ilikethetrumpet

My previous teacher (and he's a great teacher) advocated and indeed truly lived by "the 20 minute G." I lived by it, truly, only twice, but it's really an eye-opening thing. It teaches you so much. You might think (like I do), "but, playing one note more or less continuously for 20 minutes would hurt!" But why hack at a triple A when you haven't mastered the arts of sitting, concentrating, holding the trumpet, playing with a comfortable embrochure, and discovering a sustainable rate of exhalation?

The other amazing thing about the 20-minute G is what your mind has to do in order to commit to the entirety of the note. It forces you to either quit or develop numerous awarenesses. At one point, when I was starting to get bored, I mentally superimposed all sorts of imaginary subdivisions underneath my drone. To agree with MM, whereas body-building takes you to the breaking point, this is something different and most definitely "aerobic" at least in the way I was taught it and experienced it. If you commit to putting in that time, then the body will naturally be led away from painful habits: arm tension, throat tension, excessive diaphragm clenching, jaw motion, the neck jutting forward to meet the mouthpiece, odd crossings of the legs, a tendency to be too open in the chops and in need of pressure to shut it off (because at a soft dynamic, a floppy embrouchure won't speak).

So the muscles are certainly engaged... but not in a "look what I can do" kind of way.

I'm going to try this again. Writing a sales pitch for it reminded me how helpful it used to be in my playing.

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