How fast can you tongue?

Tonguing is a very good thing to improve, as we use it all the time. A player with good articulation will enable them to play pieces previously impossible or awkward. Practice with the metronome set it at a speed just below one where you find it impossible to repeat 16 semi-quavers without slowing down. Increase this everyday by 2 metronome markings and see the progress. Your long term goal should be to tongue semi-quavers at 126-140bpm. Whenever practising it is it is always nice to see that you are improving on a day to day basis. In order to monitor your progress, set yourself small and specific targets. You will learn more about your playing doing this. If you possess Clarke’s technical studies (which every trumpeter should do!) try to single tongue the exercises, (once you can play them slurred) again monitor your progress with the metronome. If you do not have a copy of the technical studies, practice tonguing quietly low chromatics (below bottom ‘c’). Don’t be despondent, most players find this hard, normally because it is neglected a lot. Tonguing low notes fast and quietly will help with your general production.

Whenever tonguing it is crucial that you keep the air flowing through the lips, make sure that the tongue does not interfere too much with airstream. Strike the tongue against the top teeth or just above them if you are playing higher in pitch. Tonguing exercises might make you tense up, always try to relax. Make faster tonguing ‘easier’ tonguing. There should be hardly any difference with the amount of air you use for tonguing compared to a playing one long note. Make sure you never starve your instrument of air. 

Relaxed Concentration

Trumpet playing can be a very stressful thing, playing on an instrument which seems to want to embarrass us in front of the audience. Whenever we play, it is quite alarming how tense we can get, all of that tension never helps us play anywhere near our full potential. I’m not talking about tension of the lips but of the mind and the body. When we play the trumpet we unnecessarily worry about whether we can play the high note, or if we have enough stamina or we sometimes just get tense while sight reading. It is useful to sometimes understand why we are tense; ask yourself is it because you know you can’t really play the piece? Or maybe it’s because you’re thinking negatively and worry about something that is not important. We normally get tense when we are out of our comfort zones, sometimes we don’t even realise that we are tense because for some people it is the normal state of being while playing. This is not good for our playing and we have to take positive action to bring us into a state of relaxed concentration.

Focus on Your Breathing

Breathing slowly is something that always relaxes a person. We must try to think of blowing out into the trumpet as a controlled sigh. When you are playing a solo, or any piece for that matter, it is very important to know where and how you are to breathe, and vitally, to stick to it. So many times you see players make mistakes because they let their breathing control them, rather than controlling their breathing, it’s so easy to put it right. When playing a high and loud passage, make sure that your focus is only on the lungs pushing that air fast out through the lips, otherwise you will be wasting energy. Stay cool, and relax!

Do, Don’t Try!

Don’t try to play notes but simply play them. We don’t try to do things we know we can do, we don’t try to walk, we just do it. Is your playing not as fluid to you as walking, if not then you need to feel more comfortable with your trumpet. It needs to feel like it’s your best friend. Friends spend lots of time together learning about each other, this is what you should do with your instrument, learn how it responds to you. When you are performing and you feel tense, play the same way as you do in your practice room. The practice room is where you should learn how to relax.

Take Control

When things seem to be going wrong things are always magnified up in our heads. Making mistakes is part of being human. Don’t worry about them, and crucially don’t let them make you make more mistakes. When we concentrate on playing x, y and z correctly we forget about the importance of conveying the emotions of music. Ironically when we focus on telling that musical story we seem to make fewer mistakes. We have given our brains something positive to do. 

Link for Mouthpiece Diagrams and more Information

Below is a link for more information and diagrams's on mouthpieces. It is a link to a Vincent Bach Website, I chose this website not particularly because I think that Bach is the best, but rather because it is well presented and informative.

http://www.bachbrass.com/pdf/AV6001%20Bach%20Mpce%20Manual.pdf

Which Mouthpiece?

The mouthpiece is one of the most critical parts of the trumpeter’s requirements. It is important to understand what we use the mouthpiece for, and how to use it. When we do not use the mouthpiece correctly we will not get the best out of our playing. I will try to discuss some of the most crucial points in choosing a mouthpiece.

Comfort

The mouthpiece is the space where the lips vibrate, and must therefore not hinder lip vibrations. Everyone has different taste in terms of the shape and thickness of the rim (whether it is flat, curved or other different shapes and thicknesses). It is good to try different makes of mouthpiece to find which one will suit you best. The thinner the rim the greater the flexibility, but it tends to dig into the flesh of the lips, cutting off free blood circulation (inhibiting vibrations) and decreasing endurance.

Rim size (internal rim diameter)

A balance, though, must be struck for the rim size i.e. the diameter. The wider the rim size, generally you will find you can get ‘more lip’ into the mouthpiece, there is also more space for vibrations, and you will therefore have an easier time playing the lower notes (which need more room for vibrations). However, you will need a stronger airstream to create that extra lip to vibrate, and as you go higher it will be harder to support that faster airstream, which makes those faster vibrations, and so it will be hard work. Even worse, with a larger rim size you might start over tightening the lips in order to reach those higher notes and thus adversely affect those all important vibrations. The smaller the rim obviously the opposite will happen; you will find it easier to play higher, as you don’t need to speed the air up so much yourself, the mouthpiece being smaller funnels it for you. You might find that because of the smaller lip vibration space, you will find the lower notes harder, and you must be careful to refrain forcing the vibration (creating a thin airy tone), again over tightening the lips, doing so more and more as you ascend for the higher notes.

Sound

It is important to have a clear idea of the type of sound you want to create, since the shape and size of the mouthpiece will affect that. Remember that the mouthpiece does not create the sound, but facilitates it for you. If you want to play high, you will need to develop your technique and improve you airspeed. The mouthpiece will only aid you once you can play those notes.

Deep and With a Wide Rim (internal rim diameter)

This type of mouthpiece will help you to create that warm and beautiful sound, for those trying to play slow melodies or lyrical style pieces. The deep mouthpiece is ideal on cornets. The wide rim will however make it harder stamina wise. The backbore should be large to match this style of playing. It should be easier to play quieter with a larger backbore. This will be negated by the wider rim which facilitates louder playing.

Shallow and With a Smaller Rim (internal rim diameter)

Shallow cups create a much more brilliant (brighter) sound and are normally used by commercial players (think high loud trumpets, e.g. James Bond film score). If you play piccolo trumpet or Eb trumpet and desire that sweet delicate sound then it is advisable to use a smaller rim, but don’t get  too a shallow cup. 

Mouthpiece chart app on iPhone, for those of you who like to know all about mouthpieces sizes on the move!

http://www.trumpetforum.com/forum/content.php?17-iPhone-Mouthpiece-Comparison

Air and Vibrations

Breathing is something that is coherently easy to everyone, and yet so many brass players make it over complicated. While it may be true that a very good player may have a larger air capacity and have ‘very strong lungs’ the important thing to note is, that if they were to play with incorrect technique, i.e. aimlessly blow into the instrument, they would be no better than a raw beginner. By the same token if a raw beginner applies correct technique straight away, then they will be better than many experienced players who play with bad technique. What then is correct technique?

Let’s start with how the trumpet actually makes a sound. This will then help us to create a sound that is both the easiest way to play and also the most efficient. Air is inhaled into the lungs and is then blown out through the vibrating lips (creating that buzzing feeling) and into the mouthpiece through the trumpet, which amplifies the vibrating lip sound. The trumpet does not create the sound, but merely amplifies it. (This is what makes the brass family unique to all other orchestral instruments.) It is important that the deepest breath possible is always taken. This is also because naturally, air under pressure (the air in your lungs) always wants to equalise with the lower pressure outside (your trumpet!). The sound we hear on the trumpet correlates with the speed of air which vibrates the lips. If we create low airspeed then we hear a low note. Faster air creates a higher note. What is the most efficient and easy way of changing the airstream?

Playing the trumpet can be compared to swimming. No matter how fit and strong you maybe, someone with correct technique will always find it easier and use much less energy and, more to the point, will go much faster.

There are three main ways employed to change the airspeed in order to create different vibrating lip speeds, but there is only one efficient and comparatively easy way (once properly understood).

1. Many people tighten their lips so that the space between the lips is smaller therefore funnelling the air which is thereby sped up.

This method is probably the most common way the average trumpeter changes the pitch of the note. Unfortunately it is also the most exhausting and also makes the sound ‘thinner’ the higher you go. Tightening the lips impedes lip vibration. Lower notes invariably will sound very resonant and are very much easier to play. As the lips are tightened, the lips lose their elasticity and the vibrating quality of achieved at a ‘bottom c’ changes, and is thinner towards the higher register. This demands that the player ‘push harder’ with the air and the result will be an ‘airy’ thin sound. It may also result in added pressure from pulling the instrument into their lips. The feeling of numbness where the mouthpiece is placed, and tired lips comes soon after. All register and stamina normally goes within 30min's or less of playing.

2. Blow harder.

Whilst merely blowing harder is not very tiring, it is a very inefficient way of changing the airspeed. Furthermore the note will get violently louder and then slightly sharper and it may jump up to the next harmonic.

3. The desired technique is by arching the back of the tongue with the syllable ‘ee’ so that the air is channelled into a much smaller space and is thereby considerably sped up. The point to note is that this faster air is created before it reaches the lips, therefore it is not the lip tension creating the note but the increased speed of air.

This technique is normally unnatural to most people, as it is something that people hardly ever do in everyday life. It is also made hard to understand as it is impossible to see what happens inside the mouth. Whistling is the closest thing to it. This technique once understood makes playing the trumpet much easier and will create a rich and vibrant sound throughout all registers. The best way to get started is play ‘bottom c’ and create a large space, using the syllable ‘aah’ in your mouth. Then  change the position of your tongue (especially the back) by then reducing the space  in your mouth  using the syllable ‘ee’. Do not to change the amount of air from the lungs and do not tighten your lips. The feeling will always be in your throat when you do it correctly. This is because the pressure has increased as the air is channelled into a smaller space by the change in shape of the tongue. This effect is similar to pinching the end of a hosepipe, as you squeeze the end the water spurts out faster and the pipe will swell slightly. A way to help you develop this technique is to ‘huff attack’ a note, that is, do not start the note with the tongue. Create the pitch of the note with the airspeed (very similar to whistling), then allow the lips to vibrate. Do not tongue the note. The pressure should no longer be on the lips, but rather on the lungs pushing the column of air up to support the higher pressure created by the reduce space in the mouth from  the arched tongue. Once this is mastered, change the speed of the air (using the tongue level ‘ee’ and aah’) up and down continuously,in the nature of a lip flexibility exercise. Make sure that your lips are not tightening, but that the note is changed by the airflow. You should feel the pressure in your lungs not your head! Rather than tightening the lips, allow the air to flow out fast through your lips. A good way to test if you support the note correctly with your airspeed will be to play a higher note loudly at first, then get quieter and quieter, listening carefully to the pitch of the note. If it starts to go flat then you are not supporting it correctly.

Playing with good air and vibrations (supporting the airspeed correctly by reducing the space in the mouth by arching the tongue on higher notes and relaxing the lips so that they vibrate well) will need to be practised: It is the beginning of improvement and is the fundamental basis that should then be applied to exercises, studies and pieces.

The Power of Positive Thought

Playing the Trumpet can be a brave thing to do. Every performer will experience the ‘fight or flight’ response. This can be experienced to a worse degree on the trumpet. It is both very easy to hear a ‘split’ note and also because the sound relies so heavily on the player’s physical condition i.e. their lips. Many trumpeters worry (most of the time unduly) if they will have the ‘lips’ to play the high notes, or if they have the stamina to play long passages.

Have a firm foundation

When people ask a very good player what they are doing whilst performing a ‘hard’ piece (as if they are doing something superhuman), they invariably answer, “I’m focusing on my breathing”. People often don’t really understand how simple trumpet playing actually is. All you have to do is blow air, vibrating the lips and a sound is created. Obviously we need to practise this until we change the airspeed easily and smoothly. Nonetheless it is a very simple thing to actually do. We are always complicating things and having negative thoughts about our playing. Whenever we have a problem there is always a simple solution, which will enable us to easily play a particular phrase or technique.

Whenever we pick up the trumpet never think a negative thought! This will never help. We should rather say; how do I do this? Only when we are at this point, we are then ready to start to improve.

However, this is the most critical point; we know need to know what a good foundation is in order to start to make improvement. If we start practicing the wrong way we only ever learn how to play incorrectly and with bad technique.

Trumpet playing is simple. Over the next few posts I will try to explain this. 

Mouthpiece Buzzing - Should we do it?

Both beginner and advanced trumpet players are told at some point to ‘buzz’ on their mouthpiece. Unfortunately, too much of the time, we obediently follow someone’s advice blindly, either because of who they are, or because it sounds like a good idea. Whenever we are trying something new or even when we are doing something that is a firm part of our practice, we should always think: Why am I doing this? Or what am I trying to achieve by practicing this? Aimlessly blowing will not help nearly as much as working towards a specific goal, and can seriously limit your progress.

The first thing to say, before talking about mouthpiece buzzing, is that trumpet sound is created by air and vibrations. As trumpet players, we have all experienced the inconsistency in standard of our playing on a day to day basis. It is important to remember that the sound is created on the lips themselves, rather than on the instrument. We are, as brass players, similar to athletes in that respect. Athletes will often wake up with stiff legs and aches, the same can happen to the trumpet player’s lips. We always need to ensure that we have maximum vibrations. This is created by airflow from the lungs, which vibrates the lips, creating a very rich sound and tingling feeling on our lips. We do not want an ‘airy’ thin sound which can be caused by the lips not vibrating at maximum efficiency. Needless to say this method, also makes it harder work for us to produce any type of sound. Buzzing on the mouthpiece can help to improve your playing, but a clear understanding of how to do it is very important. Always make sure that your lips are relaxed before thinking about buzzing the mouthpiece. 

Playing the trumpet is easier

Whenever we play any type of brass instrument there is always air resistance (back pressure) as we blow into it. The less the resistance, the easier it is to play, which means we do not need to push as hard with the air. When we play the actual instrument the tubing is narrower from the mouthpiece and becomes a lot wider  towards the bell. This makes the resistance relatively less compared to just buzzing the mouthpiece, which starts off bigger and becomes smaller. The most important thing to remember when you mouthpiece buzz is to always concentrate on using your airspeed to change the pitch of a note. Avoid tightening the lips.

Focus on the air

Air is the most important component in creating the sound. The lips are vibrated by the air, so that when we want to change the pitch of a note, we should always focus on changing the airspeed, which in turn changes the vibration speed and therefore the pitch. When buzzing the mouthpiece we are trying to improve a lip vibration, which in turn means better sound, less effort and more stamina. However if we buzz incorrectly, i.e. tighten our lips and force the sound, we may limit our progress.

Always remember to ‘coax’ the vibrations out.

Never force your lips to buzz. (In fact never force anything on the trumpet.) Always remain relaxed and let the vibrations happen. Practice mouthpiece buzzing quietly, thus encouraging you to relax the vibrating lips. Going high does not guarantee good vibrations. However, the ability to buzz both quietly and loudly in the lower register will improve lip vibrations, which will also facilitate the higher register. It is not because playing low improves high notes, By improving ones lip vibrations, by relaxing the lips in the lower register (towards maximum efficiency) The reason why we start buzzing with the lower notes is because it is easier to  improve ones lip vibrations (towards maximum efficiency), which will then enable us to then continue up the register, maintaining good vibrations to the high notes. In this way we build from a good foundation.

Hello, I am going to post up all things trumpet, I welcome your comments and questions. If there is anything that you wish me to post about please ask!! Hope you find it informative and enjoyable. Happy trumpeting!!