The Trumpet lesson videos on this page cover a great many topics pertaining to how to play the trumpet like a professional. Many of these trumpet videos were shot during actual trumpet lessons and will include one of my students in it.

Play everything on 1 and only 1 embouchure set.

Mouthpiece buzz to triple c.

Pencil exercise for low to high notes on trumpet.

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Air Leaking on Trumpet

Before we get into how to solve air leaking, let’s first understand what air loss is. Air loss on the trumpet means air escaping unintentionally while you play, either through the instrument or embouchure. Some air escaping is natural, but excessive air loss means weak tone, no resonance and reduced endurance. Here’s where this air loss can happen:

1. Instrument leaks: Mechanical problems or poorly fitting parts can leak air from the instrument itself.
2. Embouchure issues: Wrong lip placement or weak muscle control around the mouth can escape air.
3. Bad breath support: Poor breath control can disperse the air stream.

Knowing if the air loss is mechanical or technique-based will help you solve it better.

Common Causes of Air Leaks and How to Fix Them

1. Mouthpiece Fit and Placement

Sometimes air loss on trumpet happens because of a bad mouthpiece fit or placement on the embouchure. A loose mouthpiece can cause air to escape, and improper placement can prevent you from getting a good seal between your lips and the mouthpiece.

• Solution: Make sure the mouthpiece is in place and doesn’t move during playing. Put the mouthpiece in the center of your lips and experiment with slight adjustments until you find a position that minimizes air loss.

2. Embouchure Weakness or Inconsistency

Embouchure strength and control are key to air retention. A weak embouchure can cause air to escape at the corners of your mouth. This is common among beginners but can happen to experienced players too, especially during tough passages.

• Solution: Practice long tones and lip slurs to build up embouchure strength. Keep the corners of your mouth firm and let the center vibrate. Exercises like the “pencil exercise” where you hold a pencil horizontally with your lips can help you develop the necessary muscle strength and control.

3. Loose Valve Caps and Slides

Mechanical issues with your trumpet can also cause air leaks. Loose valve caps, tuning slides and spit valves can let air out and affect your sound.

• Fix: Check that all valve caps, tuning slides and spit valves are tightened. Periodically check your trumpet for wear and tear. A repair professional can also help diagnose and fix any mechanical issues that may be causing air leaks.

4. Improper Lip Seal

Air loss can happen if there’s no seal between your lips. This is usually when the lips are too loose or the embouchure isn’t formed properly.

• Fix: Focus on the lip seal. When you put the mouthpiece on your lips, don’t tense up but keep your lips firm to control the air. If you can’t get a good seal try buzzing on the mouthpiece alone to strengthen your embouchure and lip control.

5. Poor Breath Support

Air escaping from poor breath support is a common problem especially when the air stream isn’t being directed into the trumpet. When weak breath support can cause air to scatter and affect your tone and endurance.

• Solution: Practice breathing exercises to develop breath control and support. Engage your diaphragm by breathing deep into your stomach not shallow into your chest. Exhaling slowly and focused will help you direct more air into the trumpet and less leakage.
• Working on anchor tonguing also helps tremendously with creating a focused airstream and preventing air leaks.

6. Spit Valve

If the spit valve (water key) is not closed properly, it can also cause air leaks. Over time, the cork or rubber on the valve can wear out and become loose. Amado water keys also stick and often don’t close properly.

• Solution: Check the spit valve for wear and tear. If the cork or rubber is damaged replace it to get a tight seal. Oil amado water keys and keep things clean and moving freely. A professional repair technician can replace the spit valve parts if needed.

7. Inconsistent Tongue Position

Tongue position inconsistency can cause air to be disrupted and feel like air loss. If the tongue isn’t in the right spot it can get in the way of the air stream and cause turbulence or let air escape around the embouchure.

• Solution: Practice tongue position by using syllables like “ta” or “da” to focus your air. The tongue should be low and relaxed for lower notes and slightly higher for upper register notes. This will direct the air into the trumpet and minimize air loss.

8. Trumpet Position in Relation to Embouchure

Sometimes the way you hold the trumpet can affect how well you control air. Holding the trumpet at an odd angle can prevent your lips from sealing around the mouthpiece.

• Solution: Hold the trumpet straight out from your embouchure. Keep your posture relaxed to avoid tension that can disrupt airflow. Experiment with slight angle adjustments until you find the most comfortable position with minimal air escape.

Techniques to Improve Air Control and Minimize Air Loss

Once you’ve fixed any mechanical or positioning issues, try these to improve air control and reduce air loss:

Long Tones

Long tones help you focus on breath control and consistency of air. Start on a comfortable pitch and hold as steady as possible, paying attention to any air escape. This exercise will strengthen your embouchure and control of the air stream.

Lip Slurs

Lip slurs are great for embouchure flexibility and strength. Move between notes without valves to strengthen your embouchure and the seal between your lips and the mouthpiece. Lip slurs will also help you adjust air naturally for different pitches and reduce air escape.

Buzzing

Buzzing on the mouthpiece alone will help you develop your embouchure and air control. Buzz clear notes and keep the air focused. Buzzing exercises are good for the small muscles around your lips which are key to an airtight seal.

Breath Control

Breath control exercises like “in for four, hold for four, out for four” are good for building up muscle strength and control for steady air. Try exhaling through a straw or using a breathing tool to focus your air and diaphragm control.

Fixing Air Leaking on Trumpet

Fixing air leaking on trumpet is a combination of instrument maintenance, embouchure exercises, and breath control. By identifying the root cause – mechanical, embouchure, or breath support – you can take targeted action to stop the air leakage. Practicing long tones, lip slurs, and buzzing exercises will further strengthen your embouchure and breath control and you’ll be able to play with a clear tone and minimal air loss.

With time and consistent practice, you’ll be able to maintain better air, improve your endurance, and have more control over your trumpet playing. Make these exercises part of your daily practice and enjoy a more focused sound.

The post Solve Air Leaking on Trumpet: The Real Cause appeared first on BBTrumpet.

Reaching the high note is a goal, more like a benchmark, for any trumpet player. It’s technique, control, and understanding of how your body works with the instrument. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced player, this guide will help you refine your approach to playing high notes and make it natural and effective.

1. The High-Pressure Air Tank: Building and Controlling Air

One foundation of playing high notes on the trumpet is your breath support. Your lungs work like a high-pressure air tank – you just need to use it like that. The air you blow through the trumpet must be controlled and powerful not in volume,  but in how you use it.

How to get the right amount of air pressure?

• Breathe naturally and from the diaphragm: Shallow breathing won’t cut it.   
• Maintain steady control: Release this air in a steady stream. Imagine filling a balloon without letting the air escape too quickly. You want a consistent strong airflow that doesn’t waver as you go up into the higher notes.
• Practice breath control exercises: Do long tones and breathing exercises on the trumpet. These will build up your stamina and control for high-pressure air support.

2. Tongue Position: The Secret to Pitch

Your tongue is the director of the airflow and the shape of the pitch. As your tongue goes forward and up, the tongue naturally constricts the space through which the air travels. This tiny movement speeds up the airflow and focuses the stream which is necessary for high notes.

• Think “Tiss”: When playing high notes, think of saying Tiss as this is the start of the high note anchor tongue position. This tiny movement directs the air in a way that helps produce high pitches.
• Don’t overdo it: The tongue should move smoothly and subtly. Exaggeration can cause tension and instability in your playing.
• Practice articulation exercises: Tongue position is also key to articulation. Practice scales and arpeggios with a focus on keeping your tongue light and agile, especially in the higher registers.

3. Lip Position: The Sweet Spot for Vibration

The vibration of your lips, also known as the embouchure, is where the sound is born. Your lips need to vibrate faster for higher notes but not tense up or thin out.

• Find the balance: Your lips should be gently firm but not rigid. Think of them as the reed in a woodwind instrument, needing just the right amount of tension to vibrate freely. Too much pressure will choke the sound; too little will make you miss the note.
• Utilize the corners of your mouth: Fortifying the muscles around the corners of your mouth makes a difference to keep the embouchure steady as you go up in pitch. This also reduces the temptation to press the mouthpiece too hard on your lips, which can cause fatigue and limit your range.
• Practice lip buzzing: Try buzzing exercises with just your lips. This helps you find the right amount of tension needed to produce higher pitches.

4. Small, Fast Air Stream: The Power Behind the Pitch

Once you have the right air pressure, tongue position, and lip tension you need to make sure your air stream is fast enough to reach those high notes. It is easier to hit the high register when the air blows fast. Also of even more importance, the air stream needs to be narrow. You need to use anchor tonguing to focus the air to vibrate a smaller amount of lip tissue.

• Air control is key: As you go up in pitch your air stream must be smaller and faster. That’s why your tongue position is so important – it helps to both focus and accelerate the air as it exits your mouth.
• Imagine a laser beam: Your air stream should be focused like a laser beam, going directly through your embouchure and into the trumpet.
• Train with speed drills: Practice exercises that encourage fast air, such as playing high notes at different dynamics, starting soft, and increasing volume while keeping the pitch.
• Practice whistling. Many high note players spend time whistling every day to train the tongue for higher notes.

How to generate more power to reach a higher register?

Combine all these into one smooth process without over-blowing or straining. Strengthen your diaphragm with breathing exercises, and sit-ups, practice your tongue and lip coordination, and focus on fast controlled air.

How can you make it look natural without putting more pressure on it?

Relaxation and confidence are the key to making high notes look effortless. Don’t tense up your face, neck, and shoulders. Keep your body loose and breathe deep. Visualize the note before you play it and trust your practice.

What do professionals do to generate high notes on the trumpet?

Professional trumpet players spend years honing their high-note technique. They practice consistently and do exercises that target breath control, tongue placement, and embouchure stability. They also stress the importance of mental preparation and use visualization techniques to “see” the notes before they play them.

Conclusion – Professional advice by Pops

Clint, a professional trumpet teacher, sums it up: “High notes are as much mental as they are physical. Trust your practice and don’t let fear of missing a note cause tension. Consistent thoughtful practice will get you there – so take it one note at a time.”

Playing high notes on the trumpet musically is the goal. With these tips, you’ll be well on your way to easily playing those high notes.

The post How to Play High Notes on The Trumpet appeared first on BBTrumpet.

Regardless of the embouchure you use these things MUST always happen.

The lips must be moist. The surface tension of the water aids in setting up the vibrations.

The lips must be touching. (If the air has nothing to fight there is NO buzz.)

Use as Little pressure as possible. Pressure only separates the lips and stops the sound. Backing off the pressure will allow you to soar.

Everyone says Tighten up to play high. Hold something between your finger and thumb. That squeeze is what they are talking about. Playing high involves slightly pushing your lips together as you ascend.

Farkas embouchure

75-80% of all players use the Farkas embouchure.
This embouchure is described FULLY in “The Art of Brass Playing” by Phillip Farkas.
He told people to blow as if they were trying to cool soup. That is how he set the embouchure.

Raphael Mendez said to say the letter “M”.

In the Farkas embouchure, you must Point the CHIN down. It is the pointing of the chin that prevents you from stretching the lips too thinly.
The skin under your lower lip will be taut with no air pocket.
Your lips do not overlap nor do they roll in or out.
The corners of the mouth are held firmly in place.

Now what they DIDN’T say.
To play with an extended range you must.

• Use a Pivot
• Use a Tongue Arch (hopefully Anchor Tonguing)
• Use a LipSetpoint
• Remember to use compression for range
• Like finger pushing against finger

Maggio Embouchure

The Maggio embouchure was established because Louis Maggio had sustained an injury that prevented him from playing any other system.

This embouchure is elusive for some players. The pucker is so different from what they used before that they lose control and sound quality. Others do well.

In this system, you cushion the lips by extending them or puckering ( like a monkey ).
In fact, their T-shirts are a closeup of a monkey forming the embouchure.

This puckering enables the players to overcome physical malformations.
It also lets the player play for an extended time in the upper register.

I DO advise people who can not play other embouchures because of injury or serious dental malformations to TRY the Maggio embouchure.

Stevens Embouchure

The Stevens Embouchure requires a special mouth formation to be 100% successful. In the past 2 years, I’ve only started a few students on this embouchure.

To set the Stevens embouchure you:

• Make sure that your teeth are 1/4 – 1/2 of an inch apart.
• Make sure that your jaw is forward making a flat playing surface.
• Make sure that your lips are touching and slightly push your lips together to make a cushion.
• Then PLACE the mouthpiece ON your lips.
• To ascend you will push the lips together.
• Yes the book says never use tongue arch but Stevens used Anchor Tonguing. IT does much more than mere arch does.
• Use a LipSetpoint
• The lips will have a natural tendency to slightly curl in. That’s OK.
• Remember to use as little pressure as possible.
• The more that you can back off the pressure the more you have in reserve for later
• Use a PIVOT.

Super chops Embouchure

This is taught by a well-known teacher/horn maker.

It seems ( at least to me ) to mix parts of both the Maggio and Stevens. It share the same problems also. Plus it is very difficult to learn to slide the lips up to the high register position and back to normal.

In the Super chops embouchure, the pivot is much more aggressive than on other embouchures.

• The pivot is used to push the lips over the top teeth and force the air stream to follow it.
• The lower lip curls in over the top of the bottom teeth ( like a reed player ).
• The top lip slightly overlaps the lower lip.
• The lip compression comes from pulling all of the muscles toward the center. This causes a semi-pucker.
• This system does NOT use a tongue arch. He says that it constricts the throat.
• All tonguing is to be done through your teeth. This part really disturbed me.

As you ascend you pivot draw your facial muscles in and slide the mouthpiece over the top of the upper teeth.
To me, it seemed like an extreme embouchure shift.

Some good professional players ARE using this to their advantage.

Lip Buzzing Embouchure

Mendez played and taught the lip buzzing embouchure. When he taught he made his students lip buzz a month before he gave them a mouthpiece. He then made their mouthpiece buzz a month before he gave them the trumpet. By then they could change pitches and have a decent tone. I use this embouchure on most of my students.

The fastest way to successfully go to a closed lip buzzing embouchure is :

• Lip Buzz: (Like spitting seeds.)
• Do this 15 – 30 minutes a day. Buzz scales, songs, arpeggios, etudes….
• Set your new embouchure
• Buzz a note and while holding the buzz sneak the horn & mpc into playing position.
• Take ALL breaths through your nose (so you don’t disturb the embouchure). (Most open aperture players try to start closed and open up the chops as they breathe. They pin the lips in place while separated and can only make the lips touch by using mpc pressure.)
• And play songs and etudes.
• Use Anchor Tonguing
• Use a LipSetpoint

(After the new setting is secure go back to normal breathing.)

Stay in the staff until you have strengthened the NEW embouchure.

Do a lip-setting drill:
Buzz and sneak the horn into place to play 1 note. Remove the horn and start over. It takes thousands of good reps to break a bad habit.

Do those things for 1 month.

Then AFTER the new embouchure is set and the chops are stronger you can work on the Stevens palming exercise. I only do open arpeggios with this. Do it 15 minutes a day and after a month you should be able to play over High C with almost no pressure.

Then you must learn to relax the face and let the tone become full. Work on pulling the corners in to adjust the tone color and assist range. Relearn your pivot and tongue arch. Work on more efficient breathing….

By Pops

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Pops The Trumpet Cop, trumpet cartoon videos answer serious trumpet questions. A great series for young or young at heart players.

Trumpet cartoon videos are a great way to get students attention and still teach meaningful lessons. Even my adult students love the trumpet cartoon videos and have learned from them.

Why take lessons with Pops.

Trumpet teaching is often 200 years behind times.

Use your embouchure tools in the right order.

Procrastination is our enemy.

Filming Lip Vibrations.

Why is there air in my sound?

Anchor Tonguing

Endurance and arch/anchor tonguing

About Resonance and mouthpiece buzzing (the aperture tunnel)

Why talent and desire don’t mean much

Pops the Trumpet Cop Videos

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Lip tension, tongue arch (Please use Anchor Tonguing) and air speed are great for changing pitch in a particular register. But lip compression is needed in order to change registers. 

A combination of 6 things are NEEDED to play trumpet well. Close lip setting (aperture) + mouthpiece pressure (just enough to make a seal) + lip compression + lip tension + tongue arch (forward) & Air (speed and support).

These 6 points control the range of the instrument. There are many variations available in how these can be added together to play any one note.

It is possible to play a double high c with a close setting and compression only. Stevens’ static exercises are played that way. Adding some mpc pressure to that can flesh out the notes yet these can be done with almost no tension.

On the other hand lots of people play high c with an open lip setting lots of lip tension and mouthpiece pressure. With the lips pinned open there is no compression. This is tiring because of muscle fatigue from the tension and impaired blood flow through the lips caused by mouthpiece pressure.

In order to move from the open setting to a closed setting the player has to learn to relax the tension and back off on the mouthpiece pressure. Compression works far better than tension so both range and endurance improve.

Now to obtain a big full sound you need a balance of lip setting, compression, tension, mpc pressure, tongue arch and air usage. This balance changes by register. For example the low register needs more air mass to fill the bigger aperture but less air speed or pressure. The lips require little tension or compression. I have found that people can put the close setting to real use quicker by learning to relax the chops.

Trust me we all put some tension back in as we ascend. I have to constantly remind people (in the upper register) to relax some and take the workload off of the lips.

There is natural muscle tone (tension), there is loose and flabby, and there are stages of tightness (tension). You have certain levels or amounts of tension that you rely on for each register. (Some change tension every note, others by the difference in the harmonic series and still others by octaves.)

The dependence on tension, where and how much you change is based on how you use the other playing factors. Lip compression (lip against lip not facial or corner tension), lip setting (how close they are before the airstream starts), mouthpiece pressure (this can easily seal off the aperture an open setting needs 5 X as much as a close setting). Added to this is the way you use your air. In my case because of a close lip setting I use the normal resting facial tension on the entire 1st set of notes in the harmonic series (Low F# to low C). The next set (low C# to second line G) uses a little tension but far less than open aperture players do on low F#. In fact the 3rd set (second line G# to middle C) uses less tension than lots of people start with on Low F#.

Tension is tiring. It also adds stiffness to the lips and prevents a free vibration. Added stiffness is how tension helps to play higher notes but it restricts and limits the ease of tone production of the mid and low register.

One way to judge your tension level is to see how much of the face is involved. Under high C it should be completely limited to the lips and corners (1/2 ” away from the lips). I see a great many players who are tense in the cheeks (this robs you of endurance) and neck (this hurts your tone). Over high C I have tension in the area around the lips going out in all directions about 2 inches or so. My cheeks and neck never get tense.

Lip compression is the act of 1 lip pressing against the other. Like pinching the thumb and forefinger together. Inorder to do this with your hand the thumb must be touching the finger (there can be no air space between them), It works the same way with the lips.

There are 5 main ways that this lip compression is obtained.

1. The entire chop setting is drawn toward the center. Corners pulled in and top and bottom lip pulled together. Like the drawstring example in the Farkas book or the making a fist in Jacoby’s book or the diagram in Callet’s book. Three different embouchures that all use the same method of lip compression.

2. Using the muscles of the chin to push the lower lip into the top lip. This creates a knot of muscle at the chin and it moves the center portion of the lower lip.

3. Using the muscles of a frown to compress the lips together. The Roy Roman bulldog face. A frown will pull the top lip down slightly as it pushes the center part of the bottom lip upward.

4. Using the jaw to assist register changes. This is the way Roy Stevens taught. He started with a very open jaw (tooth) position. That way he could bring the lips in toward each other in more compression by moving the jaw upward. (This is fine if you make sure to keep the teeth apart at all times.)

The interesting part is these techniques work with more than 1 embouchure setting. (The lips do have to touch.) I gave examples of 3 different embouchure settings for #1 but that applies for all 4 types of compression above.

5. Is done by use of a pucker. The compression is partially created by the lips in their pucker and partly by the mouthpiece holding them in place. This can only be used in 2 of the 4 main embouchure systems.

Using Lip Compression is described in several books

Stevens-Costello Triple High C Embouchure, The Art of Brass Playing, Jakes’ Method, Brass Playing Mechanism and Technic, The Encyclopedia of the Pivot System, Super Chops, New Approach to Trumpet Playing, Trumpet Isometrics, Sail the 7 C’s, The Psychology of Cornet and Trumpet Playing, and The No Nonsense Trumpet From A-Z {my book), Trumpet FAQ’s (my book) (They are different from other books in that they are 90% text explanations and 10% exercises.

Pops

The post A Dynamic Embouchure appeared first on BBTrumpet.

Whistle the first exercise of an Irons flexibility study. This is the same movement that your tongue should use as you play.

My favorite exercises for this are the 1st 2 pages of the Arban Interval Studies. Page 125.

It is like using Taw for low notes Too in the mid-range and Tee a little higher. As we arch the front of the tongue toward the teeth a little this makes a more focused air-stream. The more focused the stream the less lip mass we excite and the higher we play. Arching the tongue (Forward) also moves the jaw, changing the lips vibrating angle. This makes changes to the amount of lip curl present and changes the pitch.

The commonly done type of tongue arch (center up and tonguing with the tip) stops helping when we get to the high register.
Doing this we would tongue with the tip on the top gum line and the arch would be farther back toward the center of the mouth.
This leaves a lot of room between the tip of the tongue and the space between the teeth where the air goes out. All of that room at the front of the mouth allows the air to spread out again.

It is very inefficient and was NEVER taught by any older proponents of tongue arch. H.L. Clarke, Claude Gordon, Raphael Mendez and Louis Maggio… all taught anchor tonguing (a forward arch). They didn’t teach this upward arch that is normally taught today. It was always a forward arch. A forward arch works 10Xs better than an upward arch.

Below:
This is a forward arch of the tongue and it rolls forward and pushes up to the top teeth and roof of the mouth in the double high register. It is like saying Tissss. For some the tongue anchors at the bottom teeth and for others, it anchors at the edge of the top teeth. This makes the air stream much more focused and even less lip mass is engaged.

Notice where the tongue anchors. In the past many teachers taught a concept called anchor tonguing. That would cause this action to happen naturally.

Tee at Middle C.

As you go higher the hiss gets more pronounced.

Hiss or Tiss at Double High C.

I sometimes hear people say that they tried tongue arch and it doesn’t help them.

The tongue arch is very dependent on how your tongue. If you think of teachers who taught arch like Clarke or Gordon; they also taught some version of anchor tonguing.

There are several reasons for this. When we tongue with the tip of the tongue AND use a high tongue arch; then we make a very small oral cavity and have a real tendency to close the throat with the base of the tongue.

Anchor tonguing combined with arch means that as we arch higher we tongue farther back on the tongue. This pulls the throat more and more open, creates a big oral cavity, and does something else too. This action creates a channel for the air to follow the groove of the tongue and focuses the air toward the center of the vibration. It literally feeds air to a smaller amount of lip tissue and helps to play higher.

A study in Japan in 2000 proved that this arching movement also made us make slight adjustments to the jaw. These movements make changes to the angle which the lips align (affecting the point of vibration) and to the lip’s tension/compression. This affects the use and amount of lip curl and changes the pitch.

In 1962 Dr. Robert Weast did some studies with a machine that blew pressurized air through rubber lips that were under tension.

His machine played a D with:
14 oz of air @ 1 oz of tension,
12 oz of air @ 5 oz of tension,
5 oz of air @ 8 oz of tension.

In his experiment: He had NO way to add lip compression. He could make the hole bigger and smaller by tension alone.

That meant less lip mass could be excited with less air. If we use a bigger lip mass we can get the same note BUT it takes much more air pressure to excite the extra mass.

In 1976 Brian Wadsworth did some experiments proving that the lips touch when they vibrate (a high-speed movie played back super slow). He also proved that given the same air pressure, a small width of air played a higher note than a big width of air (again using an artificial machine.)

Putting all of these together.

As we arch the front of the tongue toward the teeth we make a more focused air stream. The more focused the stream the less lip mass we excite and the higher we play. (This explains why we CAN play high without a tongue arch but with lots of stomach support and we can also play high with a tongue arch needing less stomach support of the air.) It has been this problem of BOTH groups being able to play well that has led to some heated debates. There is a mathematical reason why both ideas work. But for me, I feel that the tongue arch makes things easier.

It works for MANY reasons that all seem to add together.

Faster air speed and a smaller oral cavity are the things that used to be said about arch.

Now think about a guitar string. When we strum the string a note is played as the entire mass of the string vibrates. When we place a finger in the middle of the string and strum then only half of the mass can vibrate and the note sounded is an octave higher.

Our lips are not shaped in a linear fashion like the string. There is much more meat in the center so we don’t vibrate exactly half to change an octave but the idea is similar.

These things have been proven in experiments: directing a smaller air stream to the lips (making a smaller portion of the lip surface vibrate), slight jaw realignments (caused by the tongue motion which realigns the air stream AND changes the lip tension.

Which is the most important?
They are not in agreement on this. But it is generally felt that all of those contribute to increased range by changing tongue levels.

It is because of the Airstream focus and realignments of the lips that I teach anchor tonguing.
I hope this helps explain it.

By Pops

The post Anchor Tongue And Hiss appeared first on BBTrumpet.

This is a tough area.  It depends on the playing level you are on. That’s why so many players have an incomplete picture of it. They think of it as 1 size fits all.

Ways That Lip Slurs Advance Your Playing

(Tongue level only is NOT true. They use the embouchure to make register changes like low to high. So the normal description you get from this group is a very inaccurate one trying to show an idea by leaving out the other factors like chops and air,)

The reason that air support alone doesn’t work well until they are more advanced is because they don’t have the embouchure muscles or control to handle that technique. They blat rather than play music. This ruins any concept of tone that they are trying to develop. That’s why I teach it last. Used correctly it is very controlled and musical. 

I take the work away from the lips of advanced players and make them learn to use better support. (Think gut slurs.)

In intermediate students, I focus on correct tongue arch (Anchor Tonguing). This is a forward arching of the tongue. WE arch forward towards the teeth for several reasons. It helps to keep the throat open, and it keeps the overall oral cavity larger for a big sound. Most importantly it is the only type of tongue arch that focuses the airstream which helps in playing higher notes. I also work on the idea of LIp Setpoint or always setting for the same note when we play.

With beginners they need to learn to move the embouchure.

When I play lip slurs in music I will use all 3 things embouchure, anchor tonguing and breath support If the slurs are big enough I will even use a pivot. This is why an experienced player can do the Irons so much easier and quicker. So when done correctly Lip Slurs Advance Your Playing.

Pops

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