| My Lesson w/Roger Ingram
Had a very cool hang w/Roger yesterday for a few hours in a room upstairs at Proctors Theater that must have been 100 degrees! We started out just shooting the breeze and name dropping! He dropped many more names than I did. Then we got right to it. He asked me what I was looking to gain. He said you’ve worked steady for twenty years blah blah blah, what you want from me. I simply told him that I don’t have it figured out and I want to figure it out!
He then started to play some octaves from low C to High C all The way to double C. Very cool and loud in a brick room that measured 10 x 10. Great sound by the way and he does use some pressure! He did that because while giving a lesson the day of a show he also has to do his thang!
He asked me how I warm up and I told him middle G soft, maybe some chromatics, about 10-15 minutes depending on stiffness. He said No No No No!
Here’s what we did. He had me flapping my chops gently at what he described as 8 flaps per second. Stop, let the blood begin flowing. Flap some more… Stop; let the blood flow and so on for about 3 minutes on and off. Then a light free buzz on any note. Flap some more after then buzz again. Flap again then do some arpeggio buzzing. Flap some more the maybe some slow tonguing while buzzing.
Next, take just your mouthpiece and buzz on any note that’s comfortable. Flap some more. Buzz the mouthpiece again doing some short gliss’es up and down! Flap some more… Insert mouthpiece and then a middle G softly lipping it up and down (Sharp and flat) until finding its center. Once you find the center add a nice hand vibrato… Flap some more. Then some light chromatics from middle C down to F#. Flap some more then some more light chromatics up and down to middle G. Done! Warming up is simply getting blood flow to your face and the lactic acid out.
From this point we went into breathing… He had me stand up to watch my profile while playing just chromatics up to high C and down softly. He asked me why my shoulders were staying down. I told him that I am trying to keep them relaxed and that that has been pounded into me like a senseless beating for 30+ years! He replied, NO NO NO. First off, look at old pictures of Maynard while playing… His shoulders are so high they almost cover his ears. He mentioned some other high profile catz and when you really look at their bodies while they played, there shoulders were up. Basically, why keep your shoulders relaxed where they can be a burden to the top of your lungs! Utilize your entire lung then use your diaphragm up and in twice as much as your use to for compression. Do this for all volumes. Make’s sense. Actually doing it was another thing, but I made some positive strides and yes there was difference in stability. My stomach did hurt in the beginning so I was using a different set of muscles…
Chop set, the most important aspect of playing the trumpet. We got out the visualizer. And he wanted to see what was going on in all registers. My aperture was for the most part pretty tight and I thought that that was the idea…. NO NO NO NO. First off he said I was not using enough pink! When he showed me with the visualizer his chops were rolled out and you could drive a bus through his aperture while he was blowing! Unbelievable to me… He said "the more pink you can use the more cushion you create. More cushion = much much more endurance. That’s how me and the rest of us, Bergeroyne, Arturo, Maynard, Cacia etc, can blow like this all night long"… As awkward as this was I was able to play a middle G then a low C that just slammed. Then he had me go to middle C then E – G – C - E – G Dubba C… It worked, while the tone was suspect as well as being very uncomfortable for obvious reasons. I understand it. I will dedicate 15 minutes a day to this and the breathing and he said after awhile it should work it’s away in to your everyday playing!
We got into gear. As you all know I play the Stage 1 California Light… He played it and critiqued it. First off it’s a medium large and that’s too big for his taste. He thought the build quality was excellent but would have liked some standard bracing… His trumpet as most of you know is a Schilke S-42… Not quite, not even freaking close… He’s had the horn for 10 years, 50 modifications in the process mainly lead pipe and brace placement… He will be building his own horn not with Schilke but with a another gentlemen and I do not remember his name… Small and tight!
Here it is in the nut shell. Because you can drive a bus through his aperture, the smaller and tighter the gear the easier it is. He was really passionate about this subject! His mouthpiece throat is a 30…. He looked through mine and said what the hell are you doing???? His sound is pretty big and focused obviously! Tight Mouthpiece and horn with a big bell...
He also said that at times depending on the theater he’s playing in the guys in the band say they can’t hear him… He tells them, I’m not playing for you, I’m playing to the back of the room… This business with having sound around the front of your horn is for the dogs! A trumpet is built to project forward not around you… Leave it at that!
In closing: He said, look: I’m not trying to push my ways on you! Today I simply told you what works for me and went down the line with name dropping all the biggies of our sport and said he got it from them! He said quite comfortably, why do you think we work all the best gigs and have to turn down work! He told me he would only like to see me again if I chose to apply what he showed me…
End!!!
Oh Yeah, the show was great and the other guys could blow as well.
Thanks for reading,
Tony
Last edited by ALLCHOPS; 04-24-2007 at 03:18 PM.
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