In This Lesson You Will Learn How To:
- Retrain those pesky old habits.
- Fix the top-two playing mechanics that hold back range and endurance.
- Address the embouchure “no-no.”
- Instantly reduce mouthpiece pressure.
- Improve breathing and support habits.
- Set yourself up for solid long-term growth.
How to Improve Old Playing Habits
As you may be aware, being a comeback player gives you the unique opportunity to learn from your previous mistakes, and rewire old playing habits.
You may have also found that after 10, 20, or even 30 years off the horn, those old playing habits, and your feel of playing the trumpet are still there.
That’s because the mental wiring you develop throughout your life never really goes away. Yes, it gets rusty without use, but those old neurological pathways are still there…
…lurking in the darkness.
Waiting to take you down.
So while your basic playing skills may come back rather quickly, you might not necessarily want to play the way you used to! Therefore, to make sure you don’t end up making the same mistakes this time around, it’s good to understand methods of approaching your practice time in ways that benefit you over the long-haul.
Habits: Death Trap or Trumpet Liberation?
How do you know which habits are good and which habits are bad?
Well, for the most part, it’s useful to think of habits as being neutral. They aren’t really “good” or “bad,” but rather just habits; ways of getting things done that exist for a reason. At some point you either deliberately chose or stumbled upon something that “worked” and just kept doing it.
Some things only work for so long though, and once a habit no longer serves us, that’s when we tend to consider it “bad.” The classic example of this is using excessive mouthpiece pressure to play in the upper register.
A Familiar Story
Imagine one day you’re sitting around practicing and somehow stumble across the fact that when you push the mouthpiece a bit harder into your chops a higher note pops out.
“Whoa!,” you think.
“I’ve discovered the holy grail of trumpet playing!,” you think.
“*BEEP* YEAH!,” you think.
With this newfound confidence you strut through life knowing, believing, that anytime you want to play a super-high note, all you have to do is cram the mouthpiece into your chops and…
BINGO!
Eat your heart out, Maynard Ferguson!
And after some time you’ve got yourself a full-blown habit…which would be cool except for the fact that all that extra mouthpiece pressure doesn’t really work out in the long-run. At that point your elation turns into misery and self-despair, and what once put the pep in your step has since turned into the horrible, twisted nightmare that keeps you up at night.
Taking Care of Business
In a bout of frustration, the next step is to address this all-consuming mouthpiece pressure addiction by trying to stop pressing so hard1.
1HAHAHAHAhAHHAHAHA!!!
Even worse, this is usually attempted at the upper limits of your playing range!
Good luck with that!
What we must understand is that the limits of our technique and playing facility are where we are the most reliant on habits, good or bad. To change them, we need to come back down to the ground floor where we can give the mind and body a chance to figure something else out.
The High-Wire Act of Trumpet Playing
Trumpet playing is about finding balance. The airstream, torso muscles, embouchure, trumpet and mouthpiece all contribute to this insane high-wire act we (voluntarily) embark on each day. And the thing is, a “good enough” balance can be achieved in many ways, especially in the lower/middle part of the horn. But remember that everything has its limitations, and because of this, being aware of your trumpet playing “form” is essential to your long-term growth.
Approaching your playing mechanics in a slow, steady and methodical way gives you the opportunity to find better ways of playing for your body.
Which is why we must take it…
One Day at A Time
One final note before sprucing up your playing mechanics is that old habits cannot be erased. They can, however, be overpowered by new, stronger habits.
To achieve this, you must, in a sense, become something of a trumpet zen-warrior and view each practice session not as a continuation, but rather as something completely new. Forget how you used to play and zero in on today. Do that, day by day, and you’ll get where you want to go with your playing.
To make sure that your practice time is well-spent, take your time working through the 5-Point Mechanics Checklist. While the 5-Point Mechanics Checklist is solid, don’t take any of it as ultimate truth, written in stone. We are all going to navigate this beast of an instrument in our own way, so be pragmatic, keep an open mind and apply what works.
The 5-Point Mechanics Checklist:
… I love it [the Mechanics Checklist]. It was exactly what I was hoping for in terms of thinking about these little things that I was taught years ago but have forgotten. And the mechanics fit perfectly into whatever I happen to be practicing.
I’ve been using the mechanics and the more general points about improving the consistency at the heart of how I’ve been practicing and seeing great results. Key bit for me is the constant reminder of getting the simple things right.
I watched the Mechanics videos last night and they were great. I needed to hear all of it. I had only got bits and pieces of that info from past lessons. Very nice to do it all together in the context of the primary space/brainwash.
#1: How Is Your Embouchure Doing?
When it comes to embouchures, no two are exactly alike. Each of our face muscles, teeth and jaw alignment are different, and this makes for different embouchure sets.
While there have been pedagogues in the past who’ve done deep analysis of the various embouchure “types,” for now, let’s just make sure your embouchure is in the “good enough” zone. From there, the practice exercises in Lesson 4 will only improve the functioning of your embouchure.
The following video show demonstrations of the types of things that fit into under the category of “OK,” as well as addressing the one thing that may be holding back your range and endurance.
Step-By-Step Embouchure Formation
Are you guilty of the embouchure “No-No?” If so…not a problem!
The following video will guide you through a few suggestions for fixing that up.
#2: Tongue Placement
When it comes to trumpet playing the tongue is very important. While the most known use of the tongue is for articulating each note, the tongue also plays a vital role in channeling the air-stream inside the mouth and directing that energy toward and through the aperture. Without a tongue that is set to properly channel the air, the air swirls around in the mouth and loses intensity. This can lead to trouble developing range and flexibility.
Let’s check out where your tongue’s at:
#3: Reducing Mouthpiece Pressure
First things first; mouthpiece pressure gets a bad rap.
While using too much of it can definitely hold a player back, it cannot, and should not be eliminated altogether. The embouchure and mouthpiece need to maintain a seal in order to produce a full, clean tone, and a certain amount of pressure is needed to do that.
However, too much pressure can have limiting effects on range, endurance, the sound and even lead to bruising and swelling of the lips. The good news is, eliminating extraneous pressure is pretty easy with a few simple tweaks. And once you’re not reliant on all that extra pressure, you can use it to your advantage.
This video shows you just how to do that!
#4: Posture and Playing Ease
When the skeletal system is well-aligned, and the work of simply existing, let alone trumpet playing, can become more evenly distributed across the body. This allows extraneous tension to flow from the muscles that do not need to be engaged which leads to playing that ultimately becomes more free. Awareness of posture also leads to good, muscular coordination, and more rapid results due to an increased body awareness.
Let’s make playing easier:
#5: The Breath, Set, and Support
Considering you’re already playing from the Primary Practice Space, there’s no need to go into a super-deep analysis of the breathing process. As long as you’re associating with the feel of an open and supported breath, you’re in good shape.
Let’s make sure you’re in good shape:
Once you have the feel of an open breath it’s time to apply that sensation to the mouthpiece:
Understanding the role of “support:”
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Just wanted to let you know that yesterday’s rehearsal went great! With the new focus on upright posture, unrestricted breathing, primary focus (actually hearing the notes in my head before playing them) and the accumulation of dailies, I think I played pretty damn good and hit everything including all six “Missed the Saturday dance” phrases…things are happenin’!!!
Nice Job!
By running through the 5-Point Mechanics Checklist, you can be sure that your playing mechanics are set up in a way that promotes the development of good playing habits. If you found something with your basic mechanics that needs attention, make addressing that mechanic your #1 priority!
Now just because it’s important, fixing your mechanics is not difficult – just work it into your Daily!
Here’s how to do that:
You Are Kicking Butt!
With your mechanics straightened out and your Daily chugging along you can rest assured that you’re on track to a successful comeback!
Nice, nice, nice!!!
You deserve a break. And once you’re feeling fresh, continue along to the next lesson where we’ll cover how to set up a comprehensive, yet easily managed Practice Rotation that will improve your technique one day at a time!
The Mechanics are All Set and I’m Ready for More! ->
How are your Mechanics Doing? Share Your Story Below!