Thanks PHK! I really appreciate your input!

I was just thinking about recording myself yesterday as I realized that part of the difference is that my perception of the sound I’m making is changing. I was alternating playing the 3C, 1.25C and Bobby Shew Lead yesterday and the 3C and 1.25C just seemed so dark–which I used to prefer, but yesterday it sounded and felt like I was blowing through a mute almost.

It occurred to me that the Bobby Shew might sound shrill and unpleasant from the other side of the bell–I have heard some reviews stating as much.

Can you recommend any equipment? I started poking around into that, but never figured it out. I was thinking of just buying a USB microphone and using my laptop to record myself as I play in my home office.

It is interesting experimenting with these different tools and how different my experiences have been versus my expectations and learning more about how the instrument, the mouthpiece(s) and my embouchure work, effect sound production, etc.

I’ll need more time experimenting–and will definitely add recording the sound and perhaps asking my wife and daughter (my only audience…) their feedback FWTW.

Congrats on your progression! I had the same experience–could never play above the stave, but now can do so musically and consistently and can do so for a considerable amount of time; my range no longer quickly decreases as I play and I’m not killing myself anymore. I do hit a limit up there still and need to figure out how to increase my range, but no what to do…WindWorks has been a great help with that.

I don’t want to play professionally, but I would like to see where I can go with this. My effective range has gone from a G above the staff to a D or Eb above High C, musically, an E or F and occasional Double G at my limit. The highest I would probably want to ever get to “musically” would be a Double C, but would be thrilled if I could consistently play the Double G.

Although, I still get a kick every day at how easy it is to play above the staff up to about the High C or D, where it starts getting a little more challenging. Like you, I still struggle with my efficiency as I get up there–I need to figure things out a bit more to progress further.

Not overdoing it in practice and being consistent with practice is perhaps my biggest challenge/hurdle to overcome. I tend to swing between not getting to practice enough to overdoing it. But, I’m having a blast anyway.