trjeam

Hello, I have a problem where when i get to the high Bb and start going higher i start to strain and close my throat. I don't do this in any other register.This is a problem that I have been having off and on lately and it usually goes away by itself. But I would like to know if there are any exercises that I could do to help me open up my throat in the upper register.

my teacher had me doing breath attacks starting on high notes so that i could get the feel of the open throat in that register and he showed me some other exercises so that I would know how the open throat feeling is suppose to feel like, but now i can't seem to get it. What can i do?

Also my second question has to do with slurring large intervals like 8va's. Whenever i hear my teacher (mr. rene hernandez) his lip slurs are so smooth and I want to get mine to sound like his. he suggested that I should practice slurring minor 3rds . Is their anything else that i can do?

I've heard that over practicing slurs can hurt your sound. Also today when i lip slurred it sounded kind of smooth for a little bit but then i went back to sounding like crap.

I will address some of these problems to my teacher on my next lesson but I just want to read someone else's thoughts.

thanks for any help..

__________________
Jorge Ayala

http://www.soundclick.com/jorgeayala
http://allabouttrumpet.blogspot.com

Manny Laureano

If you're thinking of consciously saying "hee" when you play in the upper register, that's part of your problem. That happens naturally from direct musical stimulus. Doing it consciously just exaggerates it and helps close the glottis more than it should be.

Here's what I want you to do:

Hear the note G (in the staff) and buzz that note on the mouthpiece. Buzz it again and let the note end yet continue to blow are through the mouthpiece as though you were playing, just don't let it buzz. Do it again.. buzz the note and let it go to energetic air without a buzz.

Do it again and this time, after the sound goes to air, breath attack an octave higher without stopping to breathe again. So, note-air-note.

g- air-G. If there's any bending of the note or any gliss WHATSOVER it's wrong.

Have you got it? So it should sound like Hooh-hooh-HOOH without any interruption between sounds.

Get back to me ,

ML

Pedal C

Ok, so this advice wasn't intended for me, but I'm takin' it anyway...

So, um...I tried this and I can't make the buzz stop without doing very weird things to the embouchure, and I doubt that's the point. Any suggestions?

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"The oboe's A is to make sure we still play it 1 and 2" - Bud Herseth

"One way or another, every patient stops bleeding." - Scrubs

Manny Laureano

It should be like this; say "a-a-a-ah" and then but stop continue exhaling.

Do it again. sing.... stop and continue exhaling without pause bewteen the two actions.

Do it again... Sing...stop, exhale and sing an octave higher without glisses. Just be there on the note.

Like that.

ML

trjeam

thanks allot. i tried it today and it helped out allot.

__________________
Jorge Ayala

http://www.soundclick.com/jorgeayala
http://allabouttrumpet.blogspot.com

woo

Manny,
Do you crescendo when you breath attack the octave or do you try and keep the same air stream/volume? Do you recommend just doing this on a G or start to go up chromatically as far as one can?
thanks for all your precious advice.

Manny Laureano

Woo,

That's EXACTLY it. Thanks for helping me clarify. I was just re-reading my post and, y' know, it was late when i wrote that and I don't think I had all of my synapses firing. In other words, i was tired and didn't explain it well. Excuses, excuses...

The idea is to keep the air going in between the end of the buzz and the beginning of the air sound and continuing it further to the start of the octave note. So, the airstream NEVER stops in this exercise. If it does, it's being done incorrectly.

Thanks for the question,

ML