carltonsstudent

Concerning Cat Anderson's recommendation to warm up playing G in the staff for 20 minutes I would like to make a couple of comments as to why I think he recommends this. He says to play a G because it is an easy note to play. I would like to add that it is a note that you can play without holding any valves down. If you played F instead of G then you would have to hold a valve down for 20 minutes and this would be quite stressful. He also says to play the note like a "whisper", i.e. very softly. One thing I do is play this note while I am watching T.V. with other people watching T.V. with me. If it doesn't disturb anyone from hearing the T.V. then I know I'm playing pretty softly. This is a great practice if you are staying in a hotel and want to practice quietly.

So what is to be gained from this. As Claude Gordon says, the purpose of the lips is to vibrate. And as Carlton MacBeth says, the lips should be in a closed, forward position. Also see Bob Odneal's Web Site where he recommends practicing pppp with the lips so close together that he feels that he could only pull a thread between them. Cat Anderson warns against practicing loudly and I think the reason is because this blows the aperature open which you do only when you want to play loudly in order to produce large vibrations (large amplitude) of the lips. What we seek to train our lip and facial muscles to do is play closed with a relaxed center that can blow open when we put more air through the horn and then come back into a closed position as we lighten up. We don't want the lips to blow open and stay open when we lighten up.

Holding the G for a long time requires us to hold the lips in position for a long time which increases the strength of the facial muscles. It is similiar to a Chinese martial who will stand in the tree hugging position for an hour without moving inorder to increase the strength of his white meat (ligature) muscles.

And then remember that pitch is all about the speed of vibration. Only closed lips that are relaxed in the center but are held very firmly in place can produce the fast vibrations which result in high notes. So if you want to play high notes then Cat Anderson has recommended a very simple exercise which trains the lips and strengthens the facial muscles correctly. And I recommend observing carefully the volume indications in things like the Clark Technical Studies and others which are almost always p or pp. Practicing them loudly is self defeating if the objective is to build strengh and train the lips to function properly.

Take a look at the Thread in here concerning the Lesson with Patrick Hessions. Note that Patrick demonstrated playing in whisper mode. If it is good enough for Patrick, Bob Odneal, and Cat Anderson then it is probably good for the rest of us. I also recommend listening to Dave Stahl. He plays all over the horn in an effortless manner. You can hear him play a triple-G on his Video Clips and I heard him do this cold with no warm up. He also holds his horn with a very light grip. When I hold my horn the way he does his, I feel uneasy because I am afraid I will drop the horn.

I hope this helps.

As Carlton always said: "Breathe, relax, blow"

Alan Craig