best, P

Hi John thanks for your comments much appreciated. Yes I see how this may seem to be a contradiction but the key is to "play it at a good dynamic. Play it at a good healthy forte." That's the most important part. If you play it around mp-mf ideally you shouldn't hear anything except silent air as this indicates the lips are relaxed and have good spacing. If you play it louder and you still get no sound your lips are probably too open OR you don't have enough resistance. This question has come up a few times actually but I always encourage players to listen to every word! The answers to most of the questions I get are actually already in the videos! It doesn't matter how high the pitch ascends but experiment with your set up until it goes up. Hope that helps. Keep in touch. TP

@@TheTrumpetProf Thanks Paul! I'm so glad I asked this, I'm going to give it a try. Thank you. I forgot that you did mention playing it forte--makes sense!

Hi Victor. There's a little information in my response to Mihael above. I'll make a video on this topic soon. TP

Hi, thanks for your question. To play high you need to use a lot of effort! But we must try to transfer the energy/effort to the stronger muscles and at the same time keep the throat area relaxed and natural. That is the role of the sigh. You will feel contraction in lots of places but as long as you focus on pushing/delivering your air from the chest (sigh) you will find the engine begins to function more freely and efficiently. Embrace air pressure! Hope that helps. TP

Thank you for your comments and kind words. I don't disagree with your approach to achieving a clean "classical" articulation but it can be done successfully both ways. I prefer to generally advise lips open and then allow the player to experiment with a couple of exercises until a more focussed personal position or placement is found. The whisper tone exercise and also removing the instrument while playing are effective ways to allow the player to find the correct position, feel and positive signals. I agree that having the lips too far apart can cause articulation issues but coupled with the right exercises and understood outcomes it gives a less general and more personal approach. I hope my viewers will read your comment and experiment with both approaches but although It's a subtle difference I personally think the "space" sets a higher level of potential. It's a privilege to also get the opinions and thoughts of professional players challenging all aspects of trumpet technique and thinking so many thanks for taking the time. TP

Hi Robert, apologies for my late response. There's sighing and trying to sigh. The sigh creates a strong feeling of moving air at low air pressure (the feeling in your lungs). If you sigh and quickly close your lips the sigh is on "hold" and you have a feeling of high air pressure; these are the two extremes. What I am talking about creating is everything in-between. So if you have the sigh on hold and then open your lips a tiny amount you have engaged the sigh again but at high air pressure. The more you open your lips the lower the feeling of pressure in your lungs. So TO BEGIN WITH when you play; try to create the high air pressure feeling for high notes AND for low notes. If you experiment this way anything you discover will be positive. I'll address this again soon now I'm back up and at em! TP

Hi Deborah. Thank you, I'm so glad this helped. The E/F problem when a G is good is often quite common in students with braces. When you are one-on-one with your student again, have him play the G holding the trumpet up LH only (RH by his side) and you press the valves so he slurs down F# - F - E. He should "hold" the G at all times. If that doesn't work try him on a different mouthpiece. If that doesn't work get him to place his mouthpiece slightly: Higher/Lower/Left/Right, BUT ONLY BY A VERY VERY SLIGHT AMOUNT, so he hardly feels it. Let me know how that goes. TP

The Trumpet Prof thank you so much for taking the time to reply. Will definitely try this when we’re back face-to-face. Much appreciated.

I struggle with playing a high E or higher 😂

i just started hitting high a naturally like 2 weeks ago

Been 2 years… how are you?🙂

Hello Eric, appreciate you taking the time. Playing softly in the upper register is complex and the precise mechanics of it will vary from player to player depending on the way they play. Trying to generalize this aspect of technique is almost impossible but there are a few things worth mentioning. Air speed and air pressure have to be separated and balanced in different ways. When I ascend at 1:33 I'm not playing loud and could certainly get much softer. As I sigh a little faster, air is being compressed naturally because my resistance is high while small sympathetic adjustments happen at my aperture. I'm not actively trying to compress or squeeze the air. If I want to play louder I'll actively get involved with the compression process, sigh with greater force and balance resistance at my aperture. I'm keeping my top lip very relaxed and my aperture is closing down a very specific way (not helpful to share right now). Not allowing the oral cavity to continually close down toward the front of the mouth will also help. Maximum space directly behind the front teeth is vital for playing softly in the upper register and especially for maintaining quality of sound. For me maximum efficiency will happen when the top lip is totally relaxed. It just isn't possible for everyone to go fully "total" but it is possible for those players to get very close to it. It should always be a very long term goal though, as so much of the system has to be rebalanced and synchronized before it is realistic to expect this to happen. You'll notice I almost always say "as much as you can, as often as you can". Of course for some styles of playing it is necessary to apply top lip tension in order to get a desired sound and effect. But I'm striving for a default approach to playing which can be adapted to cross all styles and technical demands. All best, Paul

@@TheTrumpetProf Hi Paul, thanks for your reply. For me, my top lip can not be "relaxed" (as you described) in the upper register. (it's almost like trying play high notes on a violin without getting the string tension increased.) In my years of teaching and playing alongside many top players, mechanical part of playing high notes varies so much...... Often times, they may say totally different and contradicting ways to explain their techniques. I think this is because the physical diversity, along with our musical personality difference and given musical performance needs, one's playing technique can't be generalized in one way. This is why I never offer playing tips on internet. I have to be with the person on a "one on one" situation to be able to offer proper advice the will fit his or her needs. All these internal part of our playing: Breathing, tongue positions, air pressure, wedge breathing, "relaxed" backing off etc. These things are difficult to explain through one sided communication like the SNS youtube, and also written articles. The most dangerous word in trying to teach brass playing may be "relax" We need to realize the resistance and tension, (from our lips, tongue position, mouthpiece, or the horn) in parts of our playing, so this word needs to be carefully guided in person, thorough communicative on site lessons. Well, this is just my two cents! Sorry for the long ass reply..... I am still trying to learn how to be a better player and better teacher, so I am thankful for your insights. Eric

Hi Caleb. Already have! Test & Build Your Air Power is the most important "building" exercise you can do. Playing high is as much, if not more, about relaxation as it is strength. Most successful high note players don't use great strength in their face. Just watch Maynard, Sandoval, Morrison, Andre . . . . They're not controlling their face to move around the upper register. It's the way their facial components are assembled that gives them their ability. Their engine! Of course, you can build facial strength and increase your range (James Stamp) but it's less efficient and has limited potential. I used Stamp years ago as I struggled to play in the upper register and my stamina was poor. A fantastic crossover player I was working with at the time, John Barclay, told me to back off in the upper register. Relax more. It was the opposite advice to what I'd always been taught. It put me on a completely new and different path which proved to be the right one! TP

@@TheTrumpetProf ... Many thanks for your reply. We discussed building, and we discussed relaxation. Do you have any advice on relaxing the lips? I have been playing for years, and I may have the air pressure required. Hard to know. I seem to do well with the straw test, although honestly I find it hard to compare currencies as I am Canadian. How do I keep the lips relaxed enough to vibrate throughout the upper register? I feel as if no matter what I try they eventually seize to vibrate. The only time that I can achieve a smooth run of harmonics up to a E or F is when I have removed myself from the horn for a couple of days.

@@caliban542 Have you seen my latest video on developing the three essential tips? Some advice and tips on keeping top lip relaxed there. Important to remember though; my videos so far are more about preparing for high notes. TP

@@TheTrumpetProf I hadn't seen the new video by the time I posed the question. Thank you for the new video, it's exactly what I was looking for.

@@caliban542 No problem. Let me know how you get on. TP

Hi Walter. For help with this, take a look at my How to Develop the Three Essential Tips video. Good luck. TP

I do have another channel called Trumpet Takeaway which you might find helpful. TP kzfaq.info

Hi Marvin. Sounds like you're doing all the right things so I would continue as you are. Experiment with raising the middle of your tongue toward the roof of your mouth while you play. I have mentioned it briefly in "How to Develop the Three Essential Tips" from 14.55 but I would advise watching it from the start. All best, TP

Metazoin QB3RT take bigger breath dawg

This is my problem. Did you figure anything out about it?

Hi David. That's a vast topic but I will add it to the list. Thanks, TP

Hi Richard sorry for delay in getting back. The techniques will help to A6 but that's a difficult note on the trumpet because it doesn't truly exist. I would always continue to develop range on the Bb trumpet which can only help your picc playing. Always maintain the 3 golden rules when extending range but experiment too. I'll do a video on helping you to experiment soon. TP

Thanks John. It's a shame the trumpet doesn't love us back, but unfortunately that's the way it is. And it's worth remembering! TP

@@TheTrumpetProf You're welcome, Paul. John.

Hi Goran. More of what you hear from me is developed through my teaching than through my playing. I guess anyone who devotes similar time and energy to teaching, research and development as I do will eventually hit on the methods that really work. Thanks! TP

@@TheTrumpetProf Hi again Paul. I have been testing especially the relaxing of the upper lip thing for a while now. I am pretty good with the sigh breathing before and I have sort of indirectly been trying to play in a more relaxed way. I have been practicing pedal tones regurlary quite frequently also during practice just as a way to get relaxed. My problem has been that I have rolled my lower lip inwards in the upper register. When I more concious really tried to relax the upper lip I suddenly stopped rolling the upper lip inwards in the upper register! Now I can also play more or less "effortless" up to D above the staff. I play cornet in a decent brass band, so that is about the range I need, even if I will try to get a bit higher as a margin. Anyway, my question is if relaxing the upper lip made me stop rolling the lower lip inwards? Or was this just a coincidence?

It is a video to give you the potential to play high. Also watch How To Develop The Three Essential Tips. Resistance is the key. You need to create resistance to play high. TP

@@TheTrumpetProf jaaaaa

Hi Robin. Take a look at my Test and Build Your Air Power video. From 1:07 should explain. I didn't really expand on why the harmonic jumped up other than to say I play at much higher resistance. The specific reason I'll explain another time, simply because it is unusual, will require greater explanation and is sure to create interest.

@@TheTrumpetProf Thanks very much. The other video is really good too. The note kicks up with me too when I blow harder. When I tried the other test of pulling the mouthpiece out while playing, most of the time I just get air. Sometimes a (higher) note sounds, though nowhere near as loud and clear as yours.

Hi Randall. Thanks for your question and feedback it's a very important issue you raise. Top lip pressure isn't always a bad thing. I actively "use" top lip pressure to ascend and descend because it's one of the most efficient ways to move register. BUT, my top lip is totally relaxed and therefore the pressure isn't "damaging". Top lip tension makes top lip pressure a problem. My initial thought with your issue is that as we get older muscles don't recover as quickly and are not of the same "quality" as in our younger years. Conventional type embouchures rely on the strength of the facial muscles to control the aperture and vibrating tissue. I would suggest two things: 1. Take care of your facial muscles! Regularly hydrate them using aqua cream or similar. Drink water! Warm up as much as you can in the low register (I will have a video on warming up very soon). Look at your practice schedule and possibly space it out more to give your muscles more time to recover. 2. Look at ways to use your "high tongue" level more effectively. I have another video uploading in a few days which will touch on this. It's rare to find one single thing that will correct a problem. As we get older things change and we have to rebalance or we lose a little of what we had. Hope that helps for now. TP

Hi Dominic. I use a Monette B4S S2 82 It is my most valued possession! I use it most of the time and on pic. If I need a more commercial/lead type sound I use something shallower. Strive to use your mouthpieces to change timbre not to help you "get" the notes. TP

Dominic Scalfaro , hello Paul thank you for the quick response. I believe the same thing that don’t try and pick a mouthpiece to play high notes. I believe it is all done in your mouth, tongue and body (air tension). Everything you say does make sense. But, not the easiest to put all the mechanics together. I’m older in my 60’s but still learning and striving to be consistent in all my playing.