Buzz it

A great buzz makes for a great tone. An unfocused airy buzz makes good tone-production harder. Simply place the mouthpiece so that the center of the lips can freely vibrate. Anchor your corners, and direct the air straight into the hole in the mouthpiece. Focus the best buzz possible. Your goal is purity on your mouthpiece first. Then just add large doses of artistry.

Now using as little pressure as possible, buzz one note at a time, eliminating extraneous fuzz from your buzz. Go for the core of the pitch, the most resonant sound you can muster, always with minimal embouchure effort. Hold mouthpiece with only two fingers and one thumb, no fists. Air pressure must be greater than arm pressure.

Begin with sirens, slowly glissing up and down, pausing briefly on the lower and upper pitches. Remember, no junk, no stuffy questionable notes, just well-centered pitches, nothing less. Developing a soft response will be more helpful to your embouchure than just belting and blasting. Learn finesse and control in soft first.

Next, buzz short simple tunes, college fight songs, Christmas carols, etc. Keep the whole song well supported with a steady air stream. Each note must be clear and exactly in tune. Modulating cannot happen. Check with the piano often to ensure stable pitches. Notice how clean the tone is on the piano, starting instantly and not wavering? Copy that.

Determine that any eavesdroppers will be mightily impressed by your buzzings. Your listeners must admire the clarity of tone you are able to produce with just a four-inch piece of metal!

Daily conscientious buzzing will greatly improve your ear and your sound. Check with your mouthpiece often during the day. Whatever the passage, you will be able to control it when you can buzz it.

Sweep it!

Sweep it! Not your room, but your notes. One word is often better than a lecture. Make your progress simple and fast. How many one-word instructions can you recall that trigger immediate playing improvements, both for yourself and for your teaching? Studio flash cards, anyone?

The word "sweep" works nicely, not as into the trash, but into the audience. A good conductor's sweeping gestures are effective in drawing out broad expansive phrases from the orchestra. No conductor to look at? Visualize a yard full of dry leaves being cleared away by a power blower. Jump start that thing, and let it do what it's designed for. Our playing needs to be wind-swept, avoiding pokes and jabs. Just breathe and blow.

Our goal is fluid air no matter how angular the phrase. Nasty clusters of awkward gnarly notes can easily cause your air to get stuck somewhere behind the mouthpiece. Keeping a forward direction with a steady supply of free-flowing air always brings improvement. Tone opens up and embouchure tension is reduced.

Inhale, then release without holding back. The phrase must start before it is played. Intake and outgo must be free and in time. Your product must be musical, but your air must be dumb. Jerks, hiccups, and bumps will happen in the music, but not in the air stream.

Remember: Air rules.

Accepting the Ratio

Recently I was a fly on the wall as I overheard some basic advice being shared for someone facing an upcoming audition. It's so simple that it seems not worth mentioning, but being simple, it caught my attention. The student was feeling overwhelmed by his huge scary excerpt list, yet felt a certain weight lifted as he considered: "You don't have to feel good, you just have to work!"

We expect the trumpet to behave itself every day, and that each practice session must be joyful and triumphant. And then as soon as reality hits we think that something must be terribly wrong with us. One famous orchestral trumpeter revealed that he actually felt like playing maybe 10% of the time! He must have learned early that success on stage and in the practice room is not dependent upon feeling good. (Imagine the announcement just before the the concert: "Ladies and gentlemen, we are sorry to announce that the trumpet section will not be present tonight because they are not feeling well.")

The number of warm 'n' fuzzy days are going to be far less than the cold 'n' prickly ones. The ratio is just not in our favor. We must get used to it. Good practicing does not require that we feel good. We simply have to be organized, efficient and productive. Just do it.

Note: the better organized, efficient and productive we are, the better we will feel.

Colorado '10

Things You Love To Hear

What would you like audition committee members to be jotting down as they listen to you play? We want to keep their job easy. No need to make them write a lot, only a few superlative adjectives and you're hired. How quickly can you impress them?

Let's start at the end. Picture the mob of players on the infield at the end of the World Series, or the massive celebrating at the finish of the Super Bowl. How about those trophies proudly held high? Whatever plasters an inspiring picture in your mind, go for that every day.

For us music geeks, motivation could be as simple as anticipating that instant foot shuffling of orchestra colleagues after you finish an impressive solo. Or a bunch of "nice job, man!" comments after the concert. Or, getting that solo bow that is a must after Mahler. You want to hear more than just "Wow, you got all of the notes! Good job!"

Anyway, back to audition prep. Can you control what they will write about your playing? How about earning comments something like:

• nice playing!
• great sound
• perfect rhythm
• awesome energy and style
• amazing control!!
• very accurate
  
• really clean articulation
• fearless!
• no problem with soft stuff
• endurance will not be a problem with this person
  
• YES!

Grab a few passersby and invite them to listen to you. Ask that they write down a few adjectives describing your work.

How well did you do? Do you like what you heard?

Fingers

Driving somewhere this summer? Or maybe just vegging out on your deck, or lingering way too long at Starbucks? Here's a way to ease your guilt for getting less accomplished on your horn than you'd planned. You can actually make some progress without ever lifting a mouthpiece. All you need is your steering wheel if driving, or your knuckles if vegging, and your three valve fingers.

Some of you can remember when car steering wheels had grooves for a nice sure grip. (Those were also the days when drivers grasped the wheel with both hands at about 10 and 2 o'clock and adjusted the wheel every few seconds, but I digress.) The steering grips may have since disappeared, but fortunately knuckles have not, so we are without excuse.

We always get graded on tone, style, and endurance, but we rarely get points for amazing finger technique. It's a pity. Fingers should get more respect. Let's make August National Fingering Month. Actually, they need more time than that. What do you say to the International Year of Fingers! We had better also be training the fourth finger to avoid being crippled on pic repertoire.

So we are out to nail and pound with amazing skill. Right hand fingers should fit perfectly into left hand knuckles causing an audible slapping sound. Likewise, secure, loud strikes on steering wheel is the goal. If you're greatly annoying the family, you're getting somewhere. Remember that your fingers must have an attitude too! Fingers matter.

Now, what to thump? You'll need all twelve major scales, two octaves up and down, in thirds and fourths with varying rhythms. Don't avoid the minor scales with all three forms, natural, harmonic and melodic. Next, all arpeggios - major, minor, augmented, and diminished with the 7th. Be polishing all of your chromatics daily. Can you do them in seconds, that is, up a whole step, down a half step? Octave work is fun. Rushing is permissible, and speeding is encouraged.

Once your fingers are well warmed up, you may begin testing a movement of a solo. With all of this activity you'll notice the tongue wanting to get involved. Fine. Just make sure it is perfectly in sync with finger tips. You are welcome to sing along.

Drive safely.

Health Care

Two key components to your success are you and your horn. Taking good care of business requires consistent maintenance of both. We often pay more attention to the condition of the trumpet than to the condition of the trumpet player. Being in good physical condition alone won't give us a high A in the Brandenburg, but being in shape definitely helps as we train. We might as well give ourselves an edge.

Here are two simple suggestions for improving the person behind the mouthpiece during these summer months. Considering that we make the music, and the body delivers it, let's hone both. Why not consider this summer as basic training for the fall and winter schedule? We're talking better health and a better message. Let's do a bunch of two-a-days, or more. Get a good head start before the games begin. That freight train of demands arrives just after Labor Day, so get ready.

Think ahead. You've got placement auditions, ensembles, lesson requirements, recital prep, all squeezed between a few too many classes. Oh, and having time and energy for a life also matters. We want to improve the tone of body and soul. Our target: decent athletic shape and great musical intentions, both quite doable but not without some discipline.

Prescribe for yourself your own regimen of daily physical exercise along with generous dosages of inspiring music. Do what is needed for you to function at your best. Control the body, keep the musician inspired, and you're good. Basically, listen and work out. Have a lot to say on your horn, and be organized enough to make it obey. Control of appetites just might help control of trumpet! Ignore your health (physical and musical), and it will go away.

Matching Classics

Match the song or lyric with the classical work:

1. Ring ringa-linga o.
2. My beer is Rheingold, the dry beer m.
3. Boom, whatcha do to me! n.
4. I'll be seeing you l.
5. Catch a Falling Star i.
6. A Groovy Kind of Love g.
7. Beach Baby d.
8. Good-bye, Cruel World h.
9. Hello, Muddah a.
10. Uptown Girl f.
11. I Can't Help Falling in Love b.
12. Alone at Last c.
13. All by Myself e.
14. Stranger j.
15. Lassie's Theme k.


a. Dance of the Hours - Ponchielli
b. Plaisir d' Amour - Martini
c. Piano Concerto #1 - Tchaikowsky
d. Symphony #5 - Sibelius
e. Piano Concerto #2 - Rachmaninnoff
f. Bolero - Ravel
g. Rondo from Sonatina in G - Clementi
h. Entrance of the Gladiators - Fucik
i. Academic Festival Overture - Brahms
j. Polovtsian Dances - Borodin
k. Faust - Gounod
l. Symphony #3 - Mahler
m. Estudiantina Valse - Waldteufel
n. Espana Rhapsody - Chabrier
o. String Quartet #2 in D - Borodin

Look Outside!

Look outside. This is a great time to NOT play the trumpet! How about a nice long break? Don't even think about the trumpet, and don't be looking at it! There it sits in its case staring up at you shooting guilt and condemnation. Don't buy it. Shut the case, shove it under the bed, and go away. You will certainly return again someday, so consider this a healthy and deserved fast for your chops and your mind.

If you stay away from the horn long enough you'll be pleasantly surprised that your negatives tend to evaporate. However, when you return, do it slowly and patiently, and don't be looking to rediscover your weak areas. Enjoy the freshness of your clean restart. Play tunes you like rather than those studies you never seem to master. Buzz frequently. Play for fun. Touch all notes and then put it away. Several short sessions will be more productive than a long slug fest. If you get mad and frustrated, your vacation was in vain.

Remind yourself that you are not enslaved to the horn. You won't forget everything by taking a vacation. It will all still be there. Both you and your chops need to be rejuvenated. Don't be afraid to give yourself a break.

Getting Extra Input

Here's a suggestion for the summer. If no trumpet guru is available or within driving distance, don't put improvement on hold until the fall. Look for some help outside the box. The best advice can come from those who do not play the trumpet. Hard to believe, but true. Singers, woodwind players, string people, guitarists included, and percussion folks share the stage, so you might want to know what they listen for. A yea vote from each of them would be a nice goal. It would also go a long way to improve relations between instrument groups that often tend to feud with each other.

Arnold Jacobs' studio always had a steady stream of non-tuba players visiting in order to receive his expert counsel. Great music-making transcends any one instrument. How tragic to graduate from a school many of whose faculty are never consulted simply because theirs is a different department. It might cost you something to arrange a hearing, but it could be worth it. Money is no object. Take the initiative.

You may opt for a cheaper route. Invite your non-trumpet friends to sit and listen to your audition, solo, etudes, whatever. You want to play for critical ears that won't accept your being sharp on C and G. They don't buy it. Nor are they sympathetic to your chronic fatigue. They expect you to play what's on the page, no excuses. Be hungry for their honest critique, not flattery.

It's American Trumpet Idol! The jury has their checklist: stage presence, intonation, expression and sense of drama, dynamics, phrasing, confidence, etc. In short, should they invite you to return for another round? Does your performance get high marks? Does it communicate? Will the jury stand and applaud, or do you only receive a few courtesy claps. Your mission is to be a crowd pleaser.

A Larger Window

How big is your window of usable playing? You might be quite capable of some first-class work, but chances are that few listeners will be around by the time you get warmed up and ready. You've got a great product, but an embarrassingly small window for showing it! It's a matter of increasing your efficiency so that any listeners will get an awesome impression of your playing no matter when they hear you.

Some have huge picture windows, but no one wants to look in. It's all mediocre. There's nothing worth listening to. You want to be able to confidently swing open the windows, inviting all to pull up a seat and enjoy. Whatever they'll hear, it's all good. No junk. Everything's in order.

Look! There's your professor hiding in your bushes! He's stopped by unannounced to spy on your practice habits. No problem. Nothing to hide. You respond, "Hey, what do you want to hear? I'm good." He is very pleased to agree.

Imagine that several audition committees from top orchestras are secretly visiting Cincinnati this week looking to invite someone from CCM to play a week in their trumpet section. You learn that your audition already took place via surveillance microphones! Whatever you played yesterday was your audition! Your window of usability had better be huge! It's show time!

Don't be Driven

It's better to drive than to be driven. There is no need to stress and obsess. No one wants to listen to a flurry of frantic frenzy including you. Your practice sessions should always be purpose-driven and not emotion-driven. Relax, be confident and be in control. Slow down so you can be more productive. You don't have a lot of notes to waste, so try to use all of them wisely.

Stop often so you can stay alert. If you get weary, pull over. Rest, refuel and then continue. Better to stop at rest areas than to do nonstop wheelies and spin yourself into a ditch.

Enjoy driving as much as you can. At the end of the day, what percentage of all of your notes will have been controlled and enjoyable? Your goal is to be fresh and usable tomorrow. Your performance will be a pretty good picture of how well you managed your practice. Remember:

• Be in control.

• Don't fret.

• Stay fresh.

• Enjoy the drive.

Practicing for Tomorrow

Butch: "Hey, man, I'm getting a blistering high C and I want it NOW!" Bart: "Wow, my new picc just arrived! See ya later, man. It's Brandenburg or bust for me!"

Sorry, Butch and Bart, you'll have to be patient, and don't say "bust". You are welcome to go for it like a raging bull in the china shop, but you'll have to pay tomorrow for all the damages. Your practicing is not likely to yield the results you want just in one day, so go at it slowly, methodically, and carefully. No one learns to play like Maynard in one day.

Why don't you map out a strategy for your summer's building project? Be sure not to burn out. You must live to play another day. What you do today is preparation for the next day. Don't expect your finished product yet. No pummeling allowed. Balance blow with rest throughout your sessions. Don't play anything unintentionally.

This should be a welcome relief from undue self-imposed pressure. Simply plan on being able to pick it up and continue working tomorrow, still fresh as a daisy. For now, less brute and more brains.

Smooth Sailing, Please!

Vacations, summer break and down times are just around the corner. Packing light for your travels? Make sure to stuff in your luggage the Clarke Technical Studies. The book is great for getting into shape and maintaining it. No amount of slugging or blastathons will ever accomplish what a few spoonfuls of this medicine will do for your chops every day. Follow Dr. Clarke's instructions carefully. His book produces great trumpet players.

Test yourself on the etudes. If you need some reconstruction, do the preceding studies. Etudes I, II, III, and IV are favorites for daily testing. Play soft, smooth and clear. Think how easily the clarinet player makes this sound. We want to match that. No bumps, fogged notes, or decibel variance. We must be able to function as a legato machine. Our goal is comfort and a smooth legato slur in and out of all ranges.

After a couple of weeks at this daily work you will find the etudes are memorized. Great. Try to play Etude II up a fourth and then up a fifth and memorize. Use small horns on this material too. Stay in a doable range. Smooth is better than high. Increase range only if smooth and controlled.

Yes, you can certainly blow up a storm this summer, but be sure to compensate with wise easy Clarke work. Need more of a challenge? Try double-tonguing them.

Have a safe and smooth summer break!

Free Lessons

Why pay for that which you can get for free? Avoid writing that pricey lesson check and the hassles of traveling to the big city. There is also no need to obsess about playing well for the big lesson which only lasts an hour anyway. Your window of receiving valuable information should last longer than sixty minutes, don't you think? Consider seeing your progress skyrocket right in the comfort of your own home, and without taking a big financial hit?

First assignment for those serious about sounding professional - get a library card! Take out as many CD's as possible of excellent recordings of works you need to learn. It doesn't cost you anything to listen to them. They're teaching you for free.

Next - start some serious listening. Note tempos, volume, projection, style, etc. Listen many times to each piece, and remember what you hear. Follow along with the music in front of you. Record your playing efforts and compare. Begin to narrow the gap between student and pro, unless you intend to forever sound like a work in progress.

Again, your responsibility is to come prepared with tempos, fingerings, transpositions, etc. well before that big lesson. Everything on the page is your job to prepare. Don't waste time and money having the teacher tell you what you could have learned on your own. Do your homework before you see the coach. Who knows? Maybe the coach will be so impressed that you'll get a free lesson!

Family accounting

Jeremy finished his first year of grad school at USC. He is pictured with members of the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet just after his recital this Spring.

Zachary graduated today from CIM! Viola student of Bob Vernon, Zak returns to Cleveland in the fall for graduate studies, gigs and auditions.

Wes, Sandy and Zak after a Cleveland recital. Wes is in the Atlanta Symphony. Sandy their first teacher, leads a large class of violin students.

Jeff and wife Kori with Jaime. Jeff runs Collins Painting business.

Grandsons Andrew, Stephen and Kenny. Tracey with daughter, Faith and Gracie. Pastor Tim in red shirt