Building Strength and High Range

[ChristianeSparkle]

So it seems like I finally internalized how the embouchure should work when going into the high range. Or maybe I've gotten it wrong, please feel free to correct me or point out some different understanding of this! I am sharing this in hopes that maybe someone would find useful down the road.

I've been doing this exercise, among others for a while now and I still struggle with having a nice high range. I also read up a lot and tried to apply what I've read to my practices, namely, focusing on the corner of the lips, lips to be firm etc.

I was listening to Jan Kagarice's masterclass where she was talking about sound production and was demonstrating blowing between 2 paper that were slightly curved outwards, bringing them together as she blew. While the paper that were curved inwards were flapping around wildly. While absentmindedly playing intervals while listening to her, I realised I was going beyond the range I thought was possible with my current ability and I was able to hold said note for awhile, while I was trying to feel what was going on. What I felt was

1) the vibration seemed to be centered around the inner side of my lip, instead of the middle or the outer.
2)I was not pulling the sides of my lips, I wasn't really working them that hard, it felt the same for the upper lip too.
3) What was firm and pulling its weight was the lower lip, and even then it was firmly set against my teeth and that provided support for the lip to not tire out?

So in essence (correct me if I am wrong), the bulk of the work seems to be done by the lower lip (supported by the lower set of teeth) that helps to allow me to play with a lot less tension?

I've been messing around with that for a bit (not long enough yet), but that seems to be the case. With a little concentration in ensuring that it's the lower lip that is doing the weight lifting, I was outputting better high notes with less tension. Of course, I still misfire, but it's more of overblowing and still not getting used to this new feeling, but overall my accuracy and confidence in getting the right note seems to be much higher now!

Does this make sense? Is this correct or am I building up a potential bad habit?

Thank you!

[Big Ian]

I watched a masterclass by trumpeter Jens Lindemann (I think it was him) - he was all for ‘anchor tonguing’ (or whatever it’s called) where the tip of the tongue supports the bottom lip. This, he said, helps with the high register. I’ve noticed I do this without thinking, on all but the lowest notes, and I can still articulate fairly cleanly. It seems that the bottom lip should be supported and the top lip should do the buzzing. I’ve also heard that an undesirable ‘double buzz’ can happen if the bottom lip isn’t supported (I guess that both lips buzz otherwise).
Also, ‘low loud high soft’ (I think this was from Charlie Porter, trumpeter) helps with high notes - not relying on blasting them out with loads of air, just concentrating on fast air. That’s the theory, I’m still working on this one!
I’ve just bought ‘the brass gym’ - some great exercises in this book!

[davewerden]

(Bump)

[iMav]

I’ve found this quite helpful.

https://wilktone.com/?page_id=6088