Posted by Klaus on January 27, 2003 at 19:40:14:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Range difficulties posted by JoeS on January 27, 2003 at 18:14:40:
One of my teachers did not advocate long notes as a good development tool, as he found that type of exercise stiffening up all aspects of one playing.
My compromise on that point was inspired by Geoffrey Brand, solo trumpeter at the Covent Garden opera house under Furtwängler, classical conductor within the BBC system of orchestras, and a brass band inspirational factor on all thinkable levels. He once told the BBb basses at a rehearsal: "Go on playing, when your air has run out! Within some time you will find, that you have got more air at your disposal."
The interesting part of the long note exercise is the last part of the note, where control is very hard, because basic human reflexes dictate you to breathe before you enter your residual reserves.
So my way of practising long notes is to hold the last note of my flexibility exercises until my body revolts and my eyesight blackens (Joe, you know, that I, like you, never would exaggerate any statement just to make a pedagogical point!).
The teacher mentioned had made one conclusion out of his teaching: If a player had one or more sore points of range, where cracking notes happened frequently, then it was where register shifts happened. He demanded, that his students could make smooth lip glissandos on the mouthpiece over their full range. If crack happened, they should work on glissing from well below that crack point to well above it.
If I don't practise enough, then I have a crack point around D just over the bass clef system. If I practise I can make fast and smooth glisses over my entire range which is 4 or 5 (more to be honest) octaves as long as we talk of low brasses. I do not practise these glisses on the mouthpiece alone. I practise the on the full set up with mouthpiece and instrument. It is so tempting to let the embouchure slot in on the resonance spots, also known as partials. But it takes discipline and develops lip power to strive for fully smooth glisses. The sound can not be as in legit playing, but one shal strive for fullness of sound in the glisses.
One great benefit of that type of practising is, that one gains immensely in intonation control.
Of course trumpeters find the lip movements of tuba players exaggerated. but if they could do potential math, they would not be trumpeters.
Klaus