Cracking/Missing Notes = Small Mouthpiece?

[Fgal409]

Hi everyone, i been playing trombone for the last 7 years and never had any major problem but a couple of months ago i been having some trouble with practically every note in every register (but its even more notorious on the high register) I m Cracking literally 5 out of 10 notes (50%) which is not good at all, i have the note in my head, im ready to play it, but the second i blow a different sound comes out of the horn (usually a higher partial).
Even when im playing legato or any notes together its almost certain that one note is going to go wrong.
After cracking a note all the rest of the notes become stuffy and fuzzy.
I use for articulation "tah" for double "tah-kah" and for legato "tu-ru", although im not able to play fast because its certain that im going to miss or crack most of the notes.
The only equipment change i made a couple of months ago was the mouthpiece, i went from Yamaha 48 To a Bach 7C because the rim on the 48 was uncomfortable and the high range took a LOT of effort, and even then anything above a 5th Partial Eb sounded without focus.
The Bach 7C Makes the high register more easy and better sounding but anything below a 2nd partial D is a waste, also its significantly brighter.
Yesterday i tried the 48 Again and results were even worse than the 7C.
I Have a 4C, 12C and a Schilke 42b (very easy high register) Lying around here and none of them they dont help neither. Last Week i had a small gig, and in an exterme effort for not to crack notes i was dead at the 3rd song, with my throat dry.
Maybe its something on my playing but i promise that this started 4 or 5 months ago, i ve read somewhere that cup depth and size affects at cracking notes. I ve been playing a lot of range building excercises but i doubt its has anything to do?
If someone can help me i would appreciate it very much.
i play a Yamaha 354

[marccromme]

Dont think it has to do with your equipment, probably you did enter a self enhancing spiral of habits. Maybe started by forcing range???

If you play a lot of cracked notes, for a lot of days, you get very good at it. And it will continue.

To break the spiral, you need to do the opposite. Play for a couple of weeks only very, very easy stuff, simple songs, ballads, but do so with only focus on nice tone and music. No technical challenges at all.

Your brain will probably learn by repetition of easy melodies how to play nice again. First then, when it becomes a habit, you can work on technical aspects again. Slowly

[Matt K]

Going to small causes me to chip notes but it sounds like you don't have a strong foundation for your embouchure, so while it may be contributing I doubt it's totally the root cause. Especially if you can't last for 3 songs (presumably like 10 minutes?). It sounds like you are doing something counterproductive at least, but there's not much that anyone will be able to help with w/o seeing you. It would be a good idea to get a lesson off of a professional to help make sure you aren't doing something that will cause you to hurt yourself.

I don't see any mention about how much you practice either, but practicing consistently even if it's for 10-15 minutes a day will go a long way.

As far as which piece makes the most sense, sticking with the one that works the best for a week may help, jumping around might cause issues those are pretty diverging rim size, shape, and cup depths.

[Fgal409]

Dont think it has to do with your equipment, probably you did enter a self enhancing spiral of habits. Maybe started by forcing range???

If you play a lot of cracked notes, for a lot of days, you get very good at it. And it will continue.

To break the spiral, you need to do the opposite. Play for a couple of weeks only very, very easy stuff, simple songs, ballads, but do so with only focus on nice tone and music. No technical challenges at all.

Your brain will probably learn by repetition of easy melodies how to play nice again. First then, when it becomes a habit, you can work on technical aspects again. Slowly

Alright i ll try playing slow, soft ballads on the mid range. Although i know im not going to get good tones on the beginning. I ll give it a try!
Thanks!

[JohnL]

Can you clarify the timeline? Did the issue with cracked notes first appear coincident with the change from Yamaha 48 to the Bach 7C?

[Doug Elliott]

A 48 and 7C aren't all that much different size except how the inner edge goes into the cup.

If I played on that size mouthpiece I would have exactly the same situation. I've never been able to play on smaller mouthpieces. Yes, cracking notes can definitely be caused by the mouthpiece being too small.

The 4C is really a lot bigger and maybe too big for you, but you should give it a try for at least a couple of weeks to get used to it.

[Fgal409]

Going to small causes me to chip notes but it sounds like you don't have a strong foundation for your embouchure, so while it may be contributing I doubt it's totally the root cause. Especially if you can't last for 3 songs (presumably like 10 minutes?). It sounds like you are doing something counterproductive at least, but there's not much that anyone will be able to help with w/o seeing you. It would be a good idea to get a lesson off of a professional to help make sure you aren't doing something that will cause you to hurt yourself.

I don't see any mention about how much you practice either, but practicing consistently even if it's for 10-15 minutes a day will go a long way.

As far as which piece makes the most sense, sticking with the one that works the best for a week may help, jumping around might cause issues those are pretty diverging rim size, shape, and cup depths.

I always had trouble with high register and fast passages, but now that issues started on what it should be simple playing. (Im missing more notes than usual)
I practice almost everyday for about 30min to 1hr depending on how i feel that day.
I noticed at the gig that my sound was dead by the 3rd song mostly because my throat gave up. But it also can be releated to the high register bulilding excercises im doing almost everyday.
I will try to play basic stuff slow on the 7C to see how it goes but fifths or sixths jumps feel very challenging not to crack

[Fgal409]

Can you clarify the timeline? Did the issue with cracked notes first appear coincident with the change from Yamaha 48 to the Bach 7C?

Ok, reading my post now i think i didnt make myslef clear so:

I started playing 7 years ago, with the usual begginer mouthpieces.
2 years ago when i bought my actual instrument i started playing on the 48.
Last year i started playing on the Bach 7C, and things were pretty good for my standards, decent sound, flexibility etc.
Around 5 months ago i started having this issues with my 7C, then yesterday i tried again my 48 and things were drastically worse than the 7C.

[JohnL]

...yesterday i tried again my 48 and things were drastically worse than the 7C.

Normally, I'd say that you need to give yourself a few days to re-acclimate to the 48, BUT...

Looking back over your previous posts, it sounds like you've been struggling with these issues for a while.
viewtopic.php?t=30748
viewtopic.php?t=31497
viewtopic.php?t=33124

At this point, I'm pretty sure you need more than just the advice you can get from the forum. You need someone who can look at how you're playing, figure out why you're having these issues, and help you work through them (yes, you'll probably need to change your mouthpiece, but that will almost certainly be only part of the solution). I'd suggest working with Doug Elliott on this; there's lots of trombone teachers out there, but (IMHO) not that many who can offer what Doug does as far as resolving embouchure issues.

[Molefsky]

Just a wild suggestion here but it might be worth seeing if you're allergic to metals. Some players get obvious rashes but many don't. We just get subtle inflammation that presents as randomly cracked notes as our facial geometry doesn't align with our muscle memory etc. I'm coming across more and more players who have dealt with this.

[hyperbolica]

I had the same problem with cracking a lot of notes. There were a couple of things that solved it for me.

- first, I took a couple of lessons with pros. They pointed out the problems. Play a Bb. Then take the mouthpiece out of the horn and try to buzz a Bb. Then take the mouthpiece away from the lips and try to freebuzz a Bb. Then reverse the process. My problem was that I was overshooting the pitch in my chops. I had to recalibrate my buzz to the correct pitches.

- second, I started using Doug Elliot mouthpieces, with a bigger diameter rim and appropriate size cup/shank.

I still crack notes, but only when I hear the pitch wrong in my head before I play. Ear training will help you play better. Believe it.