Just what does a brass player do when he's sick? A few days ago, I could tell that something was up: fatigued, not sleeping well, feeling congested upon waking up, headache. It finally caught up to me last night when I got no sleep while dealing with the persistent feeling of a ten-pound weight sitting on my chest. Unfortunately, I've always been susceptible to respiratory illness, and pneumonia nearly killed me when I was age six. As a trumpet player, this kind of thing is really disheartening.
I've been making a lot of progress lately with my rehabilitation after not playing for almost two decades. I'm happy with my tone, although I occasionally have my "airy" days, up to A above the staff. My pedal tones have never been better, so that gives me hope that I can stretch my upper register up to E/F above the staff with power (which was my limit in college). I can reach those notes now, but not with what I feel is a good, full tone. Ascending past the A above the staff, my tone thins a bit too much, although I have no trouble consistently hitting notes up to about D without straining. My goal is, of course, to push well beyond that old limit now that I feel like I am building a much more efficient embouchure than I used to have.
And that's why getting sick is such a downer. Playing every day has really helped me make great strides, and if I happen to miss a day or two, like I had to recently due to a trip, definitely feels like a small setback. I know some people play even when they are sick, but I really don't want to deal with gross mouthpieces and horns. Not to mention that I simply don't think my lungs can handle it right now. So what have I been doing in the meantime?
Well, besides perusing Trumpet Herald, I've been looking at some books I recently acquired from qPress by Mac Gollehan, Embouchure Update and Extending the Trumpet Range. If you've never heard of Mac, well, let's just say he's well accomplished. Embouchure Update contains a lot of really good advice which, to be honest, I really have not seen anywhere else. Tips on consciously altering your timbre is just one example. Many people seem to think they are stuck either playing dark or playing bright, and Mac explains how with just slight alteration to what the player is naturally doing, things can be tweaked. The text is accompanied by some great exercises, and I see a touch of various methods in his book. I think Mac has taken a lot of the best bits and pieces from various teachers and synthesized a nice pedagogical work here that I am happy to have as a reference now. The second book, Extending the Trumpet Range, builds on these ideas to provide a seven-day regimen specifically tailored to building range. I have not had an opportunity to work with it yet, but given my personal goals, this is high on my priority list once I get well.
By the way, if you've never checked out qPress, I highly recommend that you do so. It has become one of my favorite resources for obtaining difficult to find or obscure trumpet books in PDF (with some available in print as well). That's all for now; time to resume reading...
I've been making a lot of progress lately with my rehabilitation after not playing for almost two decades. I'm happy with my tone, although I occasionally have my "airy" days, up to A above the staff. My pedal tones have never been better, so that gives me hope that I can stretch my upper register up to E/F above the staff with power (which was my limit in college). I can reach those notes now, but not with what I feel is a good, full tone. Ascending past the A above the staff, my tone thins a bit too much, although I have no trouble consistently hitting notes up to about D without straining. My goal is, of course, to push well beyond that old limit now that I feel like I am building a much more efficient embouchure than I used to have.
And that's why getting sick is such a downer. Playing every day has really helped me make great strides, and if I happen to miss a day or two, like I had to recently due to a trip, definitely feels like a small setback. I know some people play even when they are sick, but I really don't want to deal with gross mouthpieces and horns. Not to mention that I simply don't think my lungs can handle it right now. So what have I been doing in the meantime?
Well, besides perusing Trumpet Herald, I've been looking at some books I recently acquired from qPress by Mac Gollehan, Embouchure Update and Extending the Trumpet Range. If you've never heard of Mac, well, let's just say he's well accomplished. Embouchure Update contains a lot of really good advice which, to be honest, I really have not seen anywhere else. Tips on consciously altering your timbre is just one example. Many people seem to think they are stuck either playing dark or playing bright, and Mac explains how with just slight alteration to what the player is naturally doing, things can be tweaked. The text is accompanied by some great exercises, and I see a touch of various methods in his book. I think Mac has taken a lot of the best bits and pieces from various teachers and synthesized a nice pedagogical work here that I am happy to have as a reference now. The second book, Extending the Trumpet Range, builds on these ideas to provide a seven-day regimen specifically tailored to building range. I have not had an opportunity to work with it yet, but given my personal goals, this is high on my priority list once I get well.
By the way, if you've never checked out qPress, I highly recommend that you do so. It has become one of my favorite resources for obtaining difficult to find or obscure trumpet books in PDF (with some available in print as well). That's all for now; time to resume reading...
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