[Dixielandjazz] trumpet health question

[Don Ingle]

Aside from the necessity of breathing from diaphragm, he may not be
"vocalizing" - changing the air flow in the mouth/throat area by forming
sounds as you would when saying Ooh, ahh, eee as you change notes from low
to high range. Lou Maggio, the grand old man of brass instruction in L.A.
had his students even go to an "ick" vocalization for very high notes.
Changing the air chamber conformation in the mouth area by use of these
sounds.
He might also try pivoting as he goes from low to higher notes - this works
for some quite well by shifting the mouthpiece's placement as you go up
and/or down in the range.
Other than that my only other suggestion is for  him to o get with a good
teacher of experience.
Frankly the amount of time he is giving to practice is rather short if he
wishes to make good progress. For some, like Doc Severinsen, that would be
just the warm up time.
And a good warm-up before the main practice is vital -- without it you can
hurt yourself and set yourself back.
Tell him to begin to increase his practice time with rest periods between
each part, and to concentrate on long tones  -- pp to ff to pp --and
arpeggios to build lip flexibility.
The Max Schlossberg etude studies are a perfect way to a make progress.
At 73 I am still learning, though not much to play for in the north woods of
Michigan. Scared the hell out of a coyote when practicing outdoors. Bah -
critics!!
Don Ingle

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Elazar Brandt" <jazzmin at actcom.net.il>
To: "Dixie Jazz Mail List" <Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 2004 4:17 AM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] trumpet health question


> Here's a question I never ran into before. Interesting that it came up at
the same time as the brass poisoning question, but brass
> poisoning could not be the answer to this one.
>
> I started a trumpet student about 6 months ago who is an adult about 40-50
years old, and never played a wind instrument before. He
> had the usual learning curve to get to where he could produce notes on the
horn more or less at will, and his range has been
> expanding upward normally. He practices usually 15 to 60 minutes daily. He
is playing various easy songs in tempo, straining only on
> some of the higher notes (above D--he can hit up to G with a lot of
effort).
>
> In recent weeks he's been complaining that his throat hurts, not like the
sore throat you get with a cold, but, you should pardon
> the expression, a pain in the neck, like something is swollen inside. He
says his wife is complaining that he's started snoring,
> which he didn't do before. He says if he lays off playing for a couple
days, it goes away, and when he starts again,. it comes back
> about a day after he starts playing.
>
> So I suspected his breathing is not correct, that he's working his upper
body and head instead of his diaphragm. We checked this out
> and found him breathing from the diaphragm sometimes but not all the time.
And I can see his upper body and face working when he is
> struggling with the high notes.
>
> I "prescribed" meanwhile that he concentrate on his diaphragm breathing
while he is warming up and playing scales, and to stop if he
> finds himself breathing from the upper chest. I also suggested he stay
within his comfortable range, below the D, for a few days and
> see if that changes anything. And I gave him some exercises to do to
loosen up his neck and shoulders before and after playing. This
> was 2 days ago. I expect to hear from him over the weekend to let me know
if there has been some improvement.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> I had 3 three-week trips abroad this summer one after the other, and we
were meeting for a lesson or two in between. I'm afraid this
> might have given him the chance to develop some bad habits in my absence.
>
> Thanks in advance for any assistance from you veterans out there.
>
> Elazar
> Misrad HaJazz
> Doctor Jazz Band
> Jerusalem, Israel
> <www.israel.net/ministry-of-jazz>
> Tel: +972-2-679-2537
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