How To Play in the Upper Register
Summary
TLDRIn this video, the artist discusses strategies for playing the trumpet's upper register effectively. They emphasize the importance of a strong foundation in lower registers, the mental shift to view high notes as an extension of one's range, and maintaining evenness in sound and effort. Physical techniques like tongue arch and abdominal compression are introduced to achieve a more efficient sound. The artist also encourages incorporating high notes into regular practice and improvisation to develop a seamless musical style across registers.
Takeaways
- 🎷 Mindset is crucial: Shift from thinking about 'high notes' to viewing them as an extension of your natural playing range.
- 💪 Solid foundation: Ensure a strong, even sound across the lower and middle registers before extending to the upper register.
- 🚫 Eliminate fear: Tighten your standards and don't be intimidated by high notes; treat them as you would any other note.
- 🎶 Musical application: Incorporate high notes into your regular playing and improvisation to build familiarity and comfort.
- 👅 Tongue technique: Practice tongue arching to achieve a more compressed sound without straining, which is essential for high notes.
- 🔁 Evenness and efficiency: Strive for evenness in sound and effort across all registers for a more efficient and less fatiguing playing style.
- 📈 Gradual approach: Start with simple slurs and arpeggios, and gradually increase complexity as you become more comfortable.
- 🗣️ Vocalize practice: Whistle to practice pitch control and airflow, which translates to better control on the trumpet.
- 📚 Apply to repertoire: Transpose tunes and practice exercises to include high notes, fostering a seamless integration into your playing.
- 🤝 Connect with community: Engage with the musician's community on TikTok and consider one-on-one lessons for personalized guidance.
Q & A
What is the main focus of the video transcript?
-The main focus of the video transcript is on improving trumpet playing, particularly in the upper register, by addressing mental and physical aspects of playing high notes.
Why does the speaker suggest changing the mindset about high notes?
-The speaker suggests changing the mindset about high notes because thinking of them as a separate entity makes playing them harder. Instead, they should be viewed as an extension of what one already plays.
What is the importance of having a solid foundation in the lower and middle registers according to the speaker?
-Having a solid foundation in the lower and middle registers is important because it provides the necessary technique and sound quality to extend into the upper register effectively.
How does the speaker recommend changing one's approach to reading music in terms of high notes?
-The speaker recommends tightening one's standards and not getting intimidated by high notes in sheet music. Instead of seeing them as a challenge, they should be viewed as an extension of the regular playing range.
What physical exercises are suggested to improve the evenness of sound in the upper register?
-The speaker suggests practicing slurs that go up and down the register to achieve evenness of sound. They also mention the importance of tongue arching and using the air efficiently to compress the sound without excessive embouchure movement.
Why is it important to practice whistling according to the video?
-Practicing whistling is important because it helps in understanding how to control pitch with the tongue without significant embouchure movement, which can be applied to playing the trumpet.
What does the speaker mean by 'efficiency' in the context of playing high notes?
-In the context of playing high notes, 'efficiency' refers to the ability to play with a consistent sound and effort across all registers, minimizing strain and maximizing musicality.
How does the speaker advise incorporating high notes into regular playing?
-The speaker advises incorporating high notes into regular playing by applying them to exercises, practicing tunes in higher octaves, and not being afraid to use them in improvisation.
What is the significance of maintaining the same style across different registers according to the speaker?
-Maintaining the same style across different registers is significant because it ensures a consistent musical expression and makes learning new styles easier, as the approach to playing does not need to change significantly.
What is the speaker's stance on the mental aspect of playing the trumpet?
-The speaker emphasizes that playing the trumpet is predominantly a mental challenge, and that by removing mental barriers and believing in one's capabilities, significant improvements can be made.
Outlines
🎷 Returning to Regular Posting and Mentality Shift for High Notes
The speaker returns to posting after a hiatus, promising to post more consistently with a focus on in-depth content. They discuss the importance of changing one's mindset when approaching high notes on a trumpet, suggesting to view them as an extension of one's regular playing rather than a separate, daunting task. The speaker emphasizes the need for a solid foundation in the lower and middle registers before attempting high notes, and encourages tightening one's standards to reduce the mental barrier associated with high notes.
🎶 Achieving Evenness in Sound and Efficiency in Playing
The speaker continues by detailing the physical aspects of playing high notes, focusing on achieving an even sound and effort across registers. They introduce the concept of tongue arch, explaining how adjusting the tongue's position can help compress air and produce a more efficient sound. The speaker demonstrates exercises, such as slurs and arpeggios, to help achieve this evenness and suggests practicing these exercises slowly to focus on sound quality. They also discuss the importance of not playing high notes loudly unless necessary, aiming for efficiency and evenness instead.
🎵 Incorporating High Notes into Music and Improvisation
The speaker encourages the incorporation of high notes into regular playing and improvisation, advising not to be intimidated by high notes in sheet music. They suggest practicing high notes in the context of tunes and exercises, and to transpose tunes to higher keys to challenge and expand one's range. The speaker also talks about the importance of maintaining one's style and feel across all registers, making it easier to learn new styles and express oneself musically.
📚 Mental Aspects of Playing and Encouragement to Overcome Limitations
In the final paragraph, the speaker reiterates that playing an instrument, especially achieving high notes, is largely a mental challenge. They stress the importance of self-belief and removing mental barriers to improve not just high notes but overall musicianship. The speaker provides encouragement, asserting that with the right mindset and practice, anyone can achieve their musical goals. They also mention their presence on TikTok for quick tips and offer personal Zoom lessons for those seeking more direct guidance.
🔚 Conclusion and Contact Information
The speaker concludes by summarizing the main points of the video, emphasizing the mental approach to playing high notes and the importance of practice. They provide their contact information for those interested in Zoom lessons and invite viewers to engage with them on TikTok for more frequent content. The speaker expresses gratitude for the viewers' patience during their absence and looks forward to increased interaction and content creation.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Mentality
💡High Notes
💡Extension
💡Efficiency
💡Tongue Arch
💡Evenness
💡Improvisation
💡Physical Capability
💡Standards
💡Foundation
Highlights
The importance of changing mindset to improve high note playing on the trumpet.
Discarding the term 'high notes' to simplify playing in the upper register.
The necessity of a solid foundation in lower and middle registers for upper register extension.
Tightening standards to perceive high notes as less challenging.
Mental preparation for high notes by expecting higher pitches.
The psychological aspect of playing trumpet and overcoming self-imposed limitations.
Physical exercises for evenness of sound and effort in high and low registers.
Using slurs to connect high and low registers for even sound.
The role of tongue arch in achieving compression and evenness in sound.
Practicing with a mirror to observe and correct tongue and embouchure movements.
Whistling as a practice method to understand pitch control without physical strain.
Incorporating high notes into regular playing to improve range and efficiency.
Applying high notes to improvisation to enhance musical expression.
The significance of maintaining a consistent style across all registers.
Transposing tunes to practice high notes and expand range.
The mental aspect of playing high notes and the need to raise personal standards.
The importance of a solid foundation before attempting to play high notes.
Strategies for warming up and warming down the trumpet.
The availability of the instructor on TikTok for quick tips and playing examples.
Offering of Zoom lessons for personalized guidance on trumpet playing.
Transcripts
hey what's going on everyone I'm sorry I
haven't posted in a while I know it's
been a minute I've been really busy like
been going on but um I'm back I'm cool
I'm good I'm gonna try my best to post
once every other week if I can I'll do
once a week I am and not just like short
videos I mean like I'm gonna be breaking
stuff down and of course I'll be posting
videos me playing some stuff but yeah
I'm back time good sorry it's been a
while but this my first video back this
is kind of just diving deeper into video
I did a while back while I talked about
how to develop toned upper register but
I'm just gonna be talking about playing
up there and mentality and stuff like
that so the first things first is we
have to kind of switch our mindset
around you know in more than one way the
first thing is we kind of have to throw
away the term high notes you know once
we start thinking like that stuff gets a
lot harder just kind of think of stuff
think of it as an extension of what you
already play you know don't think of
something it high notes as a separate
thing if you're playing you know we
don't we don't play the trumpet we don't
play high notes we play music you know
so think of it as an extension of what's
already available to at your fingertips
at your chops really you know now that
being said you also have to you have to
have a really solid good sound in the
lower register in the middle register
you know because since it's an extension
of what's already playing you have to
have a solid foundation you know so shut
all your stuff that you're working on it
looks less your etudes whatever whatever
you're shedding right now just to
solidify your foundation you know and
the second thing in changing mentality
is we have to kind of tighten our
standards a little bit you know I know a
lot of cats that when they're looking at
music they see written hi Gigi right
above the staff you know and it's like
oh I got to get ready I'm coming in on
high G for me personally when I'm
looking at music especially when I'm
playing lead because I got to be in a
mindset the first note that I see when
I'm like oh oh this is kind of high is
probably like a double G you know that's
when I'm with that I see that note
written it's like okay now we're getting
high from a high C all into height
double G I'm just saying what if this is
just a little bit about
register you know and even if you can't
play that yet you just tell yourself
that you know and you'll realize as your
standards get lower or technically
higher you know for yourself it's gonna
be a lot easier you so you see a high C
in sight oh that's high then you're
gonna be reaching for it and you're
gonna miss it like 90% of the time if
you think of a high C on top of the
staff as the same amount of effort as a
C right in the middle and stuff it's
like oh okay
Boop and you got it so those are the two
biggest things in terms of mental stuff
of course there's some physical stuff
but we gotta remember playing trumpet is
99.999% mental stuff you know we all
have the physical capability to do a lot
of the stuff that we want to but we
trick ourselves into thinking that it's
not that so like in my first point where
I spoke about um we have to have that
evenness of sound that the extending and
the evenness of sound and as well as
effort you know you want everything to
stay relatively easy you want to find a
set of exercises that works for you that
connects your high to low this this is
um a set of slurs that basically
everyone has heard but it's good because
it goes up and down at the same time
you're going down as you go up not all
the way down word but you're not just
descending you know you're slightly
descending as you ascend so you want to
slow this down and stop wherever is
comfortable for you and just really go
for the evenness and timbre you want an
evenness of sound and the ability to get
a little bit more aggressive when you
need it for playing lead another good
stuff so just start this simple slur
when you're just using arpeggios
[Music]
I keep going to where you're stopping
uncomfortable
[Music]
so right now I'm not playing that a and
the double G is super loud because I can
play them like because I'm looking for
like I said that evenness and sounds the
evenness in a in efficiency really the
effort I'm putting in the same effort I
put in to play down low sees the same
one after I put in for that double G and
I see just a little bit more compression
you know just beat up the air so I'm not
playing these super loud I'm not playing
this as if I was playing a lead gig you
know this is just that efficiency and
the Tambor you know what I'm saying you
want that evenness of sound now what we
can do specifically to achieve that is
this is something I mentioned in that
past video speaking about is um tongue
arch tongue arch um as we ascend you
don't want to go too far because then
your sound is gonna get really pinched
off and nasally but to compress the air
instead of just jamming the horn into
our face and squeezing everything
together as you ascend you at the back
of your tongue should come up as if
you're going from the vowel Oh kind of
going towards the prancing of all II so
and you should feel that your airflow is
coming up around here that's the air
that's heinel air and that's what's
going to get you that compression that's
why you see like as I'm ascending of
course you see a tiny bit of movement
but you don't see major movement in my
chops on
there's almost no movement here so one
thing we can do to start learning how to
do that is when you got nothing else to
do just whistle when I do that octave
there you can look in front of mirror
you don't really see your chop muscles
moving as you whistle your tongue is
what's changing the pitch you know and
that same exact principle is what
applies to our time to playing so
whistle round mess with it and then
isolated you'll hear when you're
breathing and you can know if you're
doing right you'll feel your air steam
is going down here now this is gonna
work for majority of players of course
there's some people like if you're an
upstream player obviously this is
different but for the majority of us
this is what we're looking for this is
gonna give us that efficiency in the
operators too so you feel that air
sitting down here and just apply it to
your playing it's not gonna be super
loud
we don't want super loud right now but
just go ahead and apply these though
[Music]
and when a lot of these cats are doing
those super huge shakes that's all
they're doing here is going moving that
song around that's what's changing that
pitch for those super wide shakes you
know you don't shake like that going you
can't really shake those white shapes by
shaking the horn really fast or anything
like that it's just so start isolating
that tongue marks before you put it on
horn and get used to it
and then apply it to your playing and it
just makes life easier you're gonna
unlock a lot more range and everything
is just gonna be easier with the most
amount of efficiency as possible you
know which is what we want we want to
get the best sound we want to get the
best range with the least amount of work
you know so tongue March is a big thing
and if you want to start studying
aggressive it's that same principle just
add a little bit of abdominal
compression behind it what gives you a
lead sound you know a more direct sound
so the second point I made at the
beginning of this video is that we we
have to kind of lower our standards for
our height and our standards is the
right term for high notes you know don't
freak out when you see a high F in your
music you know it's it's just just
matters is the same amount of work as an
F right on top of the staff
you know so high in your standards for
what you can do you know don't get
scared don't get intimidated when you
see a high C to a high F in her chart
you know I'm saying as you start
building up your range and you start
building this efficiency you're gonna
realize it's like oh my job is a lot
easier I don't have to worry about this
stuff especially when it's playing soft
playing high and soft is just as easy as
playing the rest of your horn playing
lead and stuff like that of course it's
a little bit more work you know there's
some more stuff involved there but
playing high and soft is easy you know
so when you've seen this music don't
don't get scared you know you got it you
got it and like I said we're working on
this mental stuff you're gonna be in the
right headspace and you're gonna have to
write physical capabilities you know
because you're making your job easy use
a lot of efficiency so the last point is
um you know how I was talking about high
notes are just an extension of what your
playing is you have to apply a lot of
these high notes into into your music
you know that's the that's the only way
to make that connection between your
upper were just doing the rest of your
sound take exercises take a mobile minor
third take them up a fifth whatever you
need to do is take them up an octave if
you can and just apply these high notes
to your regular life when you're
improvising don't be afraid to go up to
a high D a high F you know and if that's
too much start regular improvise and
maybe if you're used to improvising
within from low C to an e in the top
space maybe throw in a G you're blowing
on the Blues they wanna see blues you
don't be afraid or not until you on top
of the staff playing bluesy line
starting on a high C you know don't be
afraid
and you should be encouraged to
incorporate upper register notes into
your regular playing that's what's gonna
get you the best results and that's
what's gonna get you an evenness not
only sound and temper but style that's a
super important thing especially when we
start playing lead and stuff like that
is you want to have the same style you
know the same feel as when you play in a
lower register middle register and
that'll open up the doors because when
you're when we're talking about middle
register I'm talking about lower
register if we want to learn a new style
or something like that approach to new
style it's easy you don't have to think
about chop string so if we're if are
playing in the upper register is the
same then it's just as easy to start
learning a new style you know so play
tunes play stuff like that if your range
is up to a high D or high e let's say
let's say e to be safe take like the two
misty take it up an octave further
bridge you need a little bit more range
I think it goes up to an f-sharp and you
need a little bit more space but if you
got a high a high e right play misty up
an octave if it's like this
[Music]
[Music]
Ben looks like that and stuff like that
taking them to my dad about taking
exercises up you know what your
capabilities are and then start looking
at tunes that you can do transpose Tunes
playing different keys and when you're
improvising it doesn't have to be super
high but just
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
evenness you know I'm saying I'm
cracking if you know something playing
all day so my chops a little bit tired
but I'm playing from that high E flat
all the way down to the low G you know
[Music]
you know like that pedal tones unlocking
a lot of pedal tones and stuff it's also
gonna help you it's also gonna help you
warm down that's a cover video warming
up and warming down and then a separate
time because I I got some warm-ups that
I think are really good have some warm
downs as well but I think I should share
with everyone but basically that's about
it I'm summing up what I mentioned in
this video is everything trumpet wise is
mainly mental you gotta take some stress
out stress off of yourself and heighten
your standards for what you can do you
know you can do a lot more than you
think you can a lot more and that's in
everything not just high notes you can
improvise better than you think you can
you can play concerto better than you
think you can you know you just got to
take those limits off mentally you know
that's for playing high notes
specifically you have to be able to
connect you have to have a solid
foundation before you start building you
know if you're Laura Miller registers
sound like this you know how can you
expect to start playing double G's and
stuff when your foundation if you can't
play that you can't play just nobody's
gonna want to hear your gg even if it's
Wayne Bergeron's gg you know amber
drowns awesome that's a different thing
anyway so yeah um take him stress off of
yourself it's a lot mental you can do it
I promise you I promise you you can do
it and if you can't do it right this
instant I promise you you can do it a
lot sooner than you think you can
you can do a lot sooner than you think
you can you just have to know your body
you have to know your limitations and
you need to know how to push those
limitations in a way that's gonna
benefit you the most in a way that's
gonna benefit you physically mentally
and most importantly musically you know
you're you're gonna improve a lot of
your music all this stuff incorporate
your upper register them in your normal
playing don't think high notes think
extension think of a piano you don't
think of oh man like if you see piano
music and you see a super a super high C
right you don't freak out saying oh my
goodness actively huh you just hit the
key that's that's the mental state that
we want to be you want to be have all of
this in front of you to be able to make
music
whether that be jazz classical rock
whatever you're doing you know we just
want a wide palate as wide of a palate
as possible so that we can create music
that we can create art to express
ourselves so yeah that um in a nutshell
is basically it I gave you those
exercises those simple slurs that you
play pedal tones throughout so you don't
get super tired play tunes whatever
tunes you want the exercises but I mean
that's that's about it I for those of
you that don't know I'm a tick tock now
I've been making a lot of tic TOCs
I post at least once a day on quick tips
quick videos of me playing I post quick
clips of me talking about how to play
stuff just like tips and stuff like that
on how to play in the upper register or
how to play certain licks I've been
doing to stuff like that so check me out
I'll put all this stuff in the
description of this video
it's my app is nathaniel underscore 0 2
1 1 so I'll go check me out there I've
been posting really frequently for a
while there I think you'll like this
stuff and also for those of you that
don't know I'm offering zoom lessons so
I'm going to put my email down below
first zoom lesson 3 um and we're gonna
work on whatever you want you know if
you want to work on starting to play in
the upper register better we'll discuss
that if you want to work on if you can
already play high but you're having
trouble connecting talk about that if
you're having
if you wanted to get some better
understanding on improvisation playing
bebop scales different types of chord
progressions all that stuff shoot me an
email we'll break stuff down so ya n
Williford zero eight at gmail.com like I
said I'm gonna put all this stuff in the
description leave a like leave a comment
ask me any questions if you have any
yeah I think that's about it
happy shutting everyone like I said I'm
sorry for being gone for so long but um
I'm back now
so yeah missed you guys I'm back and you
will be seeing a lot more a lot more of
me take
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