- Hold your horn in your left hand with your normal grip.
- Now squeeze your left hand very, very tightly.
- Does the horn move? In which direction?
When we play high, we tend to tense
everything up, including our grip on the trumpet -- if the trumpet moves up or down, we are transfering pressure to one lip or the other. Most great players hold their instruments in such a way that the angle doesn't change
for them. If Maynard had my hands, he might have held his trumpet differently.
(By the way, anyone aspiring for entry into the Vulgano Brotherhood must know what the thrid valve slide is for, and use it
and the second valve slide!)