trickg

I could have put this over in ‘Trumpet Fundamentals’ but considering that it is the Tatstee Bros that we are talking about here, I’m not sure that ‘Fundamentals’ is really where this thread belongs.

This subject came to mind last night as I was listening to a Christmas song that was sent to me via email that has to be the work of the Tastee Bros. It’s a recording of an orchestral arrangement of something like “O Come, all Ye Faithful’, only it has really obnoxious scream trumpet overdubbed all over it. It is so completely crass and obnoxious that I about fall over laughing at it – I mean, it IS a joke after all.

So anyway, I go on over to the Tastee Bros website and among other things that they have there, they are selling Tastee Bros method books. For all of the other jokes and hijinks on that website, a couple of things ring true – both Scott Englebright and Donny Dyess have fantastic high chops. Scott has been on Maynard’s band which says something too. I’m not sure who Donny has played with.

Has anyone out there actually purchased a Tastee Bros method book? If you have, did you find it beneficial, or was it as much of a joke as everything else on their website? Like I said, these guys do have great chops, but can they put down what they did to achieve their chops in an understandable, usable format?

eoliver

I own three of the tastee books, and while they are fairly entertaining, they basically just say the harder you blow, the less pressure you have to use. That's pretty much all they say. The only other thing is they relate playing notes to blowing out candles. High C is like blowing a candle at 5 feet, while DHC is like blowing out a candle at twenty feet, or something like that. Funny reading, though. If you want more info, I can pass it along. If you like the Christmas thing, they do have a couple of CDs of the same thing that are pretty funny, too.

trickg

That sounds very similar to some of the stuff that I am currently learning out of the Don Jacoby book, although Don didn't stress blowing harder so much as using air more efficiently. One of the concepts in the Jacoby book is that notes are not higher, they are further away, and sound becomes more focused the "futher away" you get - sort of a cone effect.

I think that part of it is physical, and the other part is using mental imagery to trick your chops and air into doing the correct things to play musically and efficently.

Thanks for the reply. Anyone else?