[TPIN] Pedal Tones in Tune AND MORE

[Brassworks 4]

Another suggestion:  A newly released trumpet book called "Perfecting  
Your Practice for Peak Performance" by Mick Hesse addresses many of  
these areas.  It is DEFINITELY worth taking a look at.  You can  
contact the author directly (although he is out of the country until  
the 3rd week in January)  through   http://web.mac.com/studio1023/Site/Welcome.html 
     or you can take a look at some samples at our site and order  
through us at  http://brassworks4.com/methods_etudes.html  (the books  
on this page are listed alphabetically)  I have this item in stock and  
ready to ship.

It includes some great concepts and ideas - bending exercises, pedal  
tones, scales with trills, and more - also it is packed with  
explanations written in a "human" tone (not text book language)  The  
following is the "Introduction"

It was a dark and stormy night and the stage was cold.  No, it was a  
perfectly sunny day and the crowd was waiting.  No, it was the premier  
performance evening and the audience was all dressed up.  No, it was  
my senior recital and my friends were eager to hear me.  No, it was an  
audition and the committee was getting ready for me to walk out on  
stage.  That old familiar thought was racing through my mind, “Am I  
ready for this?”

This is not a method book, but rather a “guide book.”  Starting around  
1973, after many years of formal study, I bought everything available  
for trumpet in the Robert King Catalog.  I realized it was important  
to be aware of everything that had been published.  A goal I set for  
myself was to become familiar with all the literature for the  
trumpet.  I purchased all the method books and “started over” in my  
quest to become the best I could become.  I bought all the text books  
and self-help books I could find.  Some had strange and unusual  
titles; one even promising triple high C’s. (I never got there!)  If I  
gleaned only one new insight from an entire book I thought it was  
worth the money.  What I learned in the last four decades is that all  
those books helped me in some way.

This book offers you some of the most important things I have learned  
during my years of studying, striving and playing. It is NOT, however,  
a substitute for reading and working with the many other fine books  
now available.  I encourage you to buy, read and study with all the  
time and energy you have.  I have become my own teacher, and you must  
do the same! This is something I stress at every lesson with my  
students; I am their guide, but ultimately they are their own  
teacher.  I can show a way that has worked for me, but I cannot do the  
work for anyone else.  You must teach yourself.

Although you may already be familiar with some of the ideas I present  
perhaps my explanations and accompanying exercises will help you  
better understand and apply these concepts.  The sooner you memorize  
these exercises and patterns the quicker you will experience the  
results.  By memorizing them (or your own variations) you will be  
better able to focus your attention on your sound and the physical  
things happening as you play.  I hope you will be encouraged to write  
some exercises of your own which will help you on the way to becoming  
your own teacher.


On Dec 30, 2007, at 9:41 AM, Tim Phillips wrote:

> If you don't think playing pedals is important - this post isn't for  
> you:  Delete now or forever hold your peace :)
>
> I am going to sound like a broken record...   Most people's problems  
> producing an in-tune pedal C come from them doing 2 things.  The  
> worst is allowing the aperture setting to collapse and allowing the  
> lips to vibrate without control.   It seems counter-intuitive, but  
> to get the pedal C, the lips have to come more forward and more  
> together to better focus the buzz.  Allowing the lips to relax and  
> spread is a common method of playing lower, but it just leads to  
> airy and flabby low tones - and will stop you from playing pedal C.
>
> You may want to try bending down chromatically from low C, and try  
> to keep the volume intensity as strong on the bent notes as you have  
> on the low C.
> The second thing?  Overblowing.   Trying to vibrate too much lip  
> tissue will result poor results - akin to overdriving a  
> microphone.   There used to be some very enlightening and  
> entertaining sound clips on the tasteebros site about what it sounds  
> like when they overblow.   I know that I have to constantly monitor  
> myself not to overblow the chops.   It makes them work way too hard,  
> reduces sound quality, decreases endurance, creates flexibility  
> issues, and makes range way too hard.
>
> Tim Phillips
> iplatrpt at unifourbrass.org
> http://www.unifourbrass.org
>
> Greg Fuess wrote:
>> We've had considerable discussion of pedal tones, and one issue  
>> that I can't
>> seem to get my lip around is getting those darn tones in tune.  I  
>> can play
>> much lower than pedal c, and the lack of slottedness makes sliding  
>> up and
>> down easy.  So theoretically I should be able to play the pedals in  
>> tune,
>> but dag nab it all...
>>
>> My tuner Center Pitch Universal seems to take a long time to  
>> register pedal
>> tones, and then generally changes its mind repeatedly in  
>> registering the
>> note, much less the degree of sharp- or flat-ness, sometimes much  
>> longer
>> than I have breath to make the note.  The tuner is a good one, and  
>> I like it
>> except for the pedal notes.
>>
>> Trumpet Girl mentioned the extreme flat tone of pedal C, and Claude  
>> Gordon's
>> video of pedal tones talked about that.  With all the room for  
>> lipping the
>> sound, why is that?  Are you gaging the tone by ear, or does a  
>> tuner exist
>> that can gage pedal tones?
>>
>> Appreciate all advice.
>>
>> Greg
>>
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>>
>>
>
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