Resistance In Horns
Is there a tactic for these high note artists? Like a common resistance source?
When it comes to Resistance In Horns there isn’t a common tactic or need for all of the high note artists. There MUST be resistance somewhere in the system in order for the notes to come out. However, there are several different ways to do that. The biggest problem I see every day is that so many people mismatch their embouchure/mouthpiece/trumpet. They may even take a lesson here and there. But they jump from one end of the spectrum to the other.
I get email from people who studied a closed aperture embouchure and try to use what they heard at a Shew clinic about an open embouchure. Or some who study an open aperture embouchure and try something that Callet says about a closed embouchure. These people are mismatching techniques that CAN’T work together. If you are determined to be an open aperture player, you need to work that approach and no other. If you opt for a closed setting don’t ask spread aperture players how they play.
If you are working on a new embouchure play it and only it for a year. I get people coming here who have changed embouchure 3-4 times in a single year.
With this in mind I’ll talk about setups.
If you play a very spread setting, then you require a great deal of extra resistance. That means a small-bore horn and a shallow tight mouthpiece. Since we are talking about LEAD playing then Bill Chase is the leading example here. He matched his embouchure with his mouthpiece and his trumpet. The Schilke 6A4a worked for him. Most people can’t play a decent scale on it. If you are the other extreme, then you create all of your resistance with your chops. That means that you need an open large bore horn and a bigger mouthpiece.
On any given trumpet forum, we would have players that fit both models. These groups are on opposite ends of the spectrum. The vast majority of trumpet players 90% are somewhere in between.
These in between players create some but not all of the resistance they need. They can benefit from some added resistance in equipment. There are several ways to do this.
The first is with the mouthpiece. You can affect resistance by changing either the throat or back bore or both. This CAN affect intonation. It CAN affect your control of dynamics. It CAN affect the length of the phrase that you can play. Air moves through a big throat faster than a small one. The mouthpiece changes while the cheapest are also the most difficult to master.
The horn is another place where resistance can change. If you keep your stock mouthpiece and go to a horn with less resistance you may find this helps. That is why there are so many bore sizes. You should take your mouthpiece to a store and try out several horns.
There is even a way to make a horn with variable resistance.
Flip Oakes uses tuning slides with chokes in them to make his Wild Thing Trumpets have several different levels of resistance. I can change the tuning slide and play. I don’t need to warmup again or adjust to the horn.
Jason Harrelson uses an Adjustable gap receiver. The AGR not only changes the resistance but also the overall response of the horn and how much slotting there is on notes. This means you can choose how much a horn locks into notes or how easily it can slip around notes. When you dial in a new gap you have to find the center of the horn again.
There will NEVER be 1 best mouthpiece or 1 best trumpet (for everybody) because we all play differently. The best we can do is to keep an open mind and try out every horn we come across.
Pops
