Great posts John Elwood and Lawrence Killian!

I find myself constantly going back to the beginning.

I think one of the best ways to feel and get corner development is to do the harmonic slurs every day. Keep the embouchure’s middle relaxed and feel corners tight closer to the aperture. When talking embouchure, it is imperative to recognize…[Read more]

Tom, this is a curious discovery. You are probably a more advanced player than I am.

Generally, the Aaa-ooh (Aaaa-uuuh) exercise is a good way to set the embouchure before playing anything. This could keep old habits from creeping in.

I cannot picture what is happening with your lips between the notes. You are changing something about your…[Read more]

Many of the books put out for the trumpet are just taken from the score for instruments in C such as piano scores. The book you bought was not transcribed for B flat trumpet. I believe if they sell a Disney songbook for trumpet, you should be able to play along with the Disney recording. Sure, you can play the melody from this book, but try to…[Read more]

Relaxed normal exhalation is a passive process. It happens because of the elastic recoil of the lungs and surface tension. The muscles used in a forceful exhalation are the internal intercostals, subcostals, and abdominal muscles. I think a controlled exhalation would involve not totally relaxing the muscles that are used to inhale. Imagine…[Read more]

Fantastic! You have intriguing insights: “…it seems easier to achieve a sympathetic oscillation using this less-than-passive exhalation, because the aperture is smaller, which means there is less lip tissue oscillating. But this may also be taken as a hint that my mouth and/or aperture corners are too tight to allow a broader portion of the…[Read more]

I just began my practice session. Besides playing a few easy Gs and a chromatic scale from C below to C in the staff, I play harmonic slurs. I have a long way to go to play these fast. I mention harmonic slurs because I believe that learning how to use your aperture corners is a vital piece of the puzzle. This is one of the most important…[Read more]

Hi,

I think it is crucial to play a low C without any muscle engagement to release the air. You should be able to take a “concert hall” breath and relax into the C. As you described, this can be quite loud.

Controlling the amount of air that is released could be practiced without the horn. Form the embouchure, as Greg describes, focus on…[Read more]

Hi Sam,

Just a couple of things I feel compelled to write. The aperture tends to be smaller on higher notes; however, the air will also affect how large the aperture is. In my examples above, I was playing mezzo-forte or softer. The size of the aperture is going to be affected by air and shape. The shape of the jaw’s position, the tongue’s…[Read more]

Your lip setting and aperture looks better.

https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a27d24_56ef1c835d05435199986ea8c0ca994d~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_232,h_309,al_c,q_90,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01/a27d24_56ef1c835d05435199986ea8c0ca994d~mv2.webp

This is the aperture after playing a high C (above the staff).

I think you are puckering too much, which could be the source of the fuzzy buzz. Producing a smaller aperture is not a matter of puckering like a fish.

These are pictures of my aperture just after playing a note and pulling the horn off my lips. The picture with the bright light was just after playing C above the staff. The other middle might…[Read more]

In the above video, I reported the wrong timestamp. It’s 3:49.

John’s statements remind me that even when we engage the aperture corners, there are changes in shape that occur because the embouchure’s parts are all tied together. These changes are minute. I have been discovering greater resonance by letting the aperture corners do their job, and this decreases the amount of tongue arch I use. We are all…[Read more]

Ivaness, I do not want you to think you have to do leadpipe exercises as the only way for you to develop aperture corners. Harmonic exercises are the basis for developing trumpet superpowers.

I am writing to underline the importance of your developing corners by using harmonic slurs. I confess this has never been a routine of mine. I mainly…[Read more]

This video talks a lot about many ideas. Starting at about 8:06, Greg talks about the aperture corners.

Ivanessa, I am sorry that you are experiencing some
frustrations. It has been a long time since I watched Greg’s video on shape
change presented in the Largo Fundamentals (Leadpipe – Shape). I was pleased
that he has expanded the notes beneath the video.

SHAPE consists of:
Lips,
Jaw,
Facial Muscles,
Tongue Position.
Pitch change comes from SHAPE…[Read more]

This is a great place to learn the trumpet.

Now getting to the question about what you are doing.

Lips: Do not curl, roll, or clamp. The shape change involves the aperture corners, the jaw, and the tongue.

Practice the concert hall breath and then say aah-ooh – that’s your embouchure. Practice this over and over and again. Release your…[Read more]

I decided to revisit Greg’s video on the “Largo C# Harmonic Slur.” Up to this point, you have been working on getting a nice resonant sound and using your magnifying glass to recognize any negative tension. Tension is not a bad thing in the right places. Excessive tension and unnecessary tensions are the problems that keep many of us from…[Read more]

I do not have any medical credentials. I am going to suggest that it would be highly unlikely that your larynx is moving up while slurring as in swallowing. What you may be experiencing are movements associated with the hyoid bone. Movement of the jaw and tongue can move the hyoid bone upward and relaxing the muscles associated will allow the…[Read more]

When I said don’t curl, I may have it wrong. I almost go out on a rant about this in https://mysterytomastery.com/topic/should-i-roll-the-lips-out-when-i-play/#post-39073.

I posted there the following:
What do you do to roll the lips out after “aah-ooh”? They are out. The only way I know to get further out is to pucker or pout with the bot…[Read more]