Range Improvement

Dr GO

Whew Dr-GO,
"Listening is the sensory reception of sound. HEARING is the integration of the sound you just listened to. Hearing is the goal, not listening."
I won't insult your intelligence by definition but is this what you mean??

Let me give you an example:
You see a bee. You listen for the buzz it makes to detect it when it flies behind your head. The sound you listen for registers that it is the sound of a bee (from prior experience). You the react now the defined sound by moving away from that sound. See, sound identifies and allows you to react to what you were listening to.

Another Example:
A pretty lady approaches to your ear an whispers sweat somethings in it that you listen for. You then hear those sounds as foreplay and you react to it by realizing your pants feel a bit tighter. Now Dr. Mark... Do you want to just listen to that whisper or do you want to hear it and then react to it? Of course the rest of the hotel will hear the Ohooo Ohooo Ohooo that follows, and they will then fantasize.

Do you hear what I'm saying Dr. Mark?

Dr GO

Let's link the above post to keep onto the subject of Range Improvement so readers do not think we digress:

So Dr. Mark is with the above lady and begins rubbing her belly and he starts chanting in his usual voice:
"I love you, I love you, I love you".

The lady says to Dr. Mark: "Lower"
So Dr. Mark reacts, deepens his voice to a lower Range and says:
"I love you, I love you, I love you".

In this case, Dr. Mark.... You need more practice!

A Former User

@Dr-GO said in Range Improvement:

Do you hear what I'm saying Dr. Mark?

I'm working on it.

A Former User

@Dr-GO said in Range Improvement:

In this case, Dr. Mark.... You need more practice!

You sure got that right. Heck, I was with her just last night and she leaned over and said, "kiss me where it stinks" so I took her to Tampa. Man was she pissed. I'm still trying to figure out what I did wrong!

GeorgeB

@Dr-Mark said in Range Improvement:

@Dr-GO said in Range Improvement:

In this case, Dr. Mark.... You need more practice!

You sure got that right. Heck, I was with her just last night and she leaned over and said, "kiss me where it stinks" so I took her to Tampa. Man was she pissed. I'm still trying to figure out what I did wrong!

You two doctors are a riot.

In reading JorgePD's post his comeback after 40 years and not being able to play an A above the staff after a year, I realized I must have done the right thing in my comeback after 50 years.

What I did was learn to play the trumpet all over again, using the trumpet tutorial book my teacher recommended back in 1953: The Everette James Trumpet/Cornet Tutorial. Yep, Everette is Harry's dad. The book is a little tattered today but it did the job for me back then and did the job for me again in 2016. I don't recall exactly how long it took me to get to a daily high C but I do know it wasn't much more than 3 months. The tutorial triggered the memories of what I had learned about technique, style and the rest of that stuff, and all the exercises and etudes, got me on the right track. I started my comeback in March of 2016 and was playing with the local Seniors Horizons band by September when they started their Fall/ winter term. The second year back I took a few lessons with a local teacher who helped me find the correct mouthpiece because that was my biggest problem. I was probably lucky in getting started again on my own, but there did come that time when professional help was needed. So I am glad to hear that JorgePD got that pro help he needed.

Kehaulani

Well, on the subject of using original material to help comeback, I did the opposite.

I concentrated on mainly The Balanced Embouchure and a few supplemental exercises from more "modern" materials (compared to my original approach). While, I think, I based things on my original teaching (my teacher studied with Schilke, so that whole "wind", Chicago thing), I went beyond that in development materials.

I went from struggling with High Cs and a workable A above the staff to a workable E above High C with a playable Double High C.

A Former User

@administrator said in Range Improvement:

Some good sources for range-improvement exercises include the studies by Bai Lin, James Stamp, Max Schlossberg, James Thompson, Cat Anderson, Carmine Caruso and several others. What works for one person may not necessarily work for another. Also, many university professors and qualified teachers can offer suggestions for exercises and can help you make a plan for progress. A private teacher is really a necessity for most musicians to progress. Even top-of-the-line professionals often seek advice from other professionals.
This thread is here to aggregate suggestions and advice, as well as collect stories of success and progress to motivate others. Please note that not all advice in this thread will work for you or is from a qualified professional, but such is the nature of the Internet anyway.

HI GA!,
My beginnings with the stratosphere began in 10th grade with a band director who was more interested in winning band trophies than what was best for the students. By 11th grade we were playing basically a Maynard Ferguson show. I was blowing a hurricane throw a tiny hole and shoving the mouthpiece down my throat at the same time. How I circumnavigated injury is beyond me. I then started playing gigs in my hometown and blasting G above high C in a honky tonk bar just didn't cut it so I started playing more melodically taking a break from the stratosphere. When I did begin to approach the stratosphere again, I started very softly knowing that I must first play the note before I can add volume to the note. Possibly the biggest influence during this time was Mendez, basic research and a thin book called Lip Flexibilities by Chas Collins. I also changed my mind set. Instead of trying to get a hot compressed sound, I tried to sound more like a piccolo trumpet. Nice and controlled. Now, I can do both. Hot compressed sound and a nice piccolo sound. Not as nice as a piccolo trumpet but I think you get my drift. I treated the very high notes with equality to the other notes. I'm now flirting with a triple C. Often the lips will shut down but that's because I lose control of the wind and probably adding too much mouthpiece pressure. I have no idea where I would use such a note but I saw a video of Rashwan Ross doing it and I thought, "why not"
Also, smaller aperture means less wind. I know it sounds counter intuitive but if the hole is smaller......need I say more?
Here's a video of Rashawn showing Rapa how to do it