Hot Air Needed

One Word Lessons

Are you motivated after lessons, but don't know where to start? With so many assignments it is tough to get your mind around them all, let alone your embouchure. Usually however, there is a key concept that needs work, such as sound, expression, or accuracy for instance. Try this:  Boil your lesson down to one word that will best characterize your focus for the day.


Your word of the day could be any word that prompts you to be especially alert to what you want to focus on.  For example, here are a few that have produced nice results:  APPLAUSE, ROMANTIC, PRECISE, AGILE, RAVISHING, PINPOINT, SIZZLE, SWEETNESS, DELIBERATE, SUBTLE, DOMINATING, HEROIC.

What words work wonders for you?  Words are as powerful as music.  Use them to motivate your practice and performance.      

Posted Reminders

Posted one-sentence lesson notes for us dummies:

• I refuse to stink!
• It's not how much you practice, but how. 
• Don't waste any notes today!
• Don't sound like a student! 
• Listen to imitate.
• Hear it before you play it.
• Got air?
• Feel the rhythm first.
• Don't just practice, compete!
• Determine not to get tired.
• Posture matters.
• Play extremely loud.
• Be the softest player ever.
• Practice great leaps and bounds.
• Tone on the short notes matters.
• Put singers to shame.
• Save it, but give it all! 
• Make your day!

Brilliance in Brevity

Long teaching rants with too much information is not nearly as impressive as one powerful moment of inspiration. The teacher's mission is to discern the best way to communicate quickly and effectively with each student.  Just say it, or play it, and then get out of the way and see what happens.  The longer it takes to explain, the less successful. The goal is to make a lasting impact in the least amount of time. Needed: brevity and brilliance.

Think of the most impressive teaching you received. A vivid impression was made which you remember to this today.  That's the goal, a precise, well-planned strategy of instruction and inspiration. 

Here are a few memorable moments from my teachers which made a lasting impression on me:

• "Don't play like a student!"

•  "You could be a little more laid back."

• "Your notes must speak just like that!" (at the snap of the fingers).

• "In the orchestra you have to be able to play so (expletive) loud."

• The Zarathustra octave calls were so shocking I could almost see the notes flying straight into the audience. 
• With only a gesture, the conductor communicated exactly what he wanted without ever speaking a word.  (The best conductors spoke very little English.)

• Without saying a thing, he picked up my horn and fixed my cracking F natural by blasting that note into its place.  He then returned my horn, satisfied that the problem had been permanently solved. It worked like a charm!

• "Rhythm is relentless!" as he repeatedly pounded his hand onto the desk.

• I thought my Pictures Promenade was really good.  Then came that memorable comment from the committee: "Very good. Now play it in tune." 

Great teaching can happen quickly, as can great learning. Keep a journal of what inspired you.  You'll need it for yourself and for your students.  Brevity and brilliance work wonders. 

Standing Around to Stay in Shape

What do music stands have to do with staying in shape?  Five stands in your studio will help bring some order to your practice sessions.  Let's call it progressive practicing. Your goal is to arrive at the end of the day in shape to live for another day. Now all you need is a timer.  Warm up carefully and proceed.

Stand #1 is your etude stand.  No other rep allowed. Pull up your chair, set your timer, and go.  Goal: technique-building, sight-reading, accuracy, and endurance.  Don't get carried away.  You have four more stands to go!  Take a break.

Stand #2 is your solo stand.  It holds only rep for future recitals.  Don't perform each piece every day, just plug away methodically. Prepare the hardest passages slowly so that you avoid panic on the week of the recital performance. Pause.

Stand #3 is your excerpt stand.  This is NOT your most important stand.  For great playing, you need all stands in operation. Thorough excerpt prep over time equips you for that audition that comes up suddenly. Cover a lot of excerpts regularly, rather than burning out on one or two. Coffee.

Stand #4 is your pic stand.  Small trumpet rep only. Work wisely and don't neglect this one. Learn to be comfortable up there.  This shouldn't be your last stand. There must be life after high notes. Take a walk.

Stand #5 is your flugelhorn stand.  This should be "Sunday practice", chill time playing, ballads, favorite melodic material, hymns, or anything but etudes and excerpts.  Your flugel practice segment should be totally stress-free, expressive, and enjoyment-oriented. This stand offers you therapy from the mental and physical bruising of the week.

Entrance Awareness Month

Entrance Awareness Month

If you haven't heard, this is Entrance Awareness Month! There's nothing like impressing audiences, jurors, professors, and committee types with amazing clear starts of each note and each phrase.  Great beginnings matter for great performances.

Tired of always trying to redeem yourself after a faulty start?  Why not determine to be impressive from the get go?  Capture attention immediately. Think clarity of note fronts, pinpoint attacks, a dart, a surgeon's knife, a snake's tongue, or whatever picture helps you to get a grip on your entrance.

Fearless confidence is the required mindset.  Armando Ghitalla used to say that "the first trumpet must come bustin' in!"  William Vacchiano simply gestured, "the notes must speak just like that!" as he snapped his fingers.  In short, "you must be there, on time, with a great sound." Doug Lindsay observed that the "tongue should release the note rather than attacking it." Bernard Adelstein, that wonderful great-note machine, never missed and never appeared to worry.  When the baton came down, his first note was always right there. Mel Broiles possessed a command of every note as if he were holding each one tightly in his grasp.  There was almost a vicious aggressiveness about his approach.  Loved it!  Myron Bloom proudly stated, "I'm not afraid to make a mistake!"  Practice that kind of confidence with every entrance!

Arnold Jacobs had the classic answer for all who hesitate.   He was more concerned about what the phrase said than the mechanics of how it started.  The focus should be more about the singing quality of the phrase than it is about the first note.  It should be less about the start, and more about the start of something great.  Think wind and song, not tongue and sputter. Entering with a message gives freedom to the messenger.
  

Three Amigos

There they are, the three amigos of your right hand. Look at them! They are able to refine or hamstring your technique with just one stroke. They can break you or make you a lot of money. In their grasp they hold the keys to your success. Yet how often we fail to train those unruly digits of destruction.

We've heard endless sermons on air flow, embouchure efficiency, breathing concepts, sound quality, and of course proper equipment.  So how about paying some serious attention to those three undisciplined fingers which are before our eyes every day?  

Here are the problems with our fingers.  They tend to be sluggish and uncoordinated, making people think we are total klutzes.  Often they fly way too high over the valve caps, or don't even press the valves all the way down.  What's worse, under pressure their desperate grip causes the valves to stick.  Don't you hate that?  By the end of the day we are foiled by our own fickle fingers just when we needed them the most!

Are you tired of being flummoxed and discouraged by your horrible precision?  Acquaint your fingers with your tongue and urge them to be the best of friends. Imagine a connecting nerve between the four of them.  Insist on perfect sync on all scales, major, minor, chromatic, whole tone, whatever.  Just as the piano key is struck, so must be the sounding of the note. When the baton comes down, the air, the tongue, and the finger tips join in perfect accord. It's simple. Just be there. 

Note:  Don't penalize your embouchure for the laziness of your fingers! Save your chops by working the fingers and tongue apart from playing. 

Don't listen!

Question:  When the late great Luciano Pavarotti sang, was he constantly listening to himself, evaluating, and making adjustments based on how he felt at the moment?  Or, was he totally consumed with the dramatic impact of the music?

What is your strategy for the day of the big performance?  Are you already anticipating playing it safe and second-guessing yourself?  Don't plan to fail.  Prepare to perform.

Assuming all of your detail work has been thorough, you are now in a very enviable place!  A great percentage of your playing was detailed and analytical.  Now you have earned the right to totally perform.  Don't drag the practice room onto the stage, and don't be listening to yourself.  Just play! 

 

Just Singin'

Singing is great preparation for playing!  For some reason creative instincts are much less hampered when the trumpet is nowhere in sight.  Drama is more likely to happen that way. Try it.

As I was preparing for an important audition years ago, a good friend challenged me to sing each excerpt, and give it everything I had.  The game was to pretend that the committee was going to award the job to the singer who best represented everything the composer intended. I scoffed and insisted that no gimmicks were needed.  My playing was good enough as it was.  He persisted however, and I was surprised to see and hear the results of our little drama class.

After some awkward moments of my pitiful croaking, we noticed that expression drastically improved.  Phrasing and subtleties were noticeably better. Rhythm was steadier, and the music was less cautious and much more interesting.  He snapped, "Don't just crank it out, play it!"  Now it was game on!

More of his butt-whipping: "Project the music to the back of the hall.  Wake the committee up. Instantly capture the drama of every excerpt."  Concerning auditions, it was the great Arnold Jacobs who summed it up, "At the audition, you must simply play better than everybody else."

Summary: Obey everything on the page.  Sing it perfectly, and then begin to copy that with the trumpet.  Either we will follow the trumpet, or it will be made to follow us!  

The Attention-Grabber

Go ahead. Turn the tone dial all the way up!  People want to hear you.  Give them precision, but also give them a 10 on the tone scale!

By the way, a great sound is a nice flub-eraser at auditions.  If the audition committee likes the way you play, they are likely to excuse a clip or two.  A great tone just might cancel some inaccuracies if they had to choose one over the other.  So you might as well keep a good sharp focus on your tone in daily practice. Prepare to be noticed and remembered for your sound.  

A great sound is not enough however.  It must be accompanied by great musicianship and style. These compliment each other.  A great sound with no direction or purpose is boring.  Our goal is to project the appropriate style with a distinctive and captivating sound. Opera singers plunge into their roles with an abundance of drama. Why not be that opera singer every time you play?  Command the attention of a large audience. Sound quality and extraordinary musicianship matter.

Note:  Great tone does not just equal high decibels. A great sound should happen in all dynamics. The bullets for today are TONE and MESSAGE.

Powerfully Persuasive!

Confidence in pianissimo! That's a winning ticket, and a rare one indeed!  Mel Broiles as well as Roger Voisin, two players known for their amazing power and style, both maintained that the secret to great playing is control in the softest of dynamics.  That seems like an oxymoron, doesn't it?  We think that loud is great, and soft is not.  Actually, anyone can blast, but few are comfortable in an expressive pianissimo passage.

Maneuverability in pp is the goal.  It is vital for the music and the health of the embouchure. Our lips get tired, or "tard" as some of our Cincinnati colleagues used to complain.  What's a brass player to do after an orchestral pummeling?  The macho in us says, "tough it out, man!  Meet fahr with fahr, (fire)!" The truth is that wise, soft, practice of basics for sensitivity is the best way to recover and to prepare for the next blastathon. Regular low decibel practice will help guarantee confidence and security in performance. 

Explore the soft range. Learn to control both screaming loud and super soft.  Just because the part indicates quiet dynamics doesn't mean you play with no tone or style. PP does not mean pitifully puny!  It stands for Powerfully Persuasive! 

Note:  As the finalists for his job were awaiting the verdict from the BSO trumpet audition committee, the great Roger Voisin himself strode confidently into the locker room. "Hi, boys, he said.  Just wanted to see who was going to get my locker key."  He then opened his locker, pulled out a muted C trumpet and played for us a very tasty, spiffy-clean Bozza-like soft and agile fanfare.  He grinned, hung up his horn and left.   He could have won his own job back! Soft was VERY COOL and the lesson was very persuasively imparted!

Where's the Hulk?

Alright, alright! It is agreed that this brute must be conquered and well tempered.  However, in our quest to obtain elegant and refined playing, we are too easily convinced to sacrifice that visceral presence that commands the attention of every listener within a five mile radius. The training mission may be accomplished, still a thirsty committee yells, "unleash the hulk!"

How about restoring the proper mixture of sensitivity with bombastic belligerence! We originally started playing with the exuberance of a monster, only to be severely chastened: "Don't you ever again break those restraining chains!  Know your proper place, stay there, and don't come out again!"

Audition committees certainly look for command and control, but if all the finalists are equally accurate, then what?  Maybe they're hoping for a hulk to emerge.  At that point, a well-tamed monster will win every time. 

How much of the hulk is in your daily playing?  30%, 20, 10, any at all?  Have your aggressiveness and your overall impact evaluated.  Finesse is demanded, but so is power, confidence, and a nice amount of THE INCREDIBLE HULK.  Be that guy!

Giving Lip Service

This post is for all of us simple trumpeters who might be in need of a facial adjustment or two. Silliness is sometimes the best way to make a point. Speaking of clear points, which of these guys is more likely to deliver a crystal clear, sharp-edged tone, Mr. Flabby-Leaky Lips, or Mr. Snazzy-Steely Lips? Wonder how they sound?

Often our greatest need is not for the newest horn, a pricey mouthpiece, or an amazingly huge air stream.  The big time deficiency could well be the not-so-wonderful mouth of Mr. Touloose-Lips himself!  The good news: getting a spanking new spiffy embouchure costs us nothing.

The key word for today is embouchure. A great setup is the first step towards a great sound. Both lips must be disciplined to work for us, not against us. Each part of the embouchure must participate. We shouldn't have to try to play well in spite of lazy lips.  Let's declare this month EMBOUCHURE EFFICIENCY MONTH.

Free-flowing air must travel over firmly anchored lips. An unfocused embouchure disperses the airstream robbing us of clarity, projection, and endurance.  We should also include lack of accuracy and range. 

An ultra relaxed look might seem very cool, but music is not about appearances.  Simply focus and blow.  Hit the audience with your streaming air, not the side of your neighbor's face! 

The best advice I remember on clarity: "Pucker, point the tongue and blow."  Another profound comment: "Direct your air straight down the pipe."  Another: "Release the air, don't attack the note." Also: Buzz it, then play it. And: "Great playing begins with a great embouchure."

Whatever is happening right behind your mouthpiece matters! 

A One-Track Mind

What does Grand Central Station have in common with your practice room?  Hopefully nothing.  Often however we experience the same stress and anxiety of a busy terminal.  Instead of a calm walk to the beach, you find yourself frantically looking at a multitude of destinations.  "Which train do I take, and WHERE am I going again?" Like the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, you've got no time because "you're late, you're late, for a very important date."  Sadly, it sounds like your destination is unknown.

How about approaching practice with a one-track mind?  Pick something you need to work on.  Don't flit about like a bee from one flower to another.  Do one thing well at a time!

Here are a few trains to consider taking.  Remember, you can only board one train at a time. 

• RHYTHM - Your most productive work will probably be without the horn.  Sing it. 
  
• SOUND QUALITY - Play very slowly for great sound on all notes. Listen. 
  
• DYNAMIC CONTRAST - Don't assume it's happening.  Exaggerate.
• DRAMATIC MESSAGES - Avoid the boring. Be devoted to the story. Act it.
• STARTS OF PHRASES (first notes/entrances) - Enter the music well. Start clearly. 
  
• THE MOST DIFFICULT PASSAGE - Spend extra time on the nasty stuff. Master it. 
  
• HOLD THE HIGHEST NOTES OF A PASSAGE FOR SECURITY - The top notes must be the best.  Enjoy them. 
• ENDS OF PHRASES - Enter silence gracefully.  Last notes matter.

Relax, define the issue of the session, and walk through it carefully and slowly. Think beach, not terminal.

Your Best Tutor

What player wouldn't welcome some quick help with sound quality, focus, and intonation?  Since we all have limited practice time, what's a good fast remedy for these vital issues?  Well, consider your friendly tutor, that much ignored little corrector, your mouthpiece!

We shouldn't expect the trumpet to correct our unrecognizable pitches, our unfocused tone, or our floozy attacks. However, after some consistent accurate buzzing on the mouthpiece, you can enjoy instant improvement. 

(Some argue that buzzing is different than real playing.  I agree, but I've always noticed marked improvement after enjoying a good buzz.)

It seems that when it's unclear on the mouthpiece, it's also unclear on the horn.  But when it's perfect on the mouthpiece, it's a whole lot better when you add the horn.  It's like a ball player swinging two or three bats before stepping to the plate.  Don't trust me, or yourself. Trust your mouthpiece.

Assignment:  buzz any phrase slowly and accurately with as little fuzz as possible.  Don't modulate, and don't approximate.  Just nail each note, spot on with ease and no hand pressure.  Watch what happens after even a single session of conscientious buzzing!  Now, simply add the trumpet, play like you buzzed, and, voila, an amazingly improved sound and focus!  Repeat often during your day. Very cool! Your own personal tutor!

Bullets to Go

Trying to keep lesson assignments short and simple.  A daunting list of expectations is discouraging for student and teacher alike.  A few bullets to go is the goal.  The lesson should end with a doable agenda clearly in mind.  Here are some items covered today:

• SING IT - Before playing, sing your music with all the inspiration you can muster.  Most of us sing way better than we play.  This ought not to be.  Don't let the trumpet be a music inhibitor.  Try to sing everything the music indicates, but with no horn yet.  Don't even think about it.  Just sing well, play it later.

• BUZZ IT - Your goal is to buzz the mouthpiece with accurate intonation and pure tone.  Remember: it must be in tune and clear.  We demand too much of the trumpet when so much can be accomplished on the mouthpiece alone! Buzz it.

• SLUR IT -  A slurred line always has better tone than an articulated line.  Suggestion: slur the whole line first while listening for your best tone on all notes.  Check with your clarinet player friends.  They always do great at this.  Slur it first, tongue it later.

• TONE IT -  Try for a "Pictures" tone on all notes, especially the short ones.  Do you recall any stuffy or fuzzy notes in Pictures at an Exhibition? It's quality control on everything. Tone it.

• CLICK IT - You must be a metronomic freak.  Your rhythm must be awesome.  Amaze all listeners with your unusual ability to be STEADY.  Rhythmic character wins jobs.  Click it or ticket.

The Day the Music Dies

Do these little guys look familiar?  One is very upset because his trumpet playing is just never good enough no matter how much he practices. Poor guy. The other fellow unabashedly displays his who cares attitude.  Poor guy.

The first is usually an emotional wreck and a perfectionist grump, while the other just shrugs and yawns apathetically.  We have obsession and ambivalence, total opposites yet both preparing for a career in music!  Which one 's going to make it?  Maybe neither!  Attitudes matter.  Unfortunately their attitudes usually have the same result: their music has died.  Why?

One works like crazy and is never content, while the other is content not to work. Somewhere there exists that wonderful balance between these bitter extremes. An all-consuming passion for learning music must be balanced by an it's-not-the-end-of-the-world mindset, but it must never descend into lethargy.  Have a passion, but have a life!  Where do you fit in?

Sadly this poster has little to offer for the ailments of the frenetic and the discouraged.  You'll have to prescribe your own remedies.  Just saying that we should beware of both of these little guys. You will observe that no method book has a section on obsessing or laziness. 

So, work wisely.  Feed the music beast.  Stay inspired, my friends, but be reasonable.   Don't be crazy, and don't be lazy.  



 

When Losers Win

"I am sorry but no one advanced from your round.  Thank you for coming."  To make it worse, this announcement is delivered with absolutely no emotion or sympathy.  Equally painful is that deafening silence that follows one of your less than perfect excerpts. Oh, and there is that infamous verdict: "Thank you. Next." Life is not good.

We can learn a lot about ourselves when under the pressures of competing and performing. It's decision time. Will it be depression or motivation?  A loss doesn't define you. It serves instead as your most effective instructor.  Don't give up. Losing is part of progressing. Consider this ordeal your best lesson, not a judgment. This is not the end, but the beginning of a wiser and much improved trumpet player. You lost that battle, but the war is still yours for the taking. 

Appreciate that you have just been given a more focused practice agenda! We don't have hundreds of notes to waste each day.  Every note counts, exactly the audition scenario!  Work on eliminating that which will eliminate you.  Strap onto your bell an anti-dismissal filter which allows only excellence to escape.  Don't ever remove it!  Next time, try as they might, the committee won't be able to find anything wrong with your playing.  Even better, they'll find lots to like.

Audition Priority

What would you say is the most important thing you can do to win an audition? What is likely going to be the deal-breaker for the committee?  Multiple choice:

Is it great TONE, demonstrating great RHYTHM, showing all the DYNAMICS, playing with amazing STYLE, and/or exuding enormous CONFIDENCE?  Doesn't that about cover it all?

We might be able to rack up high marks on sound, dynamics, expression, rhythm, and style.  But without a high degree of accuracy, the whole product is unsellable.  Without accuracy, you are hoping the committee will be willing to take a huge risk.  Few are willing to gamble on a hit-or-miss player. 

Simply, you must never miss.  You play with all of the above goodies, but you must be all nails.  Hit the target center with every note.  With that skill and mindset in your arsenal, you can't miss!

Mask-wearing

Which one of these faces is you?  The smirk, the grimace, the deadpan expression, the angry, goofy, playful, proud, the furtive?  Shades of expression seem endless.  Never mind your temperament or personality type. You have your many masks to hide behind.  It's OK. Play the part. In any performance you will have to strap on any one of these masks and enjoy it, so get used to it.

Have someone observe your playing.  What do they hear, and what do they see?  Is your playing bland, colorless, and always the same with no variety? Don't bore your observers and listeners!  Boring doesn't sell. 

Oh, and just when you might be getting comfortable with your new persona, you must be able to turn on a dime and swap masks.  There's nothing like acting!  Performing is convincing. Go ahead and play the part.