Without question the most often concern among trumpet players is this “How can I play high notes”?
Every trumpet player wants to increase his/her upper register and will do anything or buy anything that promises this utopia area of the trumpet players available and allusive range.
Why do some have the gift while others (including yours truly) suffer here in the kiddy’s wading pool?
At this point in time, no one knows and although many have squandered time and money to find the reason for this inequity, we still spend more time and money to find the answer. I will try at this time to give some of the pitfalls to the enhancement of the upper register in hopes that some of you may more fully understand why some have it, some will get it, and some will never get the art of playing high notes with ease.
Reason #1- You were told that it is difficult.
If someone tells you that something is difficult, chances are you will also find it difficult, even if you might have found it easy. I’m not a strong believer in “YOU CAN DO ANYTHING YOU SET YOUR MIND TO DO”. Watching any of these endless amateur talent shows on TV should convince you of that. The parade of pathetically talentless morons who are convinced by their mother that they can do anything they have their mind set on is a statement as to what people will do to try to be successful. The flip side of that would be the thousands of would-be stars that are told “you can’t do that” or “you shouldn’t do that” is equally disappointing.
In my case, when I was starting to practice my Olds Recording cornet at our home, I was constantly told “Stop playing those squeaky notes” as my father called them. Consequently, being the respectful son I was (at that time) I stopped playing anything above the staff. After asking my first trumpet teacher how to finger the notes above high C, I was told “You’ll never use those notes any way”. I was in high school when I finally realized that there was a whole new world above high C that I was missing.
Reason #2- It’s all in the equipment.
The amount of money spent on the perfect mouthpiece or the perfect horn or the perfect valve oil to increase your range by an octave is what keeps the United States economy moving. Every trumpet player has a shelf lined with the best high range mouthpiece ever designed and you will notice that those mouthpieces are the ones that need polishing the most for they were purchased, tried and quickly stored with all the other get rich quick paper weights on the shelf.
The same is true for the endless collection of horns. Trumpet players justify this waste of money on the assumption that if John Doe can play a high Xb on his horn, it seems logical that with the same horn he/she could play the same high Xb! That makes as much sense as buying a special bicycle because Lance Armstrong rides it,,,,,Oops. Bad example.
I will continue on this one sided discussion in our next post and it is my wish to put to rest the frustration most of us have had with our quest for the high notes of perfection.
Interesting observations! Some players have made a living of making it “look difficult” which misleads young players. It may be important for amateurs (such as myself) to realize that a lot of the calisthenics up on stage are part of the act. Am I wrong?
Great information! I can remember being young and dumb and trying to play on extremely shallow mouthpieces to try and sound like Bill Chase and Maynard. It rarely, if ever, worked. Experience can sometimes be a really tough, yet effective, teacher!