No Notes Practice: Discover the Feeling of Efficient Trumpet Playing

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congratulations on wanting to take the shortcut to easier brass playing good day Greg spits here welcome to Mr of Mastery one of the massive things that makes us different to anything else that you will find anywhere is the practice of playing no notes and you’ll be like what on Earth are no notes green no notes are one of the most powerful exercises that you can possibly do if our brain has the intention of playing notes there is a list of errors as long as your arm

that get involved to try and manipulate to play sound we don’t need to have all these errors over manipulations and most people don’t recognize they’re doing them even professional players that I sit next to amazing players but really inefficient that have a bunch of errors in their playing that don’t need to be there if you’re a beginner make sure that you don’t start and develop these bad habits if you’re an intermediate player great time to get rid of them if you’re an advanced player this is

where the magnifying glass has to come out to really look deeply into what you’ve been doing for a long time sure you’re playing at a high standard but you know that there’s something in the system that’s just not right so what we need to do is play by feel we need to understand the feeling of efficient playing and that’s what nonotes is all about it gives us an opportunity to observe our processes when we’re playing picking up the instrument taking a breath relaxing the body releasing

the energy but there’s no note happening on the instrument now if I jump straight ahead and play a no note most people watching will go well that’s got nothing to do with playing the instrument at all that’s why we’re different because when you recognize the massive awesome power of what I just did then you’ll recognize it gives you an opportunity for you to scan the body and figure out exactly where you’re activating that you don’t need to there are a lot of elements that I’m doing

here firstly it’s just the elbows and the rotator cuffs of the shoulders there’s nothing else moving in the body now recognize that I’m taking a breath and I’m talking but it’s almost effortless the hardest part’s taking the breath in now people will go that’s miles away from playing because you have to blow the instrument you’ve got to buzz your lips to which I go no you don’t have to do that at all when you begin to understand how the aperture Corners work not the sides of

the mouth everyone gets confused with the corners meaning here it’s not the corners of the mouth it’s the aperture Corners when you learn how the aperture Corners work and they control velocity then the bed sheet top lip and the milk spout bottom lip when you understand these Concepts you will recognize that simply using the energy from the breath like I’m doing now when I’m talking but bring the instrument up elbows rotate a cuff breath set [Applause] release you can tell yourself that’s what it feels like

to play and you have a look at what TR in the brain says when you go to do that you try and tell him that that’s all you need to do to play and he’ll go no playing is a lot more hard work than that that’s why we’re different when you understand the upper your Corners it’s absolutely no harder than sitting here humming or talking all we’re doing is learning the feeling of playing so when you start to convert from the no notes to playing notes

you will be able to observe what you’re engaging in the body unnecessarily to create that sound then with the psychology and the understanding of the mechanics that I demonstrate to you and explain to you you’ll start to recognize that these extra manipulations that you’re using to try and create the sound are actually unnecessary errors that take away from your efficiency inefficiency is what limits people’s range endurance flexibility tone all of these things the harder work the harder work it is and people think trumpet playing hard

work and Brass playings hard work and let me tell you I cop a bit of grief when I say brass playings no harder than humming talking or singing But as I’ve just explained there when you know the feeling of no notes there is actually no more work involved in playing those notes than what there are in the no notes you get your head around the no notes and you’re going to unlock so many inefficiencies and overcome so many obstructions in your playing you’ll ask yourself why

have I been doing that for so many years just try it it’s my own experience you don’t have to believe me you have to try it for yourself and then recognize what’s going on in your playing the only way I got to travel the world as a professional player was unlocking my inefficiencies and learning how this damn thing actually works not what the traditional methodology of buzzing and blowing hard taught me over many many years hey guys if you’re wanting my help to develop an efficient

3 to four octave 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 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 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