qazaq

Hello everybody...

I'm a senior in high school...I've been successful enough at playing the trumpet to make me like playing it.

But I got a little problem...and it has to do with my endurance.

Only problem is, I am pretty sure my endurance is great.

Except when I play with my high school band. An everyday occurance. You see, I have a 55 minutes class period in band, where we play less-than-challenging music.

I recently made 2nd chair in the smaller school state competitions in jazz. I practiced for 8 hours a day, for 3 days in a row, and I played a duet and an improv decently during the concert, with no endurance problems whatsoever, any day.

I practiced for 8 hours with the regional concert band, then played two concert in a row (one was concert and the other was jazz).

Never had a problem with endurance.

So WHY do I have problems for 55 minutes at school??

There are lower notes, I don't have to try every second to sound that great (no one else really does..), I have to play a little louder, but not that much, and not as much as in the Jazz bands...

A friend (a music educator at a different school: a spectacular trumpet player, directed the Army Corps band (I think)) told me that the tuning in my band was probably bad, and that playing in the better, more in-tune bands made my lips work less hard to try and match all the different pitches. This makes sense, as none of my band is very well in tune...

But if that were not the problem, what is? And how can I fix it?

I have tried to relax and let the pitch be natural, but it doesn't really help.

This problem takes away from my practicing at home, as well as at school...as my lips are shot for the rest of the day after each practice....

Sorry about the length...I just want to be clear.

rowuk

This happens to me when I play with our local wind band too if I am not careful.
I think there are 2 major reasons: Intonation-the band is not optimally in tune and that means we are bending notes all over the place which is a major strain. The second problem is the load on the strong player. Instead of letting our sound "melt" into the orchestral fabric, we take a leadership function and try to stay on top, which also costs a lot of energy.
I now tune the orchestra myself (the conductor welcomed the offer!) and I only crank it up on the critical measures. That helps quite a bit!

qazaq

Hmm...So I could start tuning people...I'll start with my trumpet section, as I am the section leader.

That position holds little weight in our band, but I'm sure no one would be opposed to not being in tune.

Only problem is, I lost my tuner a while back... anyone have any suggestions for a tuner I could set on the stand, that is economical, and that can tune with a lot of background noise?

I used to have a Sabine MetroTune MT-9000... but it was difficult to make work, and it took forever to get it to find the right note. Any ideas?

rowuk

DO NOT USE A TUNER! IT DOES NOT HELP!
The importance of tuning by ear is that it builds the ability of the brain to tune more quickly in the future!!! A quick check with a tuner ROBS you of the tuning practice. You know where your tuning slide belongs, plus or minus a 10th of an inch. That is good enough! Make sure that the band has "warm" instruments when they tune. Brass instruments go up in pitch when they get warm and woodwinds go down. Flutes go anywhere that they want to especially when they sit crooked and cramped! Take time and get the band to tune thoroughly - the process will speed up with time!

slybootz

One mistake that I found was limiting me in high school was how I divided up my practice time. Instead of practicing for hours at a time, you need to be practicing in small chunks. Play for 15 minutes, rest for 15 minutes, play for 10, rest for 10, etc. I find that I improve the most with little practice sessions throughout the day(which I know may be hard for a high school student).

Also, it all starts with a proper warm up. Get to school 20-30 minutes early and play long tones, lip slurs, 2 octave scales, whatever else is in your warm up routine. You'll be amazed at how great your lips feel when you have a consistent morning warmup!

Tuning can make your lips more tired, especially if you have good ears. With good ears your lips will start trying to adjust pitch to match around you, tiring you out. Try getting your section together and matching tone & tuning on a Bb.

Sounds like you're doing great, though. Keep it up!

Schwab

A tuner will probably help you in high school, where many people don't even know what it feels like to play in tune, and don't know even know what a tuning slide IS, let alone where it belongs!


It will help people to be close, and then from there they can learn to use their ears. People don't usually invent these useful tools just for kicks, I know many professionals (myself included) who still play with a tuner and metronome frequently.

et_mike

It is possible that you don't have an endurance issue at all... you are just bored with your concert band and therefore not in the right mental state to play for 55 min. Rowuk, what do you think?

Mike

bspickler

For tuning a high school section I think the only thing that will work is the "Center Pitch" from Chase Sanborn. Each section member can work with it separately so there isn't a lot of lipping up or down to match the others.

chasesanborn.com » Store

rowuk

I stand by my tuner opinion. YES it does have a function, even in the orchestra an oboist will often match the A to the tuner. I have found in the band tuning to an instrument is longer lasting and faster than looking at the tuner and saying higher/lower. The important part is the reference tone in your ear! Only that experience will get the band able to tune itself. It is worth every minute of time invested!

qazaq

Precisely my problem... it just seems that I am the only one who has the ears for it...AND I can't turn my auto-tune off

The reason that I want to get a tuner is for the band's overall tuning, starting with my section. No one would tune on their own, even after taking out their tuning slide and cleaning it or something.

There is a certain amount of apathy...from all parties involved.

A possibility...except that I always try to play well, regardless of the circumstances. It's very embarrassing to be considered a "trumpet god" (a hyberbole, at the least) and not be able to get through a single session.

Although I have been getting increasing downhearted from this endurance issue...I almost dread the end of the class period.

EXACTLY.

Some of the trumpet players like to disassemble their peers trumpets as pranks, and leave them in their chairs. They just stick everything in again, and never tune it again.

I hope I'm in a good band in college, where I don't have to deal with this...


Thanks for the reference...I actually met him at the Music Convention in San Antonio last week. I bought his brass tactics, and when I feel like parting with the money, and that I'll have to time to read it, I'll buy the Jazz Tactics. I have never really had the chance to get a good basis in the trumpet fundamentals... it was always just blow a lot of air and hit the right notes...I have a clarinet player as a director, go figure.