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JackD wrote:
Hi Manny, I'm curious - when would you start to think of the "eee" vowel?
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Jack,
Manny, as always, is right on the money. I just finished reading an article about Arnold Jacobs and Vincent Cichowicz in the most recent ITG Journal related to your question that I wanted to excerpt (Page 30):
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Cichowicz:
I remember experimenting with the teaching methods of Max Schlossberg and Herbert L. Clarke many years ago. They suggest to tongue the lower notes using “too” or “tee” for playing the high notes but I thought, “Where does it change to ‘tee’ and how much?” I started to consciously manipulate the tongue and my playing just fell apart. Yet if I played listening for the sound I produced on the trumpet I could notice that, “Yes, the tongue rises a little bit when I go into the higher register but I cannot make it a conscious thing.” So getting back to what you asked, “What was the teaching like?” These books insisted, “Make sure your tongue is in the ‘teeh’ position” and as soon as you do that you start to endanger producing the tone of the trumpet properly. The tongue, by all its natural abilities, will rise as you go up just the right amount. You really do not need to calculate how much.”
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but my thinking was i pratice on a set schedule/outline
slurs/slcales
the rage work
later on..slurs, clarke tech, arbans
later....slurs, intervals, tonguing etc
later still...slurs, music im working on, other
but....i guess its time for a chage
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Emily,
I really like what Manny told you. At the ITG conference in Denver, James West echoed this idea about finding an optimal “spot” or “mark” where your sound will be the best. He said, "Most noise for the least effort is right on. Yes, the mouthpiece has a place where you get the most sound for the least effort!
Once you find this place (just buzzing on the mouthpiece), be aware that once you insert the mouthpiece into the horn, you may hold your instrument in such a way that it changes the angle of this optimal spot just slightly.
There’s a very interesting article by Sam Burtis (a Caruso Student) called
Buzz Off!. I especially like the concept about finding a great buzz on the mouthpiece, and then taking note of the associated angle at which your are holding the mouthpiece when achieving this sound. Many times when the mouthpiece goes in the horn, the angle at which you are holding the horn
MAY be different than this optimal angle you found while buzzing the mouthpiece alone. Getting the horn to be in alignment with that angle may help in the ease of sound production on the instrument.
Another thing that I notice from your schedule / outline is that you do a lot of “skill set” exercises, but you don’t mention any “balance / centering” exercises. If you take Manny’s advice and start working from a position of “gorgeous sound”, it would serve you very well to divide your practice day so that you spend some time focusing on balance / center to cultivate this sound which will carry into your skill set work. Craig Morris talks about this in an article called
Fundamentally Speaking which I mention in this link. It’s a very well conceived way to focus on the important aspects of your playing day (centering must have a prominent / dedicated session each day).
Hope these thoughts give you a little more detail to consider!