Well said, philip. You’re right, failure is a good thing–it is how we learn. It can be frustrating when it happens, especially if we are focused on Results and do not have the mindset of being an objective observer. And if we don’t do anything to experiment trying something better, refocusing on better process and what it means to play open, relaxed, with passive air, efficiently, freely.

In time, we develop a series of “coffee moments” as Greg calls them which I guess are the new “neural pathways” in our minds of how to play. It becomes more and more second nature and our worst “bad days” become greater than our best “good days” before. I just posted something on the “must read” thread Greg created yesterday that is kind of on this same topic if you’re interested.

I’ve done repeated laps through Largo and am better each time I do, coming away with something new each time.

When I was young, I treated warm up exercises as something to “get through” so I could get to the fun stuff of playing. I didn’t know why I was playing what I was playing, really; I understood it helped me feel a bit better, but I didn’t really know why or care why I was playing the notes I was playing or why there were a variety of ways one could warm up (Stamp, Caruso / Mitchell 6 notes, long tones, scales).

The nature of this beast we play is that we must begin again each day focusing on the production of sound and finding again the optimal balance of Shape and Air. When I have my best days, I find I enjoy my sound in the middle register and am amazed again at the ease at which I can play and the fullness and resonance of my sound, the openness and ease of playing. My mind is not eager to “get through” my warm up and move on to playing high notes, but enjoying the sound I am producing in the middle and low register, the foundation of everything else.

As we develop a keener sense of awareness of how it feels to play, and as it becomes easier for us to play, we remember and want that feeling again and have increased confidence as time goes by that we will find that ease again.

Be patient with yourself and observant of how things Feel and Sound and let that be your ultimate guide to how You should play–how to balance Shape and Air.

As Greg says, anyone can play anything they want on the instrument. I believe that too.

For example, I haven’t yet developed my range up to Double C, but I believe it’s physically possible for me to play that note today and I believe you can to.

I believe it’s more about coordination than it is about developing strength; that’s why there are young people that stumble across playing high notes. They’re not stronger and while they may be more “talented” in some aspects, it’s just a matter of our discovering for ourselves what precise combination of “Shape” and “Air” we need to form to make those pitches speak. I believe it’s only a matter of time before we unlock that ability, IF we are patient and objectively observe how our “experiments” work or fail and make minor adjustments based on those experimentations…and don’t overdo it and lose focus on Process to focus our attention on Results, becoming emotionally attached to the outcome of whether or not we are successful–a positive feedback loop destined to fail… And blindly playing exercises repeatedly, making no adjustment for what is working and what isn’t, expecting a different result is insanity…I used to do that, so I guess I was “insane”…

My plan for this year is to spend a small time each week on range and endurance. I’m not certain I’ll develop my range all the way to Double C in 2021, but things are off to a good start (except for overdoing it a bit)… And in my opinion, playing trumpet is more range and I will be focusing on all sorts of other aspects of my development as well. But I have kind of held off on specific goals with my range until now. I need to work on really “owning” some notes below Double C first, I was only using “Double C” as perhaps the ultimate goal for myself and most players. Above that doesn’t interest me much, except that playing a bit above that might be necessary in order to feel like one can “own” Double C and play it consistently and musically.

Got it–I’ve been there as well. Be patient with yourself. What helped me the most was focusing intently on using Passively released air. I actually took sort of an extreme approach and didn’t play the exercises as suggested, alternating between Active and Passive air. I suggest following the WindWorks course closely, more than I did, but focusing on playing with Passively released Air really helped me, I believe, focus in on how Shape impacts the production of sound and the resonance/efficiency of the sound produced.

I also spent a lot of time checking to make sure I was having a sympathetic vibration in the lower register at softer volumes.

I recommend not focusing too much on the dynamics at first, at least not while experimenting with the balance of Shape and Air. I would play as softly as you can comfortably while releasing air passively. In time, your ability to play softer and softer more comfortably will increase. That was my experience, anyway.

Good luck!

Great question Philip–I myself struggled with the balance between being too obsessive with the elements of playing and playing exercises and playing music.

What I have found useful for me is to make sure I spend time on both.

In hindsight, I spent way too much time earlier in my “comeback” a couple years ago wasted on endless harmonic slurs and unstructured experimentation in how to play better.

What keeps me focused, honest with myself and motivated, is to make sure I spend some time playing music I enjoy and am motivated to play better.

I have actually had “bad days” in which things didn’t seem to feel right that turned out to be good days after all as when I tried playing music I’ve been working on, I wound up playing it better than ever before or playing it very well. Sometimes our “bad days” are just in our heads.

And a “good day” of things feeling well and hitting a high pitch might not be as good as we think if we can’t use that newfound range in a musical way consistently and with dynamic control. It’s important not to go into “gladiator trumpet” mode where it’s just about playing a high note, unless you’re intentionally practicing range development–which should be limited to a fraction of your practice time.

To put a finer point on it, though, I chose music that utilized new notes above the staff that I found possible from my WindWorks and other experimentation. So, by practicing that music, I am solidifying my newfound range, etc.

I don’t try to play music that I don’t have the range for yet; I use unstructured experimentation to work on range or range exercises (WindWorks, Caruso, etc.) to play around up there.

Most of the music I play is more on the classical side or John Williams stuff which doesn’t go too high, but does hang out for a while above the staff and requires lots of different articulation, dynamic control, intervals, etc. I find that fun and challenging to hack myself through some of that stuff… ;).

The music period of practice, in my opinion, should be focused more on the phrasing side of things and really focusing on getting to a point where you can “sing” the phrase freely where the instrument feels like it’s not an obstacle, it’s something that you’re exhaling through freely and the sound is happening, you’re not blowing/fighting against/through the instrument. So, if you’re still in need of some more range, you might want to focus on music that only gets to the top of your current range, or slightly above–just try to stay objective and not compromise process when you get there, be willing to miss the note(s) for the sake of good process.

That’s my opinion FWIW. Good luck!

Got it, Philip.

Spending all your time in the technical circle will, in my opinion, not produce results. In my early “comeback” and experience with WindWorks, I tried that to expedite my development and it didn’t work–in fact, I believe it held me back for quite some time and almost led to my quitting for good.

In my opinion, it is important to spend a certain minimum amount of time on Music and we must enjoy the basic sound of the trumpet–the sound of the instrument on a G on the staff, or even below the staff and up to a modest range on the staff or just above can be quite pleasing. I know this very well, as that was my limit for many years…while frustrating, I did get enjoyment out of playing tunes in that range.

Prior to WindWorks, my functional range was limited to a G above the staff and my endurance was extremely limited, as I was fighting against myself and the horn.

Perhaps it would be good for you to choose some music that you enjoy playing that only goes up to your current effective range, perhaps slightly above, but ideally to the limit of your range so you can play relatively relaxed and comfortably. I believe it should be somewhat challenging for you, but not to the point that you feel it’s insurmountable.

You’re probably not going to develop an efficient way of playing, in my opinion, by playing too much fortissimo big band jazz or marching band music at this stage in your development. The music that I have found most helpful to spend time on while developing my efficiency is more lyrical music where I have to focus a lot on the air moving through a phrase. It’s helpful if the music has some simple melody components/parts to it so I can focus more on the quality of my tone and efficiency/sensation rather than complicated articulations, fingering, rhythm, all which should be worked on separately (in my opinion).

I have found more lyrical melodies, even some Etudes, helpful. Phil Collins (former Cincinatti principal trumpet) has some great etude books for sale online. Some of them go above the staff. I would simply transpose them down where needed for a while until your range develops naturally.

I never got a lot of enjoyment out of random Etudes (i.e. Sigmund Hering, Arban’s). The Collins etude books include excerpts from the orchestral repertoire, so it’s music we all know–famous melodies that we recognize even if we don’t recall the name of the piece…

I saw a video on YouTube of someone playing the melody from “Malice Toward None” that made me want to learn how to play that melody. The melody itself isn’t too hard and only goes up to a G above the staff (if you do NOT transpose it from C trumpet to Bb trumpet, which I did not as G was the limit to my range at the time… The whole piece actually is more difficult and gets up to a High C# (if you transpose it up a step). I’ve actually worked up to being able to play the whole thing up the step thanks in part to watching the videos of Christopher Martin playing it and making it look effortless; I can’t obviously play it as well as that, but watching him somehow made me realize that it must not be as hard as I was making it…and the fact is that it’s not.

Here’s a link to the video that originally inspired me, BTW FWIW (https://youtu.be/VHz7j8VAVs4 ). I I don’t recommend buying a plastic trumpet, BTW. I also recommend watching Christopher Martin playing it, but the whole piece is rather difficult. The video link above is just the main melody.

For some reason, that melody just really stuck with me and I played it just about every single day. Eventually, I worked up to being able to play the whole piece–I bought the sheet music as my range improved and now I can actually play the whole thing start to finish, even transposed up a step.

Another piece that I like which doesn’t go too high that I have been playing a bit lately that is more lyrical and that I find helpful to play is “Intermezzo” by Mascagni–the version I have is in F and only goes up to an F at the top of the staff, most of it lower, till the end which does go to an A above the staff but is very soft and you could just play it down. I think it would still be pleasing to play.

I play a lot of John Williams melodies lately as the main melodies are often simple and I can focus my attention on my sound, efficiency, sensation (relaxing) but the entire pieces can be very challenging and work my entire range, etc. I think part of what makes those melodies so attractive as well are the recordings–the ease of which they are played by great players like Tim Morrison, Malcom McNab, Maurice Murphy, etc.). That ease of playing is helpful to aspire to.

I do want to, eventually, work up to playing challenging stuff–including some higher range / louder stuff, but I’ve avoided it thus far while I work on developing my control over the range I have developed thus far.

But it has to be music that YOU like, that you want to play–that gives you enjoyment. Much of the key to playing efficiently or optimally is trying to get to the point where we are singing through the instrument and the instrument is not in the way, it is an extension of ourselves.

Also, I would make it a point to spend time away from the horn working on your understanding of how the instrument works. Watch / listen to WindWorks videos, watch great players you admire play on YouTube.

I have found Jim Wilt’s (associate principal trumpet of Los Angeles) videos on YouTube particularly helpful for me to watch as Jim makes it look SO easy and he has such a great sound and is obviously a very efficient player. At times while playing, I think of Jim’s videos and how easy it makes it look and I try to replicate that in my playing.

The ideal probably is to see a great player play live (i.e. a trumpet teacher), but I don’t do that anymore and YouTube can be very helpful (stay away from some websites/YouTube channels though… avoid the “sizzle” and focus on the quality of the steak…

So much of playing is mental–if we have the wrong mindset of what it’s like to produce sound on the instrument, we’re not going to get the desired result. It’s really important to use our imagination of what we want and think it can feel like to play a bit higher in our range.

Whether it’s playing music or playing technical exercises, neither is going to do any good for our development if we don’t approach them both with the right mental and physical approach.

Today, for example, was an ok playing day but it probably could have been a great day, but my mind was on other things, I was inpatient and rushed through things and so things didn’t sound as good and I didn’t get as much enjoyment out of playing. I was rushed and I pushed things, rather than cooperating with the instrument / finding an optimal balance. Tomorrow is the weekend, I hope to carve out some time to relax, take my time, play with a more patient mindset and enjoy the music more.

My $.02 FWIW. Sorry for the long post. Couldn’t sleep so thought I would put my thoughts down. Hope there’s something in there that provides some help to you. Good luck and have fun / enjoy playing music.

You might also want to check out even some Bach or other brass quintet hymns. Those are simple, mellow, lyrical but pleasing to play (in my opinion) and allow us to focus more on sound production.

The Pacific Symphony recently posted a streaming concert of one of my favorite pieces of music and, even better, it was arranged for brass. The first trumpet part does go above the staff but I played the melody transposed down a bit for a while and found that pleasing and a lot of it was slurred, so I didn’t have to deal with articulation. And it’s slow.

WindWorks wisely has us check to make sure we can articulate each pitch before we move on to the next, which makes a lot of sense.

But when I’m wanting / needing to focus more on the fundamental production of sound and ensuring I’m relaxed and things are free and efficient, I often play bits and pieces of stuff like this and it helps me.

Find what Inspires you–something you really want to play and find it pleasing, etc. I’m not a singer, but that’s the ultimate goal–Adolph Herseth talked about that.

Good luck philip and, most importantly, ENJOY! 😉

There have been times when I found myself not enjoying playing anymore as I was so focused on results and my expectations, that I lost sight of what it was about. Important to bring context to our technical development and keep ourselves honest with ourselves–not too hard, not to easy. And, at the end of the day, it’s all about music.