mrtrpt

I'm pretty sure Phil Smith can play pedal tones, I remember an article saying he started doing them "regularly" when he got to Chicago just out of school...

Anyways, one thing that can help with your pedals is tone bending, where you lower the pitch of the note by a half step without changing the valves. There are plenty of exercises out there on this so I won't go into it much. But basically when you can do that, just work your way down, so that you bend a low F# to a low F without changing the fingering. This gives you the feel for the pedal register (F to C#) and you can start to explore/expand from there.

If you have trouble bending the pitch try playing it (slurred) on your mouthpiece - G, F# G on the mouthpiece, then stick it in the horn and go for the same idea. It's not an exact science but these things can help you learn to figure it out.

MR

rowuk

Pedals do not sound good because the physics of the trumpet put those notes outside of the range where a trumpet should sound good. Pedals come easy on horns (even the cornet) as they have a primarily conical bore. The trumpet has a more cylindrical bore and that "detunes" the lowest octave. We have to "bend" our chops to make them work and that is what increases strength and flexibility.

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oj

Just deleted this one. (No need for two similar postings)

oj

Exactly!

So, doing pedals on a trumpet, versus on a more cylindrical brass instrument, give you different benefits.

Is pedals on trumpet kind of like bending in the normal register (see Hickmans 15 advanced exercises for instance)?

Proponents of pedals like Gordon says you must start low (around pedal Bb) - then over time you will be able to play the pedal C.

But when you do this, you have to bend it up, or?

When you play the pedal C (on trumpet), you get a more focused lip inside the rim and you can feel a cushion. You can not get it with "the opposite" - the smile embouchure.

In other words the pedal C takes you away from "smiling" and gives you a cushion for the higher register.

When I play pedal C on my trombone or euphonium, I have no pucker or cushion feeling (rather the opposite). It do not develop "the cushion", but gives "refresment" for the chops.

Ole