Thanks Greg! Another great video full of truthful insight, this one with a concise overview and a lot of specific guidance on how we can “check in” on the various aspects of playing.

I think the concept of “Illusion of Competence” is a great one.

What are we doing when we start our day playing?

Do we go through a warm up routine someone…[Read more]

e.heidenheim, you asked how long it took for WindWorks subscribers to get a sympathetic oscillation on the leadpipe and mouthpiece.

For me, it was right away for the lower part of my range. My problem may have been different than others. I think I played rather open, actually, and used a sympathetic vibration up to a point in my range but…[Read more]

I can relate, Phillip, and I’m confident most trumpet players can.

Although I will say that those days have become fewer and farther between, thankfully.

They seemed much more often and there were times when I felt I lost my way and almost gave up completely, despite having come so far. Thankfully, I didn’t and am very glad for that.

I’m…[Read more]

Sorry to see that no one has responded to this.

My two cents is to lead with the air, engage the ” corners” to bring the lips into the airstream and let “it” (lips vibrating) “happen”…. The less we get in the way the better…

Thanks mau.bowen, If I understand you correctly you’re saying that you can use mouth compression for notes up to about E on the staff but only get air above that, not pitch sounds. Is that correct?

If so, I believe what the issue probably is is that your “Shape” is not optimized such that a small amount of air can produce a pitch above the…[Read more]

You look and sound good to me, Hugo, but I agree your breath could be bigger/better.

What helped me find the corners was thinking (oooohhhhh)as I set my lips on the mouthpiece.

If you have good air that you release freely through the aperture into the instrument, you want to experiment with slight changes in your “Shape” that make your sound…[Read more]

It’s possible that your “Shape” is not optimal and that is causing more air being necessary to produce certain pitches. As you increase your efficiency, it will probably be easier to produce pitches higher in your range with less and less air.

If I understand your post correctly, you’re saying that you are using a “burst of lung and throat…[Read more]

Thanks Bo, that’s very helpful. I had a feeling I overdid it. That makes sense. I’ll make sure to drop back to 20 minutes or so and see how that goes.

Had trouble downloading the Walter White long tones last night, so did the Claude Gordon systematic approach last night…

Yep…I hated how I felt today! Felt stiff and like I had to work for hours to undo what that did to my chops… At one point, while playing the CG exercise, I actually felt like it was doing something good for my chops–a…[Read more]

Thanks for sharing this, Bo!

I watched a master class given by Jens Lindemann on YouTube and he mentioned the Walter White drones. I keep meaning to try those but never think about it / keep forgetting.

Lately, I have been thinking about doing long tones as I have found myself getting a bit stiff and I’ve been kind of pushing myself a bit…[Read more]

You’re very welcome. Glad if it was of any use.

Yes, over analysis causes paralysis, but under analysis is insane–repeating the same action, expecting a different result.

I feel that I finally have my bearings and realize what I’m supposed to be doing with reasonable specificity.

And I know the guideposts / markers to look for each day to…[Read more]

Welcome Chuck! Great first post. There are some great members on here, hopefully they will post on this thread / share their experiences as well, as that helps us all. I, myself, have benefited from others ideas, etc.

I’ve shared my backstory on here on a number of threads, but in a nutshell I started playing again a few years ago after goofing…[Read more]

I’ve been thinking how important sensations are in our figuring out this mystery for ourselves.

I wish there was a reliable way of explaining what it feels like when “it’s working” but that’s difficult.

I like hixsta’s post above and I agree about folding in / tucking under the bottom lip–something to be avoided.

At times, it does feel a…[Read more]

I’m not a teacher and am probably not qualified to give embouchure advice, but I’m fairly confident the problem is your setup.

I think you’re over thinking it a bit and trying too hard to prevent your bottom lip from moving.

Rolling in your bottom lip under your top lip and aiming the air down is a problem that many players do (Greg…[Read more]

Sorry to make a long post longer and I’m not sure this will help, but here are the things that I do to “check-in” with myself each day to make sure I remember how to play–in addition to simply focusing on my sound and how things feel, as I mentioned above:

1. Stamp – When things are going right for me, when I start the James Stamp warm up that…[Read more]

Sorry to hear that, Kzem.

My journey hasn’t been a straight line. I stumbled across some trumpet YouTube videos, including Greg’s, a few years ago–I think it was early 2018. I didn’t subscribe to the course till late 2018. As I shared above, I could never play much above G on top of the staff for many years despite countless hours of…[Read more]

You’re very welcome, glad if my thoughts were helpful to you.

I am experiencing first hand how new experiences / sensations from my experimentation with the WindWorks principles are creating new wiring in my brain and giving me a new/improved sense of what it is to play the horn and it is vastly superior to anything I’ve done before or thought…[Read more]

Ha, I love that “Ear Technique” video, that’s great fun.

The video Greg posted the link to regarding compression is great, I remember this from the course: https://player.vimeo.com/external/311590369.hd.mp4?s=eb66536dbafbb12dec978fd17ae3dc445cae96e8&profile_id=175

Greg’s post above is great, of course, and spot on. I have watched countless…[Read more]

Very interesting, helpful! Thank you both, I hadn’t thought about exhaling that much but you’re right, we can release the air but it won’t go anywhere as much unless we relax the intercostal muscles. I suppose I tend to think of things in a somewhat linear way (black/white, on/off) at times, but reality is more complex, nuanced.