Kevin Hilman

Hi Manny,

I'm a 32 yr. old trumpet player and spend most of my time on the classical side of the fence. Because of this, I haven't spent too much time working on the upper register playing because I underestimated its importance in classical work. I viewed your Monette clip of the Mahler 8 excertpt and tried to play it myself. It sounded pretty darn good exept for the high Eb at the end of the lick which was quite puny and weak.

Could you recommend a specific drill or two that I might try to stretch out my upper register?

Thank you,

Kevin Hilman

Manny Laureano

Kevin,

I once asked my karate teacher how to improve my jumping kicks. He said "By jumping!". I'm a little taken aback as to why anyone involved in classical trumpet playing wouldn't see the benefits of a solid upper register when you look at Zarathustra, Beethoven 7th, anything by Bach, R.Strauss, Mahler symphonies, Bolero, etc.

There is no specific drill that improves classical high register. This kind of playing comes from a well-grounded emphasis on fundamentals. Page-long etudes played in their entirety are a good way to go.Top Tones, Aaron Harris, Broiles duets, the two page studies of St. Jacome, etc. Arban's played completely gives you very good endurance, contrary to contemporary opinion.

Most important is the desire to play in the upper register. the motivation to play up there and sound good while doing it is huge. It is less a clinical situation that one of the heart. It is no less the same as wanting to pick up your horn and play along with maynard's recording of MacArthur Park. It's the same mentality. Let me go further. I don't think there's a principal player alive worth his/her salt that doesn't get the same rush playing Maynard tunes as they do playing a Mahler 8th. Give him a smaller mouthpiece and a copy of the chart and he'll put up a good show.



Fundamentals and desire plus the years of both. That's the formula.

ML

Bear

"Let me go further. I don't think there's a principal player alive worth his/her salt that doesn't get the same rush playing Maynard tunes as they do playing a Mahler 8th." --ML

And Vice Versa man, I always play the MF stuff but I got a chance to play principal on the Shosh. Prelude and man, that rocks my world, talk about gettin' a rush, lol. Just big dark brass sounds with that Eb up there, oh baby... bring it, lol.

Kevin Hilman

[I'm a little taken aback as to why anyone involved in classical trumpet playing wouldn't see the benefits of a solid upper register when you look at Zarathustra, Beethoven 7th, anything by Bach, R.Strauss, Mahler symphonies, Bolero, etc.te]

One reason I might have overlooked the benefits range is because I put too much stock into the idea that "99% of what you play is below high C" and used it as an excuse not to work out of my comfort zone. (The statement of course is true but my reaction to it of not working the upper register was faulty) Also, I wasn't exposed to a lot of the great rep you mentioned until too late. I only recently became aquainted with Strauss when I purchased a CD with Zarathustra, Don Juan, Til, Alpine and Ein Heldenleben. Wow!!! Holy Cow!!! I didn't get to play anything like that in college!

In past playing scenarios (show bands, jazz bands) I've done plenty of "scream" type playing and loved it but that was with the trusty Shilke 14A4A. I just can't seem to put any oomph behind those notes with my current equipment. I will however take your advise and "jump" more often to improve my high chops.

Thanks

P.S. How do I use the quote feature correctly??

Manny Laureano

Kevin,

Press "quote" (upper right) within the post you want to quote.

You get everything that was said by the poster. Highlight and delete everything you DON'T WANT to show in your reply EXCEPT for the stuff in brackets!

Then write your answer underneath what you've excerpted.

Should work...

ML