Steve,

Glad if my $.02 is adding up. At the end of the day, all we can do is share with each other our experiences and opinions, FWIW. We are all on this journey. Some of us, perhaps, are at a later stage than others but who knows what the future holds?

I too play mostly from memory, I play songs and music and exercises from memory mostly these days. I’m limited on time, during the week I get no more than an hour in the morning and sometimes in the evening I can squeeze in a session as well. I have more time on the weekends, but try to minimize it as well as I have other commitments to my family, etc.

I usually spend probably 5-10 minutes (I don’t track it) on a warmup, usually stamp or something extemporaneous starting with G on the staff then working up and down chromatically from there, but eventually moving to Stamp warm ups.

From there, I usually move to lip slurs, starting with 123, progressing to Open, etc.

I usually start by limiting the top note to the octave (i.e. 123 stops at F#, Open stops at high C) the first pass.

Later, I follow up with another round of harmonic slurs where I continue on up as high as I can. Lately, I’ve been taking 123 up to C# and taking that harmonic up to 12 (E) and 1 (F) before running into a bit of difficulty. I have gotten the F# and double G, but it’s still a work in progress.

I usually try to squeeze in a little music, just to free things up and check my sound, resonance and ability to play notes musically connected together.

I think that helps us from over-analyzing and doing stupid stuff.

At the end of the day, the reason we’re blowing air through a pipe is because we want what comes out the other end to sound good, to emote something we are feeling, etc.

If what we are doing physically with our embouchre doesn’t improve the sound or gets in the way, it’s probably not something we should be doing.

Tromba – I have a C Trumpet and Flugelhorn Tromba plastic horns. I think they’re great. I wanted to experiment with both instruments and didn’t want to plop down the coin for even a used horn, but $150 is not too bad. They’re impressive instruments for what they are.

You have a tremendous advantage over most players due to your dedication/commitment and your ability to spend so much time practicing/developing your skill.

Videos – Your posting a video made me go back and look at some that I filmed of myself last year when I first started my “comeback”. It was enlightening. I thought today and am thinking about whether to post one or more of those or a new video and whether that would be of any help to you or others, etc.

The thought is intriguing. I definitely could see how it might be helpful, but my intention was not to share that much publicly or be a performer. But I respect your generosity and laying it out there; I think and hope you will get a big return on that investment and I will do what I can to facilitate.

I haven’t decided yet what it is I want to do or whether or not that would help you or others.

As far as my muteless practice goes, it wasn’t as revolutionary as perhaps I hoped (i.e. I didn’t achieve a paint-melting Double G), but I’ve had good sensations lately and feel like I’m making some good progress, but have been busy at work and have had even more limited time than before. This weekend is a 3 day weekend in the U.S. so I’m hopeful I can break free a bit and put a little more time in.

I think I’m on the verge of a loud, resonant double G and being able to ascend that full harmonic series from C# (above high C) with 123 all the way to double G on Open fingering, etc. We’ll see.

Today, I spent some time looking back at my timeline–I thought that might be helpful to you or Bill on another thread.

March 2018 – I started playing again more regularly, looking up YouTube Videos regarding trumpet. Stumbled on one that was about the “straight line approach” to playing higher. I gave that a go and got lucky, tightened my aperture from the corners instinctively and played higher easier than before. My first high C followed shortly thereafter.

April through December 2018 – I ultimately found Windworks, which helped me solidify my understanding of what was working. Took a break in late December and struggled coming back to where I left off (ascending to F above High C in Clarke technical studies).

Spring of 2019 – Screwed around with mouthpieces, switching from 7C to 3E (shallow), to 5C to 10 1/2C, back to 3E, ultimately to 3C–which I’ve been playing for 3 or 4 months and have solidified my progress on. The 3C seems to be working great for me, which is neat because that’s mostly what I played in high school when I spent so many hours practicing, taking lessons from reputable teachers and getting nowhere for it (G above the staff was the functional limit of my range…).

Sometime in the past few months, after I switched to the 3C and stopped screwing around with mouthpieces, I began having more consistency and progressing further.

Based upon what you posted, I would recommend you play more music and reflect on your sound and ease of playing as you experiment with trying to interpret the various Windworks points:

1. Shape changes pitch
2. The lips interact with the air like the vocal chords
3. Less air is required the higher we ascend
Etc. Etc.

For me, my big epihpany / coffee moment came when I tried that “straight line approach” and simply tried playing simple octaves. I played G below the staff (13), then G on the staff and focused on how little difference in energy that required then tried to minimize what movement I made to change the pitch to G above the staff without tilting my head back, rolling my lip in, etc. The only thing left to do, really, was squeeze my lips together from the sides which, ultimately, is what Windowrks recommends. And it worked.

Granted, I struggled for months trying to replicate that initial success and once I gained it, I lost it and began clamping my lips down in the middle again as I tried to progress to quickly and overthought things, etc.

Ultimately, though, the new way of playing replaced my old tendencies to the point that I can’t remember the last time I struggled playing high C when freshly warmed up.

The ease with which I’m able to play up there now was not comprehensible to me months ago.

I’m just an amateur hack/comeback player, but the sensations I’ve been having and the ease of which I’ve been playing tell me that I’m on the right path, a sustainable one, and seem to continue to progress on an upward trend.

I want you to have the same experience I have had–to slightly engage/tighten the aperture corners to ascend from G or A on the staff to G or A above the staff. Try it, be willing to miss it–it doesn’t matter if you do. Experiment. Not much more is needed to go from the staff to above the staff; it’s easier than we think it is.