Range Connection

[nbulgarino]

Hello TromboneChat!

I have a problem with connecting one register to another within a phrase, and I'm wondering how you guys tackle this issue. Specifically, I am talking about mid to high range playing.

For example, I can ping these note by themselves

But Connecting them in an excerpt like Brahms 2 is extremely difficult. I try thinking of support from the belly button up (getting the viscera moving upward) for air support, but I still fall a partial down or miss entirely. Buzzing it has helped me a lot, but the resistance difference is a bit too much for it to be really useful.

Nick

[aasavickas]

Hey,

Try to keep the air constant. Don't push the air for the high note. That tends to cause problems and ruins the phrase. Think fast air but low volume air. Another thing that helps is start out in 6th up high and then quietly gliss up. Take a big breathe, let out 75%, then play the gliss. It will help show how little air you need up there. Many times the problem is too much air and you are blowing out the lip.

Instead, keep the air steady and focus on a squeeze of the lips/chops instead. Also, play around with your pivot. Depending on your face/anatomy you may need to slip the mouthpiece on the lips up or down to ascend and the opposite to descend. Don't move the mouthpiece. Instead, slip the lips and chops up/down on the teeth to get the best angle. Experiment and then coordinate the move with good time and foot tapping. Wetting the lips/teeth or chops may help with the move.

This is essentially the Reinhardt stuff plus some Carmine Curuso/Sam Burtis.

If you want some help, contact Doug Elliot. He can help you out with this stuff.

[norbie2018]

There's an excellent James Stamp exercise for connecting registers; I learned it from Roger Bobo's book on warming up. He actually had several exercises in there that help connect registers. The book is recommended by Douglas Yeo and I humbly recommend it as well.

[baileyman]

A pretty athletic connection to be made!

Well, try starting with the high D and using an appropriate path (perhaps out of the piece), get to the lower D, single breath, in time, piece constantly on the face, forget tonguing. Then reverse and go back.

If it won't go back, you may have to examine where in the middle the snafu is. That examination may go on for quite a while.

A shortcut to try would be to go from high to low sounding all the partials. And back up. Faster and faster till it's not notes but a movement. High D and low D are like two positions in a dance. Your chops may figure something useful out by doing this.

If that does not help, it's back to slow. But that will work.