WHY, OH WHY?

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April 2022 - Fixing Endurance Issues

This isn't a blog - but that doesn't mean I can't write a stream of consciousness (very!) occasionally. In particular, this update is to help me get some things straight in my own head about what I've been working on recently and why I think it might have worked for me.

So, the pandemic - an opportunity for dedicated practice or an excuse to throw the horn in the case and hope all your bad habits magically disappear? I won't say what I went with but I will say that when I got the case out again, there was an actual cobweb on my flugel ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Playing opportunities resumed and my (admittedly lazy) plan of letting time erode everything bad about my technique was a total bust. All that actually happened was that I was back in playing situations where I needed to produce, so I just reverted back to what I knew to get the job done. And what I knew was controlling my aperture entirely through pressure - no surprise that I've been plagued with endurance issues (it's something I've always struggled with but it got way worse post-pandemic).

I'm just off the back of a gig (a big band backing trombone sensation Mark Nightingale) where at the end of the 2 hour gig (plus 30 mins pre-gig rehearsal) I honestly felt like I could play all day long (OK, it was just on trumpet 4 but still, Mark's charts are hard!) Normally, I'm hanging on for dear life by the end so that is real cause for celebration for me. It's not a one-off either - it's been that way for a few weeks now (and seems to be continually improving).

So, dear reader (which is actually me since I'm writing this to try and get my thoughts in order), what secrets do I have to impart on how I solved the case of the cursed endurance?

I reckon it's a combination of four things I've been working on recently:

• Support - Every single note I play I'm breathing like it's a double C


• Everyone knows good breathing is a key factor, right? Somehow I've never really worked on it properly, thinking I'd get around to it once I'd got some other fundamentals right
  • It's never helpful when people just shout "use more air!" at you - I mean, how can I use more air, I'm already breathing in like it's my last breath!?
  • Well, turns out it's not what you do when you take it in that counts, it's what you do with it afterwards... (hint: compress it to make it faster!)
• What brought it back up my todo list was watching one of the wonderful Live from Emmet's Place live streams. There was an excellent trumpet player I'd not heard before who had a fascinating belly!
• It reminded me so much of when I saw Maynard at Ronnie Scotts and was sat three feet from the magnificent beast that was his stomach - that thing was a law unto itself. Every time he played, it lifted en masse about 2 feet as he compressed the air in his lungs and tried to stick his belly button to his navel
• Watching Jon-Erik Kellso play I saw the same thing* - but this guy wasn't playing stratospherics, he was playing New Orleans jazz! Then I started noticing it everywhere I looked and realised it wasn't for high-note trumpet playing, it was for, well, just trumpet playing! So I decided to try applying it to my own playing
• I took the basic idea from Bobby Shew's Wedge Breath and my aim is to get a feeling of support for every single note I play, even if it's a low C. I realise that's overkill but it helps me get into the habit and it's effect has only been positive
• Check out my inspiration for this change - the wonderful Jon-Erik Kellso at Emmets' Place (that link starts playing right in the middle where you can see what I mean, but it's very much worth watching the whole thing)

* I asked Jon-Erik about this on a trip to New York in 2024 and he stared blankly at me - turns out it's not a conscious thing on his part, that's just the way he's always breathed (much to do with the feeling of support if I were to guess)


• Pressure - I'm deliberately backing off the pressure significantly just before playing


• Just before playing a note I make a very deliberate and conscious effort to back off the pressure and literally pull the horn away from me
• I can always apply more pressure if I need it during playing of course - but I'm desperately trying to avoid that
• Instead of cramming it on, I try and imagine my aperture closing instead and my muscles seem to respond to that


• Aperture - I'm poking what feels like a giant hole in my aperture with my tongue


• I've been using a setup described by the marvelous Charlie Porter for a while now in an effort to consistently have an aperture the same every time
• While mouthpiece buzzing I couldn't get a good clean sound until one day I poked a hole with my tongue all the way through until it hit the bottom of the mouthpiece!
• I do this at the point in my setup where I'd normally moisten my lips just before blowing
• That made a huge difference - I think before then my lips were too close together and not readily able to vibrate until I squished it with pressure and blew a ton of air through it - one of the reasons I've always struggled to play quietly and accurately...


• Buzzing - On the way to gigs/rehearsals I buzz the mouthpiece for the last 15 minutes of the journey


• Originally this was to help me to arrive warmed up for any playing situation
• Since then, it's became a really useful tool that helped me work on the above 3 points

It's worth noting that with the changes I've described above, I hit two of the three compressions that Charlie Porter describes so well in his video - that stuff makes a lot sense to me, maybe adding the third will solve all my other problems 🤣

May 2019 - The NeverEnding Story

So, you've made it to this far. You might be wondering why this page is on the internet and available to everyone when it's my personal journal. You might also wonder who I am and why I'm bothering to look at any of this at all.

Well, even though this goes against all my instincts as an Englishman with a stiff upper lip (hey, maybe that’s the root of my playing issues), I’ll share some things about myself and my playing.

I’m Keith, 45, from England and father to two kids, a trumpet and a big band. I have one Maynard story, a cool Sly Stallone story and, frankly, I feel like I’m doing an introduction at an AA meeting...

This is me on lead in my big band - I’m 3rd from the left with the goatee (and the only non-silver horn - although since then I've had it plated and refurbished by master craftsman Will Spencer, the first love I’d given it in over 20 years)

That was recorded 7 years ago and I’ve (I think!) improved significantly as a musician since then - but seemingly not as a trumpet player.

I like my sound but I’ve forever struggled with range and endurance and a basic lack of technique - top D’s are beautiful all day long, Eb’s a little touch and go, E’s (e.g. at the end of that arrangement of Kick in the Head) decidedly pot-luck and F’s are a no-no. 20 years ago I had a G but it was eye-popping effort and I’ve only got two to pop.

I’m what might be referred to as a Weekend Warrior (only recently heard that term while listening to a trumpet podcast) - I’ve got a full-time non-music job and I’m now sick of just getting by - the musicians around me (not to mention me) deserve better.

Until about 5 years ago, I never practiced - and before you close the browser in disgust, know that I fully appreciate the futility of being frustrated with the horn and then not actually doing anything about it... but I had no inclination because I was sort of good enough for what I was doing, I always found excuses (i.e. too busy with life) and knowing that my fundamentals were so poor I just thought I’d be reinforcing bad habits, so why bother?

Then something happened.

I got a call at a few hours notice to play a gig with a great Big Band - a band I’d been absolutely wow’d by when I heard them 25 years ago and whose lead trumpet player I remember hearing as a featured guest artist on the radio with the BBC Big Band in my teens. I turned up, just about got through the gig, took a long hard look at myself and brutally and honestly realised every single one of my many shortcomings.

After that, I started trying to practise a little each day (10-15 mins) just to see what would happen. Before that, I think I was simply too afraid to find out (with good reason!)

Anyhow, as a bandleader myself I know how important it is to be available and so, whenever I was asked to dep at rehearsals or gigs for that band, I made a point of making myself free for them.

Fast-forward 6 years and I’m now permanently propping up the section on 4th. A section with players of wonderful ability - a jazzer to die for with great technique and a beautiful sound, a West End pro with chops of steel and the musical taste to back them up and a hugely experienced lead player who has an MBE for his services to jazz. They're three of the finest musicians I’ve ever met.

That's why I want to better myself.

So, once I was asked to join the band I decided enough was enough with the aimless "practice" (which mostly consisted of trying unsuccessfully and randomly to tweak things to get higher notes) and what I really needed was some laser-focused, well-informed, fundamental changes and, above all, some hard work and a better attitude towards this thing that I absolutely love.

A month ago I embarked on this journey (30 years late but, hey, at least I’ve now set off!) I decided I would stop making excuses, make time and throw myself into research and application and every day since then I’ve managed to do 2-3 hours of playing and often the same or more researching.

I could write for hours on how I've zig-zagged through all sorts of things (mouthpiece placement, tongue, how this method is totally better than that method, how helpful people are, what idiots people can be) but suffice to say I’ve learned that every one of us is different and you take bits from here and bits from there that suit you, your physical make-up, your personality and your playing opportunities.

Don’t get me wrong - I’m not even close to fixing everything - but I feel like I’m on the right path now and I also feel like once I’ve settled on a better way of playing, I’ll be so motivated to practice the regular stuff that I’ll really start improving. I can now play Double Cs in practice (and even triple Gs - on a pTrumpet with a Wallace practice mute mind, but don’t judge - that’s the only way I'm able to practice in my house) even if it’s just novelty atm - as a mate of mine said... it’s no good hitting them, you’ve got to play them!

In fact, the embouchure-change story is far more common than we might think. Listening to The Other Side of the Bell podcast (what a fantastic resource - I have it loaded up in the car on the way to gigs and rehearsals) I’m hearing that story pretty often from some of the best players around. That gives me so much hope and is what's moved me to go against my naturally reserved British instincts and open up a ton of stuff about myself to strangers on the internet. Please don’t swipe left...

Weirdly, this has been quite theraputic to write - so if you didn’t make it all the way to the end, I’m still glad I bothered.

Ahhh, but how come this is public? I hear you ask - well, I invited a mate round one night to talk shop. Good player (he's in my band after all 😉), a lovely fella and I know he's been a more careful student of the trumpet the last few years and, like me, has been looking around for answers. I thought we could help each other out with what we'd discovered as well as inspiring each other to greater efforts. The evening flew by in a heartbeat and I'd showed him this stuff and dutifully promised to send him the details - I kind of went overboard on the delivery mechanism is all.

Cheers,

Keith

Now go and practice