Strad37

Hey, I have been having a very interesting week. I had been playing very well this week and I decided that I was going to work on my upper register this week. Well, I got a little more than I asked for when I suddenly have been able to play a double C! You have to understand that I had been able to hit a double G before but only on really good days! I just assumed that this was going to be a one day thing where everything just fell into place. Coincidence right! Well I guess not because the next day my band director said that he wanted me to try it for him. I got it pretty well and he asked me to try it again to see if it was just a one time deal. Well I accidently lipped it up to a double D so I guess that's a good sign. Five days after that and it's still working out for me. I mean it's not perfect but it's coming along. What I am wondering is for one thing how the heck did I just get this and what can I do to keep it this way. I'm only sixteen years old so I guess that maybe I could just be hitting my stride or something but I'm worried about losing it. Any advice?

BflatAnklan

Like any other facet of trumpet playing, range requires daily maintenance. That is, you need to make sure you and your teacher come up with a series of exercises that you do each day to maintain the level of playing you have achieved in all areas, range too! As you create the solid foundation for yourself, (by doing your daily maintenance routine), you will find yourself getting better at the things you already do well, as well as pushing your limits a little further each day on new material.

Strad37

So is there any excersises that you would recommend? My instructor has been having me do long tones and lips slurs right now but he has also been telling me something that Bobby Shew told him when he took lessons with him. He told him that if he was going to be able to play the upper register on a gig that he would have to start practicing it more at home. Does that pretty much mean that I just need to start playing more of it to build endurance or should I be trying to pace myself a little?

BflatAnklan

I practice long tones, flexibility (lip slurs) from Schlossberg and Thiecke, evenness of fingers, sound and range from Clark (first exercise) and various other things. There's a lot of dive into here. It sounds to me like your teacher is doing a good job and you should stay on board. Just keep working on good trumpet playing and be aware of how to play well in a lot of styles. As Joey Tartell beautifully put it, "Trumpet is trumpet, and music is style!" When you work on range, make sure you have a good trumpet sound...even at double C. It's important to listen to great players as often as possible and to try to incorperate qualities of their sounds that you like into your own sound. It is from here where you will find out a lot about yourself as a trumpet player and musician. There are a lot of lists of great players on this site, and others. Perhaps your teacher can provide you with some examples of players he likes! Everything starts with a concept of sound. Once you have that, you will know where it is you are going.

rowuk

Besides slurs and long tones (the mainstay of my maintenance) I use Clarke up an octave - like all Clarke studies at a controlled piano/pianissimo with many repetitions. Even the stratosphere benefits when treated tenderly! Replacing muscle with brain is the key here!

Bear

Ditto's, I would like to add a comment about your delving into the upper register. It's awesome that you are exploring this at your age, it gives your teacher a lot of options and hopefully graditude. Please don't forget your lower octaves as well. A lot of young players find the altissimo and then forget the rest of their playing and after a few years, they are done, there is nothing left for them and their chops are ruined. Be a COMPLETE musician first, trumpet player second. Be comfortable and at home in any style, genre, etc. More power to you, keep on blowin'. Mr. Bergeron is a member of this forum and pops in every now and then. Maybe you should check some of his stuff out. Great all around guy and player.

Vulgano Brother

Congrats! Try to be in it for the long haul--if we can add a minute of endurance a day or a half-tone of range a month, the results are truly amazing!

stchasking

How is it that you could play a double high G but not a double high C?

Do you mean you could occasionally play a G above high C?
High C is the last note of "Buglers Holiday." It is the seventh line of the treble clef. Double high C is an octave above. Double high G is way up there above double high C.

We get into this all the time.
You would be surprised at what we find out.

Strad37

No, when I said double G I meant the G one octave above the G on top of the staff. Sorry, I guess I should have been more specific! Thanks for everyone's advice! I'll try to keep all of that in mind. Hopefully I can keep this rate of progress going! I really want to see how far I can go with this.