The Three Compressions

Here is a follow up video with Charlie Porter, further to the 'Straight Line Approach'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22k_eacohto&feature=relmfu

Straight line playing

I was scrolling through you tube and came across a video entitled 'The Straight Line Approach', it's a very helpful and useful way of playing. We, as trumpeters never use the simplest method of playing, a lot of the time we overcomplicate things and wonder why everything is such hard work. 

In its simplicity the straight line approach is playing from one note directly to the next one. A to B (not the notes 'A' and 'B' but the destinations). So if you are playing a middle 'g' on open position and then go up to the next harmonic on 'c' you should go directly to the 'c'. There should be no breaks or changes in vibrations and definitely no miss-pitching's. The best way too practice doing this is to play with the mouthpiece: Buzz the note 'g' and then slide up to the 'c' make sure that the buzz is always the same consistent sounding buzz (no breaks in the sound). By doing this we are learning to play from one note straight to the next. When we use the this method and put the mouthpiece back into the trumpet, the trumpet does the work for us. The note will pop in to the next one. As we do this more and more we learn to play where the note should be rather than where we think it is. As you play higher you will need to compress the air channel and thus increase the airspeed to create the upwards rise in pitch. Always think of reducing space where the air travelling to create higher notes, arch the tongue the tongue towards the roof of the mouth to increase the airspeed. Learn to control the aperture without losing the quality of the vibrations, never tighten the vibrating tissue, it is very similar to whistling in that respect.  

You can use this method to play any particular phrase and interval. Remember the important way to the think is that you are learning to agree with the trumpet rather than force it to play where you think the note is. The trumpet does not change it is always the same length and shape etc. We should learn to agree with it  more..  This way you will find faster phrases much easier and it will feel like the trumpet is doing the work for you. Check out the video link to understand this in practical sense. When tonguing think of the note as one long  air-stream being separated however many times it need to be by the tongue. The column of air is always supported and never interrupted by the tongue. Never let that air flow stop! Check out the video it is definitely worth a watch. I have saved it on my you tube Channel:

 https://www.youtube.com/user/JohncTrumpet

Summer Trumpet Workshop

Summer Trumpet Workshop for those of you who are interested and want to find out more about the Trumpet and Brass in general, I am running a Workshop on 27th of July in Muswell Hill, London. Visit my website for more info and to Book your place! Perfect for Beginners - Grade 8.

Trumpet Summer Workshop

Red Light Playing

Red Light Playing is a term musicians use to describe 'perfect playing'. The term is derived from when they are in a recording studio and the microphone is on. The red light is shown so that everyone knows not to disturb.

Whenever you are practising it is important not to just play through things and lose sight of mistakes, however small they are, either uncorrected or worse unnoticed. It is useful to compare yourself to the 'ideal' sound you are trying to create. This will challenge you to address the technical issues you and every trumpeter experiences. It is quite common for players to play over things that they can already play whilst 'sweeping under the carpet' bigger technical faults.  However don't get too engrossed with being perfect especially if you start to find yourself practicing over and over one section. Always remember to improve you're trumpet playing rather than just working to death (which normally doesn't even improve that much) one passage that you're playing.

Pedal Notes

As trumpet players we normally learn that ‘bottom c’ is the lowest note in the open position on the harmonic series. It is however the second partial. Pedal ‘c’ is the lowest. Interestingly there is a lot of mystery about this note, how it should be played, which fingering to use etc.

If you find it hard to play the low notes on a trumpet (those notes between bottom c and low f#) with ease and at any dynamic, and if you also find it hard to tongue these notes clearly, then this is mainly caused by over tight lip tension, especially the actual vibrating part of the lips. An easy way to correct this is to learn to relax your lips. Playing pedal c is a very good way of learning to relax the lips and thereby allows them to vibrate in a better way.

Pedal c will at first feel very hard to play. Do not force the note out. Otherwise you are simply defeating the object of the exercise. One of the best ways to learn to play pedal c is to play a bottom ‘a’ on 1+2 then drop the note an octave but play this note on open. This note will sound a pedal ‘a’, in fact you are playing a very flat pedal c, so flat that it is actually and a. This will be easier than to try for the c straight away, which will more often than not sound really flat in pitch. Once you have learnt to play a good ‘pedal a’ on open try to move the pitch up gradually using a very slow glissando up to Bb and then b the finally pedal c. When you lose the vibrations start again from that open position on the pedal a. Learn to agree with the trumpet and thus make improvements rather than fighting it.

The best way to improve something is to always practice something which you can either already play, or something which you find very easy to do. It is not good practice to ‘try’ and play notes you simply can’t play. Always work from something you can do to something you can’t, rather than something you can’t do to something else you can’t do!

Once you can play pedal c correctly then you can work at playing the rest of the pedal notes on the correct fingerings: b on 2, Bb on 1, a on 1+2 and continue down to pedal f# on 1+2+3. What you will find by learning to play these notes correctly is that your high range will improve not because playing low helps directly but because you are improving your lip vibrations and using airspeed more to play these notes. Practice linking your register from pedal c up the range of the instrument. There is a really useful video on you tube which I strongly recommend that you watch in order to understand better the use of pedals.

Pedal Notes Video

Legende

Check out my latest recording of Enesco's Legende, the piece is a firm favourite in the trumpet players repertoire!

Legende (1906) is a solo work for trumpet and piano, composed by Georges Enesco. It reflects the impressionistic style of Enesco's teachers Jules Massenet and Gabriel Faure. The title is a homage to Merri Franquin (professor of cornet at the Paris Conservatoire), the trumpeter who it was written for. The piece reflects an important evolution in the development of the trumpet, from a more archaic limited  instrument, to a fully chromatic and soloist instrument.   

Legende - Performed by John Campbell

Recording of Meltemi - Composed by Esther Hopkins

Check out my recording of Esther Hopkins' new unaccompanied trumpet work, 'Meltemi'. It's a clever composition, idiomatic for the trumpet and the 4 minute length makes it a perfect opening for a trumpet recital.

The music is inspired by Greek winds, with each of the three movements reflecting different types of wind. The first movement, and name of the work, Meltemi, is a type of wind that blows the sand around in Greece in the summer and churns up the sea. The second movement, Zephyr, is a soft gentle breeze, light and humorous in nature. The final movement, Gregale, is a strong northerly wind. 

Click the link below to direct you to the recording page on my website.

Meltemi