Re: Help with high register please!


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Posted by Roger Lewis on December 07, 2001 at 16:14:13:

In Reply to: Help with high register please! posted by David E-S on December 06, 2001 at 18:00:11:

The thing to remember about high range playing is that - there are no limits other than those we impose on ouselves, and that there is an easier way to do almost everything.
When I focused on developing my high range I bought the short version of the Emory Remmington Warm-ups (the 9 page book in handwritten manuscript) and worked on them down one octave and did them in the octave written (they are for trombone). The keys are: air; posture; lip setting.

You will need as much or more air in the high register than you use in the extreme low register of the instrument, otherwise you will begin to pinch to get the notes and this will make it hard to control as far as pitch goes. It will also annoy those around you.

If you believe in "The Pivot System" (we all do it, we just don't all admit it or we aren't aware that we are doing it), lean slightly more forward as you go higher. This shifts some of the pressure to the upper lip to help keep it more firm and allow it to vibrate at a higher frequency. The big mistake that people make when they start this is, as they lean forward they maintain the angle of the head and the horn. There has to be a slight movement of the forehead toward the front for this to be effective.

One of the other authors already touched on the third key, lip setting. As you go higher you need to have a more firm surface for the upper lip to vibrate against. It would be like comparing doing a drum roll on a bass drum versus on a snare drum: the stick responds faster from the firmer surface. Both lips should curl in slightly, showing less red tissue. You are now playing on what I call "weathered tissue", tissue that is exposed to the elements and is of a tougher quality than the soft inner tissue. Most of the students who have told me that they don't have a high register, when checked with a visualizer were trying to play the whole range of the horn on one embouchure setting (usually with the lips turned out just a bit). Once they saw the change that was necessary - instant incredible high register. But use the air as the fuel for this.

Hope this helps.
Roger



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