eisprl

Hey everyone

Does anyone know of a good pedal tone method? I'd like to try my hand at it. I hear that pedal's are not for everyone and that if you can't do them properly, it's better left alone. (Which I understand).

Does the size of the mouthpiece factor in at all? (ex: does having a smaller, shallower mp hinder your pedal tones?)

Please excuse my ignorance, but pedal tones were never covered at my school :S

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tromj

I would check out the James Stamp book. The three part Pierre Thibaud method from Balquhidder is also good, but I would be reluctant to use that one without a teacher.
With Stamp, the key thing is smoothness, good intonation, and seamless transition from the pedals to the regular register. Roy Poper wrote a good companion book for Stamp.

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Alex Yates

Great suggestions Tromj! I am a big fan of Stamp as well. I also advocate Maggio - Warm-up C or D. I can't remember off the top of my head and have them memorized, so I forget exactly which one it is...sorry. The arpeggiated exercises are the ones to which I am referring. I have recently been doing flow studies out of the Plog "Warm-ups" book and they also delve into the pedal range. It has been a refreshing change to accomplish the same task. To benefit from pedals the important thing is to keep the corners firm and embouchure strong - not horse-flapping. Ideally, you want to be able to go in and out of the pedal range to normal playing range with the least change and difficulty. IMHO, that is why pedals help the upper register. They strengthen the corners.

tromj

it's interesting that you mention Maggio. According to my teacher, Mary Hastings, ( a really fine NYC freelancer) who spent a couple of years in Paris studying with Thibaud, his use of the pedals was meant to bring the lips forward in an embouchure that to my untrained eye resembles the McBeth version of the Maggio method.

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Bach 37
Yamaha 8310Z
Yamaha 631 Flugel
Getzen 850 Cornet
Yamaha Picc
Yamaha Xeno C 8445
Monette B1-5M, B1-5F, B1-5D cornet, Stork 3P, Monette C1-5M

Thermos

Check out Eric Bolvin's site (www.bolvinmusic.com) for a demo on how to play pedal tones.

Jerry Freedman

There seem to be several ways to approach pedal tones, all different and all effective. Mr. Bolvin demonstrates the Claude Gordon pedals. The player attempts to use the same embouchure in the pedal register as in the normal register and go back and forth from pedal to normal. This works great. Lotsa great CG players around,

Caruso had his students get pedals anyway they could. His only stipulation was that after a pedal exercise ( he had about 5 I think, Laurie Frink has some more) the student play a two octave chromatic scale up and down twice immediately after a pedal exercise. This works great. Lotsa great Caruso players around.

Callet/Smiley/Superchops teachers have the student play in the double pedal register with the horn tilted way up and the bottom lip out of the mouthpiece. This is a bit newer but there are a bunch of good Callet/Smiley/Superchops players around.

Reinhardt didn't teach pedal tones, and didn't condone them in any way. Lotsa great Reinhardt students around.

These are the "correct" pedal approaches I know about, maybe there are more equally correct approaches.

stchasking

You may not like this suggestion but I would do what Maynard did, learn to play valve trombone or baritone. I think the baritone with the bigger mouth piece does the same function as play pedal tones on trumpet. Valve trombone may be reasonable, also. Remember when Maynard would pick up a superbone and play all over the audible range? I think that was his warm up, warm down, take break and do some exercises in preparation for the rest of the gig time.

I do not know how to incorporate playing valve trombone or baritone into a trumpet practice session without doing it. When I was playing the Colin Advance Lip Flexibilities I could sure see a few moments of large mouth piece playing/buzzing every half page. I was using a Bach 3D so the mouth piece was fairly large. (Not a toilet bowl like a 1B but big enough.)

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Dave

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Auggy62

HI :) I have the maggio Method in pdf format...I don't think it's on the market anymore.IF you want it just message me with your email addy and I will send.
Auggy

Alex Yates

Hey Dave. I have to admit, my copy of Maggio is an old copy from my mentor in Belgium. He gave it to me. If Auggy has them in PDF, I would take him up on his offer. I will add, I would not have approached the Maggio method had I not had a good teacher to introduce it to me. If you have questions about it once you have actually seen the book, I would be happy to help you out. It helps a little to read the text. The actual "exercises" may seem like nothing special, but doing them as directed will work wonders for your sound and overall strength.