dcstep

Think of it as running on a treadmill while watching TV. You can get a benefit without focusing 100% of the time. I think it helps to focus particularly in the first couple of minutes, trying to get extremely soft (right at the cusp of the note stopping), but once you get going, there are benefits even when done casually.

Dave

Larry Gianni

I had the opportunity to tqke a couple of lesson's from Cat before his death in 1982.

2 points not in the book:

1) Use a nose breath on the G in the staff for 20 min.

2) Change hands holding the trumpet when you breath so your arm doesn"t get tired and you get a awkward trumpet postion due to fatigue in you arm.

Cat held his front teeth absolutly shut when he played in the extreme register and advocated doing this and blowing right thru your closed teeth straight into int the throat of the mouthpiece. That part I could never do.

Cat Anderson
Conn 38b trumpet , Charlie Allen mouthpiece ( Chicago )

LG

jamesfrmphilly

isn't the 38B the small bore Conn with the nickel plate finish?
are you telling me he got that sound out of a small bore horn
can you describe the mouthpiece in more detail?
i once read it was very shallow with a flat rim but his sound was so big when i heard him perform.
thanks

Larry Gianni

JFP,

Conn 38B is a .438 bore trumpet, but it blows very freely and was a favorite of alot of the high note trumpet players. Alot of the big band players in the 60's played Conn . I was a very popular brand.
I would say the 60B , 38B ( bigger bell than 36 B ) and the 22b.

Conn 38b players:

Maynard - Kenton Band
Mic Gillette - pre LB Martin days
Paul Hubinon - Air Force Days

There are alot more, but I'm drawing blank about the others right now, maybe some of the others can help.

His mouthpiece was very shallow and had a cushion rim which was customary with a Charlie Allen mouthpiece. Charlie Allen was a mouthpiece maker out of Chicago that catered to the high note players.Cat told me he would have to take his piece, when on the bandstand ,out of the trumpet and put it in his coat pocket at every break or 9 times out of 10 it would be gone when he got back.

When the band was playing, he would keep a handkerchief over the piece when it was on his trumpet stand because he had so many people leaning over the trumpet section, trying to get a look at it, most times they would eventually fall on one of them ( with some drinks also). This would happen in the small venues the band played, but it became a habit with him.

Cat could play with so much power, the recordings really don't do him justice. He told me the engineers always turned him down because it hurt their ears in the headsets and in the booth. He could make that little bone in your ear hurt on a Hi C because of the intensity he had to his sound.

LG

I really miss him, he could have really helped alot of guys if he was here with us longer.

Larry

jamesfrmphilly

thanks, much love to Cat 8)

wiseone2

Lamar Wright used a Charlie Allen mouthpiece. He wasn't quite a crazy as Cat, but he took his mouthpiece out of the horn when he left the bandstand.
Funny thing........... Cat and Lamar had pretty much the same look when they played.
I think both Cat and Lamar studied with Costello(the father)
It would be interesting to know more about him.
He played with the Philadelphia Orchestra....... he was one of the original screamers!
Wilmer

wiseone2

Larry wrote-
His mouthpiece was very shallow and had a cushion rim which was customary with a Charlie Allen mouthpiece. Charlie Allen was a mouthpiece maker out of Chicago that catered to the high note players.Cat told me he would have to take his piece, when on the bandstand ,out of the trumpet and put it in his coat pocket at every break or 9 times out of 10 it would be gone when he got back.

When the band was playing, he would keep a handkerchief over the piece when it was on his trumpet stand because he had so many people leaning over the trumpet section, trying to get a look at it, most times they would eventually fall on one of them ( with some drinks also). This would happen in the small venues the band played, but it became a habit with him


Wilmer added-
Those Allen mouthpieces were beautiful. They had fancy little flowers and elaborate designs on the rim.
Lamar had the first gold plated mouthpiece I had encountered.
I think they were expensive. Maybe that's why Cat and Lamar took their mouthpieces with them when leaving the bandstand
Wilmer

lonelyangel

I never met Cat or read the book but I am familiar with the 20 minute routine. However as I understand it - at least this is the way its been explained to me - the middle G should be played 'sub tone'. In other words quieter than the softes note imaginable - like a ghost of a note, just the merest hint of a sound with no 'trumpet' overtones. It sounds a bit like some one playing a really quiet note on a clarinet in a closed room down the corridor, a pure uncoloured tone - like a sine wave.
Its quite hard to get it going on some days, depending on the state of your chops but `I have found it to be an excellent conditioning workout for the embouchure.
If you don't understand what I am trying to describe you could try breath attacking a G pppppp and gradually increase the air speed until the note begins to speak. If you listen really closely you will find that just at the point before the note speaks there is a ghost of a note. You have to try and hold the air supply at that point and keep that tone with out allowing it to flare out into a true trumpet sound. This is a great excersize for breath control and projection too. It will only happen if you are exactly in tune with the horn, ie. on the slot so I feel it is useful in centering your sound and improving your feel for the correct pitch of notes on the horn.

Maybe somebody who knows can come back and let me know if this was in fact part of what Cat advocated.

Either way its proved a useful excersize for me personally.

All the best, Noel.

Dr G

Like many activities which require intense continued applications of mental and physical effort, results [not opinions] are the measure of success. While there are probably many trumpet related activities which result in some level approaching the high note capabilities demonstrated by Cat Anderson, I suggest that no other approach is as effective in general in producing great music in the higher registers.

jamesfrmphilly

how do you breathe?
how do you keep your mind from wandering all over the place?
is this a warm up exercise or do you do it after you are warmed up?