Different Techniques For Different Instruments?
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Among the three instruments, trumpet, cornet, and flugelhorn, do you play each differently? If so, how? And why?
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Yes -air control is key. Overblow a flugel and not only will you be sharp, but you’ll also lose the characteristic sound. Same with cornet, and intonation is very different to control than trumpet. Just because it has 3 valves and is in Bb doesn’t mean you can approach it the same way.
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Can it be said that we have a characteristic sound in mind for each of the instruments that we match up to with our technique? After all, it's possible to make a cornet sound like a trumpet and vice versa, plus, if played a certain way, a flugelhorn can sound quite like a cornet, although sounding like our expectation of a trumpet may not be so doable.
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I have played and owned all three. I am not aware of a big difference except that my cornet sound is a little more "pretty" and round, and I don't play very forcefully on flugelhorn
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Sound concept is important, but you won’t reach the sound in your head without changing technique from one horn to the next. Cornet is an odd beast, though - sound will really vary greatly depending on brand/model/wrap, and mouthpiece used. I find less variation in flugel, though some take a lot more work to match my particular sound concept. Since my flugel sound gets me gigs, I use the combination that makes it easiest for me to achieve that sound.
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@flugelgirl said in Different Techniques For Different Instruments?:
Yes -air control is key. Overblow a flugel and not only will you be sharp, but you’ll also lose the characteristic sound. Same with cornet, and intonation is very different to control than trumpet. Just because it has 3 valves and is in Bb doesn’t mean you can approach it the same way.
What she said
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How about we throw picc trumpet into the mix? And C trumpet too!
How should the approach be different between Bb and picc? Should the approach be different between Bb and C?
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My cornet with its DW4 will not sound like a trumpet
My trumpet does not sound like a cornet
I do approach each different. The cornet gets used in a British style brass band and the trumpet in a couple community bands.
I could probably plop in a 7c and make the cornet work in community bands but my trumpet even with the 1c I play with it would not fit the BBB -
@Kujo20 said in Different Techniques For Different Instruments?:
Should the approach be different between Bb and C?
It depends on what your definition of "approach" is. For me, the C is brighter and the blow is different than the Bb. They are different creatures and even though the basics of air and embouchure are the same, they feel different when used. Also, for me, there's a mind set. I use the C trumpet for classical and not jazz or blues. That's not to say I can't, but jazz and blues just sounds better to my ears on the Bb. The C trumpet however is pretty hard to beat when it comes to classical solos. It has a beautiful (evangelical?) sound that I like.
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As far as picc is concerned, you simply can’t approach it like a Bb. It is it’s own unique animal, and if you don’t treat it that way you won’t make progress. How many times have you seen a player who is fantastic on Bb pick up a picc for the first time and barely be able to get out a few notes? I’ve seen that a lot! When I started playing picc I spent about a year fooling with it on my own before I got serious and studied with a good teacher. That’s when I started to make real progress.
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When picking up a new instrument I try to let it find its own sound. Then I can influence that as needed.
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I believe we are creatures of feedback. Listening to the horn and feeling it's feedback is highly influential to how I play the horn.
My flugelhorn gives me a rich buttery feedback so I do everything in my power to fill it with puffs of air that allow that buttery sound to float. I back off on the attack from the dark feedback my Martin Committee gives me to enhance the soft darkness of it's rich tone.
HOWEVER, with all of that said I truly believe The Harrelson is a chameleon. I get to control the sound on that horn that will then determine the feedback that horn gives me. I can make it sound like a flugelhorn, create an airy throaty sound, snap on a Harmon and produce the same Committee textures of Miles Davis, or peal the pain off the wall when playing lead. Control... I love Control!
