Lip Strength and the Zip Lock: What Trumpet Players Can Learn

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congratulations on wanting to take the shortcut to easier brass plane hi today I’d like to introduce you to a massively important technique called the zip lock that was a passive zip lock here’s an active zip looc okay what is the zip lock well if you’ve been around mystery to Mastery for a while you will know that the air loock is your lips are so strong in the middle that you can’t even blow them apart then we’ve got the lip zip which is we do the zips

up horizontal movement inwards a that affects the velocity of the air going through the lips the aperture so the bed sheet top lip like a bed sheet on a line vibrates faster when the velocity changes so if we put the air lock together and the lip zip together we get the zip lock what’s the purpose of the zip lock well I’d get you to consider there is an easy way to play the trumpet and there’s a hard way to play the trumpet there’s an easy way

to create energy in the breath and there’s a hard way to create energy in the breath there’s an easy way to create oscillation vibration at the lip tissue and there’s a hard way to make vibration at the lip tissue so we want to do the easy way of course so when you once you understand how to energize the lungs and get the energy on board there’s plenty of other videos about that once you recognize the easy way to create energy I want you to recognize the

fact that using the zip lock technique it proves to you that you already have enough strength to play any frequency on the instrument okay think think about that again you’ve already got enough physical strength to play whatever note it is you would like to play on the instruments and at the windworks trumpet Academy we develop over three octaves that’s what we do because everyone can do it we all know that I don’t need to squeeze this balloon out so passive means I’m not squeezing I’m not

using the thoracic muscles to try and force the air out I’m simply letting the air come to the pressure point which in this case is at the lips and the finger the air pressure without the throat closing the pressure comes to the lips and there’s no leak so that shows you’ve got plenty of strength in your aperture corners and remember the aperture Corners inside the mouthpiece Rim is what determines pitch you’ve already got enough strength to hold back passive compression which is very powerful then if

we get active and squeeze that balloon there’s still no leak so by doing the the Ziploc exercise it makes you realize oh I actually have what I need in the mouth and I’ve got all the energy I need to play all over the range of the instrument at all volumes so the question begs asking what am I doing wrong what am I doing wrong I’ve already got the mouth the lips the tongue Air the fingers the instrument I’ve got everything it needs to play everything I

need to play the to play whatever it is that I want to play my dream Avatar I’ve got everything I need to create that so you don’t need to do anything more you need to recognize what you’re doing that’s getting in the way what errors am I making am I pinching the lips down am I closing the throat Thro articulation am I creating two much energy overblowing burning the pizza these are all the things that we do instinctively that are generally being taught unfortunately in most

uh brass worlds is we’re encouraging negative overexertion uh to try and force out a result which is simply not required when you simply understand how to effortlessly create energy how you’ve got enough strength and it’s just a little process of finding the right shape in the mouth to find whatever picture it is you want how to add volume without going into the instinctive overexertion in the system and everyone says brass playing is hard work the reason they say that is because they make it hard work

and it feels like it’s hard work therefore it is it doesn’t have to be simple as that so if you can learn from the Ziploc that you’ve already got enough strength to play whatever it is that you want to play muscle conditioning endurance that’s a different thing you might be able to play that note once or twice until the lips get tired but that shows that you’ve got the strength in the first place to be able to achieve it then we work on endurance and efficiency

so you can do it all day long all night long with consistency hey guys if you’re wanting my help to develop an efficient 3 to four OCT range with consistency confidence a killer sound and a virtuoso technique I’ve put everything I’ve learned over the last 35 years into one easy to follow program that you can benefit from right now at absolutely no cost for the next 7 days from your very first lesson you’ll begin to understand why you’re having playing problems and why you’re hitting ceilings

our step-by-step comprehensive technical development program is for all brass players of all levels and all styles and I run live weekly master classes and live lessons via Zoom to make make sure you’re on the right track if your mind isn’t totally blown by day seven you can opt out without being charged to [Music] sent