I heard that you have to play pedal tones to get the chops to play high.

Playing pedals CORRECTLY can teach you to relax the center of your mouth while the corners remain firm. It can aid in learning to control the airflow. And a couple of other things as well. In and of itself pedals do NOT increase your range.

Playing pedal tones teaches you to make BIG embouchure movements. But high notes NEED small adjustments.

Let’s say that moving from double pedal c to pedal c is a movement of 1.
Going from pedal c to low c is a movement of 1/2.
Going from low c to middle c is a movement of 1/4.
Going from middle c to high c is a movement of 1/8.
Going from high c to double high c is a movement of 1/16.
Going from double high c to triple high c is a movement of 1/32.

Pedals are NOT helping here.

Take the book systematic approach to daily practice. It has tons of pedals and arpeggios written up through the roof. It has been in print for 25+ years. If playing pedals was ALL it took there would be 10 million trumpet players all screaming triple C’s. There are several of these types of books out there and they rely on a PHYSICAL approach to playing.

There are easier ways to approach this. They involve effective efficient use of the air stream rather than lip muscles the size of your arms.

Ever see the movie The Karate Kid? He learned without doing specific exercises for each action. He also thought he was wasting his time. Arpeggio books are for people who like to think they are working on their range. But if you asked your high note heroes; you would have been told that they didn’t learn that way.

I’ve had people take a 1-2 hour lesson and add a 5th to their range. Not a temporary increase; a real increase of useable range. All from AIR. The only catch is that they have to try to do it the way I suggest. Really try.

To really play the pedals you need to maintain 1 Lip Setpoint (TM). That is the 1 note that you always set for no matter what note you want to play. We do that for a consistent sound throughout the full range of the trumpet. We also do it to help with our accuracy. If we only set for 1 note then it is easy to memorize how every note feels.

So for me to play pedals (which I do) I play my Lip Setpoint (TM) which is G on top of the staff. I keep that set and play a pedal exercise and at the end of the exercise I then Play my setpoint note and then a G above high C to prove to myself that I kept my set.

Pops

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There are some teachers and books that advocate the use of pedal tones to help extend your trumpet range with pedal tones.

Here are some problems with playing the pedals on an altered embouchure.

1. 90% of the people who play pedal tones allow their lips to roll out or protrude into the cup of the mouthpiece. Both of these are contrary to the action needed to play high. Pedals are fine if you maintain a correct embouchure however someone needs to watch you play or you must use a mirror to avoid embouchure shifts.

2. Pedals will not build the muscle needed to play high. Even when played properly pedals are played with much less tension than high notes. Only playing high will build the muscles needed to play high.

3. If you play until you are tired you should rest. However many people will play pedals are then continue to work their chops. Some of them have injured themselves by doing this. The lips are still fatigued and weakened however by playing pedals you have increased the blood flow to the lips and removed some of the lactic acid. Lactic acid is produced by all muscles when worked and the build-up signals your brain that the muscle is tired by making it sore. When you speed up the blood flow and remove the lactic acid then you fool your brain. You no longer feel all of the muscle damage until the next day. Most trumpet players have experienced this. To do this on purpose is inviting disaster. Yes, some range books advise this, but I can show you how to improve safely.

I do play pedals but I do them from 1 Lip Setpoint (TM). I do this to extend your trumpet range with pedal tones.

You play every note EVEN your pedals from a lip setpoint of 3rd space C, 4th space E, or G on top of the staff. That way your pedals worked your REAL playing embouchure and muscles and not some stunt embouchure. Your notes and sound stay connected.

I play my setpoint note first then keeping that set I play the pedal exercise. At the end of the pedal exercise, I then play my Lip Setpoint (TM) and then a scale up to G above high C or higher to make sure That I kept my set.

Pops

The post Extend Your Trumpet Range with Pedal Tones appeared first on BBTrumpet.

It has been suggested by some that there is no chance of causing any lip damage by using pedal tones. Pedals are used to help loosen the lips. To play a double pedal C the lips vibrate freely and they are very relaxed. This is a good thing. Many people use Pedals And Systematic Approach.

Let’s look at the directions in THE building range through pedals book. “Systematic Approach to Daily Practice for Trumpet”

Part 1 is the main pedal exercise. The directions are.
1. Big Breath.
2. Do not hold back.
3. Hold the note as long as possible with a crescendo at the end. Hold the note until all air is gone and longer (until your stomach shakes).

One of the biggest problems with the book is people read it and play it so very different than Gordon had his students play them. Most people do lots of experimenting and fussing with their embouchure on the pedals. And when the exercise starts on pedals, they set their embouchure there. Then as the exercise goes higher, they actually reset and change their embouchure when they breathe. In person Gordon would not have allowed this to happen. Sadly though, he didn’t think about including any info about this problem. Doing this over and over actually teaches the player to use multiple embouchures. That is a truly horrible thing to do.  So, we have to do the book from our real embouchure and we should play everything that we play from 1 and only one Lip Setpoint (TM).

Relaxing the lips to their fullest extent then playing without holding back adding a crescendo. The day Jack posted the first Pedal post I read an email from a TPIN list member. He was writing to ask me how to rebuild his chops from damage did while playing part 1 of lesson 1 of this book. The damage happens folks. It usually occurs later than lesson one.

Starting in lesson 2 part 2 There are 1 octave arpeggios. That is fine.

Lesson 3 part 2.
This is where the real problem starts. 2 octave arpeggios.
The first is pedal C to 3rd space C. So far by the time high notes start we are out of the pedals.

By lesson 9 & 10 part 2 the book has us playing 5 pedal C’s an arpeggio then 5 low C’s an arpeggio followed by 5 middle C’s an arpeggio followed by 5 high C’s. The last high C is to be held. This is followed by a rest (as long as you played). The very next note played is a Pedal C# 5 times.
This increases the blood flow to the lips flushing out any lactic acid that may have built up from the first exercise. The series goes over and over. Always flushing out the lactic acid from the lips. This delays our FEELING of being tired but not the cause or actual tiredness.
By fooling our bodies and delaying the sensation of being tired many people blow out their chops on these exercises.

By lesson 11 part 2 the exercise is written from Pedal C to Double high C. Again, this exercise alternates the highest note in a phrase with a pedal tone.

Lesson 12 part 2 The first exercise is a double pedal C arpeggio to high C. The last written exercise is an arpeggio from pedal C to Double high C.

This is the most dangerous way possible to work on range. Mr. Gordon used a weightlifting approach BUT he neglected to take into account that pedals flushed out the lactic acid. This is the only warning system our lips have until actual damage occurs.

I’ve mentioned specifics and science fact.

Pops

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