Ouch, so sorry to hear Greg. Hope you have a full and quick recovery and no pain. Thanks for getting the Ultimate Level up. I think I finally get how to play the trumpet, thanks to you–seems like it’s sticking now, finally. Took a day or 2 off and came back at it today and had one of, if not my absolute, greatest days on the trumpet–great…[Read more]

FWIW, I kind of went through this months ago–it felt like I needed to move to a bigger mouthpiece. I’m an amateur comeback player and all I had was a 7C and a 3C which I had played through high school and a little college (mainly the 3C later). I started back on the 7C but then went to the 3C when I was doing the WindWorks course. Went well…[Read more]

Hi Jutta,

Good question, I’m hoping Greg or someone more experienced replies, but for what it’s worth I have watched Charlie’s videos and am following WimdWorks.

I don’t recall Charlie’s videos talking a lot about pressure, but if one does that doesn’t seem to be consistent with what Greg advises or Bobby Shew, Wayne Bergeron and others who…[Read more]

Thanks Luis–that helps. Last night, after watching the above 2 videos I decided to go back and focus on the mouthpiece position once again–begin at the beginning, etc. I did Clarke Technical #1 (chromatic scales) from bottom to top and had great sensations–to the point that I wound up playing for a while longer doing lip slurs and had good…[Read more]

This one seems even more relevant. One thought–I don’t know, but you may be over thinking / overdoing it with regards to relaxing the lips, etc. Greg does mention that we need to experiment–that practice is experimentation and finding what works for us, etc. Obviously if you’re not getting any sound out, that’s not going to work either. The…[Read more]

Was just over on Youtube and found this:

I don’t know, good question. I am on this journey as well and have had my ups and downs. Lately, it’s been more up again.

Your other thread resonated with me–about Sensation of Relaxed lips; it helped me realize that’s what was going on with me. My lips felt awful, worse than ever before–stiff and my sound was terrible.

I realized my lips…[Read more]

Things have been slowly improving for me.

Yesterday and the day before, I made it a point to check to see if my lips were buzzing as I was playing–especially during my warm up. It seems when they are actively buzzing around G on the staff (or around there), I have a bad sound, bad sensations, etc.

It seems that checking every so often and…[Read more]

No kidding, it seems like a lot to remember sometimes. I like the scroll at the the bottom of the Windworks main page–I jotted those down with some other things and the Maggio monkey and put it on my music stand. And I try to remember every once in a while, when I feel like I’m thinking too much to remember to close my eyes, be patient, etc.…[Read more]

Thanks for sharing. I never tried a 3E until 2018–I bought one online and tried it out and I can’t play it. Tried again today as I moved from a 5C which I’ve been playing the past few months to a 3C as the rim on the 5 seemed small suddenly.

I have the same issue when playing the 3E but it feels like it’s too shallow for me, like I’m…[Read more]

bo.lundquist– I could be mistaken, but my understanding is that we should support with our abdominals as we get into the upper register, we shouldn’t use minimal pressure. We shouldn’t kick / blow with air to hit a note, but I believe we should be using steady or even increasing lower abdominal support of the air as we ascend. I stopped using…[Read more]

I stumbled across Charlie’s videos first (before I found Greg’s) and for some reason, something clicked for me–I think the “straight line approach” video just worked inexplicably for me–I started hitting notes somewhat effortlessly that I never could before. I like Charlie’s other videos too, but eventually I wanted more and Greg’s videos and…[Read more]

Slow going but seems like I might be making progress. I feel my aperture corners getting tired when doing articulated scales.

I think I realized one thing I had forgotten to focus on which got me to where I was–playing softly, which helps me relax more and focus on steady air /support and changing shape by using the aperture corners. I think…[Read more]

Thanks Greg, will do. Was hoping for a good day today, had some good sensations in my lips this morning and thought when I got around to playing things would go well but no such luck. Another off day, perhaps worse than yesterday but I didn’t get as frustrated. I guess I kind of expected it in a way. Also, it was kind of a weird day–I warmed…[Read more]