High note mania!

Range on the trumpet is widely known to be a hot topic and a difficult, for most, skill to master. But why is it so elusive? Why do some new players “just know how to how to do it”? More often than not, new players simply get “lucky” with an embouchure formation that works well for the upper register. However, this skill is usually at the expense of a clean low range. It is always a give and take!

For the rest of us mortals it is a skill we master over time. Those who take lessons will find it much easier to navigate higher notes, and those who jump in solo will likely take longer and experience more frustration.

The trumpet, as others in the brass family, is not a tact instrument. It is not like the piano, or guitar, or violin, where as long as the player places the finger on the correct spot and strums, bows or strikes, the pitch will inevitably happen. Oh no, no, no. The trumpet is somewhat of a wild animal. You can press the correct valves, you can blow air through it and know the pitch you want…yet, the notes simply won’t happen.

If this resonates with you, stick with me through these tips and hopefully you will find a way to tame the beast. Should you want more guidance, I cover this and many more topics in my trumpet lessons online course.

1. Stop comparing yourself

This is true for everything in life. The more time you spend comparing yourself to others, the less time you will have to improve yourself. So my friends, focus on your range and your skills, and don’t worry about the player who has an octave on you. No, that player hasn’t found the elixir of high notes, they likely figured it out by working on themselves and being patient.

Your “high notes” are not everyone’s else’s either. Maybe you just started and C in the third space seems miles away, and that’s okay! Or maybe you’ve been playing a while and you’re trying to unlock that high C.

Whatever your “high notes” are, just remember to focus on yourself.

2. Don’t try to run before you can walk

Trying to run a marathon while being out of shape would be a sure way to end up on the sidelines, jelly-legged and seeing a halo of birds above your head.

Trumpet works exactly the same way! You have to be in shape to work on your range. There is not way around it, no magical potion, no shortcuts. Work hard on your fundamentals for two weeks to build a strong foundation for your range development.

3. Stop blowing your face off and let the air flow

You know all those YouTube videos of red-faced trumpet players leaning back into a Matrix-style bullet dodge position?

Don’t do that.

High notes don’t require tanks and tanks of air, or strenuous effort. But they do require pressurized air like the air that comes out of a car tire. It’s fast, it flows freely and uninterrupted. That’s the type of air you want for those stubborn high notes.

The problem is that the air flow often gets blocked by several different things that may be going on in your embouchure. Let’s keep going to talk about some of these issues, but just remember to let the air flow smoothly…always.

4. Use your tongue arch

If you had no tongue, you wouldn’t be able to play the trumpet. Well…you’d have a few notes, but not a whole lot. The tongue plays an important role in trumpet playing, as has been observed and taught by some of the world’s best teachers.

When expanding your upper range raise your tongue to an “eeee” position to propel the air forward. Be careful though that you don’t overdo it, which will result in partial or complete obstruction of the air.

Why does it work? Because when you raise your tongue it decreases the amount of space in your oral cavity and as long as you keep up the volume of air, the air will become more pressurized and move faster. Think of a hose with a flowing stream of water that comes out for a few inches, curves downward, and falls to the ground. Now put your thumb over the hole and watch as the water flows for many inches or feet before it falls. You don’t have to turn up the water, you just have to decrease the area of flow.

This sounds simple, but it took me four months to figure out how exactly to place my tongue and I had already been playing for 13 years at the time. So be patient and if possible, take some private lessons.

5. Keep the corners where they are

Make sure that as you play higher you do not stretch your lips making the corners go outward. This is the classic “smile” method, and although you may find immediate results, you will inevitably run out of luck when the lips can’t stretch anymore and you still have many more notes to go.

Instead, keep your corners where they are, but flex them.

As you flex those muscles you will feel them pressing against your teeth, but without stretching outward. Remember, always do things gently with the trumpet…you are not trying to channel your inner bodybuilder!

6. All that pressure is not good

ding ding! The fight begins between the heavyweight bicep and the lightweight lip!

Oh! The fight is over. ding ding!

This is a very big issue with trumpet layers shoving that metal into their lips. I know that it feels like it helps in a way, but it really doesn’t. When we use excessive pressure the lip will be smushed down and it will no longer vibrate.

No vibration, no notes.

If you’ve ever tried to play high and gotten just air, you’re probably using too much pressure. Instead, try to pull the horn away from your lips a bit and see how that helps.

7. Pinched high notes come from pinched lips

I know you’ve heard some squeaky high notes that sound like the notes are trying to escape the grip of a boa constrictor.

That sound is the tell tale sign of pinched lips. When you pinch your lips you tighten the tissue through which the air flows and causes vibration, and so yes, the note may come out but it’s highly dampened. It doesn’t have resonance or projection.

Players usually resort to pinching their lips because they haven’t found another way to play higher. To avoid this try to use other methods such as tongue arch and proper air flow.

Remember, the corners are flexed, but the center of the lips is relaxed.

Last thoughts

I hope these tips on how to improve your upper range on the trumpet helped you realize where you may be going wrong. As always, I recommend the guidance of a teacher with such a physical instrument as the trumpet.

If you are looking for affordable, self-paced lessons, try my trumpet lessons online course right here at THQ.

Please leave comments and questions below.

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Playing by accident

I’m sure that at some point you have experienced an accidental success in trumpet playing. Such as suddenly hitting a high note without meaning to, or playing a perfect rhythm without even noticing.

This is what I call playing by accident. When students routinely play by accident, they move through the motions and enjoy the occasional success. They don’t go back to examine why the success happened, what they did differently, and how it can be replicated. Needless to say, these students take longer to learn new techniques.

My advice to all wishing to reach the next level is to never accept accidental success in the practice room. Always go back for more, examine, break it down and be mindful of everything that goes on when you pick up the trumpet.

Now sometimes, accidents cannot be replicated for a number of reasons:

1. The student does not have private instruction. Without a person to guide you through your development you will hit a wall that only a professional can help you break. Much like anything else you might want to learn, proper teaching is a fundamental factor. 
2. The student is in the beginning stages of learning. Notice that a beginning learner is not the same as a beginner trumpet player. I have seen many players with years under their belts, who are self-taught and have not been taught the techniques to dissect their mistakes.
3. The student is in a state of change. This would include players who are doing an embouchure change or have experienced an accident that compromises their familiarity with their own playing.

Assuming you do not fit any of these categories, lets look at two ways you can learn to leave the accidents behind.

Experimentation without fear

In all my years playing and teaching, I do not think I have ever met a player who enjoyed making mistakes. I mean, that would be crazy right? Who actually wants to make mistakes?

Just because you don’t want to make mistakes in public, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t experiment with them in the practice room. Next time you play, dedicate some time to mistake making. Allow yourself to feel very comfortable with making mistakes, to the point where you can laugh at yourself. Only then, can you move to the next step.

Making mistakes on purpose. You read that right! 

Try missing the high note, cracking the D, flopping the trill, missing the sharp and sound awful. Now you might be asking yourself why would I want to do this?

The answer is simple. When you make the mistake, you can experience the requirements for it. I often find myself trying my best to replicate my student’s mistakes, because that is the only way that I can figure out the correction plan. 

Try doing the same thing for yourself. For example, if you are working on tone production, try pinching your lips together and notice the tight, buzzy sound you will produce. Then open up the aperture very big and try to play a scale. You will notice a very fat tone, that is difficult to control and quiet down. Reflect on what these feel and sounds like, and then find the happy middle. Now as you attempt to sound beautiful and balanced, you might notice some of your mistakes come into light. Maybe you were pinching a little all this time!

Get comfortable with mistakes and remember that we are human, not robots!

Quiet Song

Have you ever heard of the Quiet Eye?

This is a term coined by Professor Joan Vickers of Calgary University which refers to the gaze an athlete makes right before they execute a movement, like when a tennis player’s eyes lock on the ball immediately before they hit with the racket. 

I like to think of this in terms of Border Collies, you know, the highly intelligent shepherd dog. They have something Collie trainers call the “eye” or “gaze.” This is the look the dog has when their eyes are focused solely on the sheep so that they can react in less than a second when the sheep moves. 

Now for musicians, we need to focus on the sound or pitch we want to achieve, but since music cannot be touched or seen, we must create it in our mind’s ear as a “quiet song.” This is a song only you can hear in your mind; it is the model for what you wish to achieve. 

If you always have this clear in your mind, your mistakes will greatly decrease. By keeping the song alive your brain will prepare itself to execute it, refining all the small motor functions of the embouchure, tongue placement and air flow, to help you hit the bull’s eye.

Imagine your success as vividly as possible and even mimic all the movements needed, then play. Repeat many times to refine this technique.

Daily exposure is key

Now that you have a couple of tools to help you learn from your mistakes, apply them daily to maximize the results. If you need private lessons, check out the THQ Trumpet Lessons Online program. Get to work, and good luck!

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This one is tricky because “expensive” means different things to different people. To a millionaire a $10,000 couch is no biggie, but to a regular person…well let’s just say that couch better grow gold. One thing that you can rely on is that cheap teachers will be a lot less experienced than the more expensive teachers, usually. But how cheap is too cheap? What is normal? Let’s have a look at some price ranges and what you will find behind them. Keep in mind that the prices below are per hour, so if price is a problem, you can always take 30 or 45-minute lessons.

• TIER 1 – $15/hr: These will usually be high school students trying to make some extra change. Depending on your skill level this might suit your needs. Usually, it’s not enough and I highly advise against it, primarily to avoid building bad habits.

• TIER 2 – $20-$25/hr: College freshman and sophomores charge this much depending on their experience. Some really, really good high schoolers might charge this much too. This could be a good starting point for middle schoolers who can’t afford much more but still want to start taking lessons. If you’re really serious I suggest going to tier 3.

• TIER 3 – $30-$45/hr: Here, depending on the area you live in, you will start to find good teachers with experience. For example, $40/hr in Columbia, South Carolina will get you a Master’s student, but in New York City it might get you a college freshman. To be clear, that’s 5-6 years difference of experience. This is a good price range for affordability and a decent teacher.

• TIER 4 – $50-$65/hr: This is your price range for a very good teacher. This is the teacher that will get you places if you are willing to work. Some college professors charge in this range, people with Master’s and Doctoral degrees in music or people with a ton of playing and teaching experience do too. The low end works for small cities and the higher range for slightly bigger places. This is my personal recommendation for a really good teacher that will set you on the right path.

• TIER 5 – $65-$85/hr: Here we are talking nationally known teacher, player or both. These people usually, but not always, either teach in a university or hold a position in a very good symphony orchestra. The top end of this price range will be for bigger cities like Dallas or Chicago.

• TIER 6 – $90/hr and up: This is “famous” status. I once paid $150 for a lesson with Terry Everson (super awesome player in Boston, look him up) and it was a great lesson, but it hurt a little bit to pay that much. So, this level of lesson is what I consider a treat or special occasion. Use it wisely. Unless of course you’ve got it like that, then by all means, splurge and send some donations to THQ!

So there you have it. Remember that some of these can be greatly affected by where you live, experience the teacher has and the demand of teachers. In a very small city or rural town you might find a fantastic teacher for the “tier 3” price. I hope this break down helps you and/or your parents figure out how much is fair, and maybe it will also help you establish how much to charge for your own studio!

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Yep, I’m talking about you. I’m here to once and for all put the problem out there and help you get to the bottom of it. Do you see your private teacher every single week only to leave your lessons thinking “Well, that was embarrassing. For sure I’ll be ready next week.” Is it getting old to come up with new excuses? If this is you, welcome to the club. A lot of your friends do it. College students do it. I did it at some point between 14 and 16…and then some. The thing is, yes it is common, but there is a point where its important to buckle down and fix it. Let’s break it down.

1. Yes, you play trumpet, but you also run track, lead the student council, have a part-time job at your mom’s business and have so much homework you basically mutter algebra in your sleep, not to mention you want a social life.

 

If you fit in this group take out some paper and pencil, or your iPad, and get ready to jot down your activities. What you need to do is simply learn to prioritize your life. After having all your activities written down, take out the ones that you HAVE to do no matter what, such as homework and eating. Now what’s left should be things that you do by choice, either because you think it’s fun or because it’s going to prepare you for your future, such as band, robotics club and the National Honors Society. Next comes time management and filtering what’s most and least important. For example, if you want to be a baseball player when you grow up, then baseball practice with your dad or private coach might be the most important thing to you, so you should dedicate more time to that than other activities. If you want to be a professional trumpet player, you should take time away from playing video games and spend it on trumpet. Your future self will thank you. Now, sometimes your life will be so jam-packed that you might need to quit doing something. THIS DOES NOT MEAN YOU’RE A QUITTER. It just means you’re learning how to manage your time. Talk to your parents and see what their thoughts are.

2. You like playing trumpet, but your teacher dreams of you becoming the next Louis Armstrong …and you don’t.

 

Let’s be real here, most pre-college trumpet players do not end up playing trumpet for a living. You do it because marching band, band trips and concerts are super fun. Not to mention all your friends are in band. The thing is, your private trumpet teacher bombards you with new scales, etudes and solos every single week and you can’t seem to be able to say enough is enough. But you need to. Like yesterday. Why? Because good teachers will listen to you and understand your goals. Just be honest! It could go something like this “Miss Aragon, I really like playing the trumpet and I don’t want to quit lessons, but I have other hobbies I want to get better at too. Would it be okay to lessen the amount of practice assignments each week?” Trust me, your teacher will be just fine with it.

3. You want to practice but your PS4 wins that battle every single time.

 

That PS4 could be Netflix or social media. It’s a distraction and we need to find a way to make it go away. This is where I got stuck sometime in high school and even though I still managed to achieve most of my musical goals, I knew there was so much more to be done and I regretted it later on. Let me tell you, all musicians go through this at some point. All you need to do is take it one tiny step at a time.
• First, take your trumpet home every day, even if you think you won’t play it. When you get home pull it out and leave it out in your room somewhere safe where you can see it. This may make you play it even if just for fun.
• Start by setting a timer for 15 minutes and playing your warm-up or whatever other material your teacher assigned you (although a warm-up should always come first.) You might notice that once you start playing you will want to keep playing. You actually do enjoy playing it’s just hard to get started.
• Another way to practice more is to practice with a friend, so invite your friend over and play duets or your band music. Everything is always more fun with a buddy!
• Lastly, don’t allow yourself to play video games or check your phone until you have worked out that problem area in your music or completed all your scales. Do this every day and you will be amazed and what you can accomplish.

4. You just don’t want to take lessons.

 

If lessons bring you absolutely no joy, no inspiration and you find yourself daydreaming that this torture would just end, it may be time to let it go. This reason for not practicing is probably the hardest to deal with because you may not want to disappoint your private teacher, parents or maybe even yourself. However, you really have to talk to your parents and make it clear that you REALLY do not want to take lessons. This way you can take your talents to something you enjoy more, your teacher can open up a slot for a student who truly wants it AND you can still play in the band and have fun. Let me make this very clear: it is ok to be in band for fun. However, do not confuse this with the “lazy phase”. If you do, you will end up quitting lessons and regretting it later. Quit lessons ONLY when you truly rather be eaten by the ground than take another lesson.

I know there are other reasons why some of you don’t practice but hopefully this info will help you. Feel free to leave a comment, share this with your friends and pull out that horn.

Also, check out the THQ page on practice techniques!

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