[TPIN] air support on trumpet

[Brian Frederiksen]

Valsalva is used by the body to bear down in the body for childbirth and 
defication. It is a normal bodily function that cuts off inhalation and 
exhalation so you cannot use this to play a wind instrument. If you would 
like to read a nice detail explanation, look at Dee Stewart's book, Arnold 
Jacobs Legacy of a Master in a section written by Richard Erb. Here he 
explains that he was confusing air flow with air pressure and the valsalva 
would trigger in his playing cutting off air flow.

Also, the voice is a low flow rate instrument that requires less air than 
the trumpet. What may work with one will probably not work with another.


Brian Frederiksen
WindSong Press
PO Box 146
Gurnee, Illinois 60031
Phone 847 223-4586 Fax 847 223-4580
www.windsongpress.com
brianf at windsongpress.com
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <weaselman1 at aol.com>
To: <tpin at tpin.okcu.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 10:46 PM
Subject: [TPIN] air support on trumpet


> Hello list:
>
> I would like to know some different opinions about air support on the 
> trumpet.? What I am most interested in is what is happening in the 
> abdomen.? For example, singers do what is called the "valsalva maneuver."? 
> To feel what is happen in the abdomen during this, hold your nose shut 
> with your fingers and, keeping your mouth shut, blow.? Your abdomen should 
> push outward slightly, and you should get the same effect in the lower 
> back.
>
> While opera singers use this for air support, other instrumentalists have 
> adopted a similar approach.? The only ones I know who attempt to play this 
> way constantly are woodwind players, especially clarinetists.? The only 
> time I have heard it applied to trumpet is by a few players who say to 
> push your abdomen outward when descending.? What this does is returns your 
> abdomen to a more-relaxed position so you don't get "locked-in" to 
> "high-note air speed."? In this method, the abdomen goes inward when 
> ascending to the highest notes.
>
> However, I have had some success with using the valsalva maneuver all the 
> way up to high F, even on piccolo trumpet.? The advantages for me are 
> bigger sound, tone matching better throughout registers and dynamics, 
> easier flexibility (especially descending slurs), and the feeling of using 
> less tension for high notes.? I have not been able to use valsalva 
> constantly.
>
> I am wondering if anybody on the list has experience playing this way or 
> experience being taught this way, etc.? Also, if anybody has any 
> information on brass players who may have played this way, that would be 
> great (as much as Arnold Jacobs talks about wind, I have not come across 
> one of his teachings that addresses the abdomen).
>
> Thank you much for your help.
>
> Regards,
>
> Bryan
>
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