How do I gain endurance in high notes?
Im a trumpet player In my Jazz band and I need to hit high C above the staff. I can do that, but only for a few minutes. After I reach it my range keeps decreasing from there. I would also like to expand my range above a high C but struggle with anything higher than that. I do Chromatics and Lipslurs everyday in my warm up. How do I gain endurance in my higher notes?
Endurance is completely related to how strong your muscles in your emboucher are. Doing lipslurs and chromatic long tones are great to build strength and thus endurance.
However, let me share with you a few other tips and insights into this matter... this is taken from one of my other answers:
Remember everything in endurance is related to strength... either doing exercises for building strength or critically looking at out technique to save strength (mouthpiece pressure)
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Amw_3XV9JpQD8ywWd3nQ.Bjty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20071215183744AAo5LPv&show=7#profile-info-fef38357bbf38a0e35180ab8bc597e93aa
"Ok. So before I give you this secret, you must promise that it never replaces your practicing!! Nothing can ever replace your practicing. Here's the secret and some other pointers
The Secret- (now the cats out of the bag on the internet!)
*the pencil trick*
My friend who went to BYU for trumpet performance was given this trick before he went on his mission (he's Mormon) so that he wouldn't lose his chops when he couldn't practice.
For him, he would lose his chops (he could scream the upper register...) for you, you'll get chops of steal.
Take a pencil and place the tip (just a little of it) of the eraser just under your top lip. Hold it there for 5 minutes. If your doing it right you'll feel the corners of your mouth get hot and tight within a minute or so. If you can't hold it for 5, don't force it. I gave this trick to my buddy who was last chair trumpet in the Wind Ensemble a few weeks before auditions and he took the principal seat.
The pencil trick is like lifting weights for your chops, so when you pick your trumpet up after your pencil work out, you'll have greater strength for the high notes! This works real well. I can play higher then 99% of the trumpet players I meet.
#2 - No pressure. This is one for the long run, but you won't be able to change this real quickly without sacrificing range. The more muscles you build the less pressure you'll need to use. (For some of the real high notes a little pressure is necessary). Practice moving the trumpet away from your face as you play. Pressing the mouthpiece against your lips will let you play higher, but at the expense of endurance, because your not using your muscles to play higher, your using the pressure. The less you press the longer you can play high and the nicer your being to your body.
#3 - Short Tones and Long Tones.
The old idea is that long tones are a great way to warm up. After a lot of new scientific research, people have found that Long tones work your muscles really hard and that warming up with them doesn't make sense. It's like trying to run a 5 mile marathon before a 3 mile race. What would you want to do instead of run 5 miles? You'd want to stretch!
Stretching equals short tones.
Here's what you do:
Start at G (second line), focus your chops and play a short note (not real short, maybe like a quarter note at 120bpm) then after the tone happens (or doesn't happen) while keeping your emboucher focused, take the instrument off of your face, then relax your face and lightly rub the corners of your mouth then relax for 5 seconds. Next do the same thing, but go up chromatically to G# , then down to F# continue to balance going up a note with going down a note. If your chops don't focus properly for the note you want, try again, but only after you take the instrument off of your mouth and release your emboucher. if you haven't got the note in three tries, put the instrument down for a few seconds and start back a little.
There's your warm up! This is great because it forces you to focus your chops properly for each note chromatically, so when you need to play it, your chops are perfect! Unlike with long tones you've got a while to focus. Do your short tones with a tuner.
The long tones will really strengthen your chops....Do you long tones in the middle of your practice, but balance high and low just like you did with the short tones. When you practice long tones, practice with a tuner. Also add something so you don't get bored like practicing a crescendo or Fp on each note."
The more in-tune your note is the easier it is to maintain.
practice all of these exercises with a tuner!
Finally check out BERP
http://www.wwbw.com/BERP-Buzz-Extension-and-Resistance-Piece-i95017.music
Berp works really really well.
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