Babies And Bath Water

For years I have been preaching about the importance of NOT sacrificing other aspects of your playing to achieve a greater range. But I realized, a few months ago, that I never really spent the effort or the time explaining exactly what is meant by this. I've found that people have a tendency to nod their heads in agreement before they fully comprehend the meaning of what they are agreeing with. I'm the same way, so I'm not trying to find fault with anyone. But I do think it's important to make this clarification.

Am I Anti-High Note?

Do I have an attitude towards high notes and high note players?

I know it may have seemed in the past that I am against getting a better range. Of course, this is ridiculous. I have a pretty good range myself and I had to "get it". I wasn't a natural high note player. But two things may have caused people to think that I am anti-high note. The first and most important of those two things is that I didn't know how to say what I'm saying in this essay. I didn't know how to put these "feelings" into words and I think I tended to get bent out of shape and emotional out of the frustration of not being able to say what I meant. Then to make matters worse, the second thing is that I don't practice range exercises. I'll talk more about that latter in this essay, but imagine the effects it had on people when I got "bent out of shape" talking about high notes and then told them that I don't practice range. How easy it must have been to make that generalization and label me with the "anti-high notes" stereotype. 

Basically, my position on this subject is one of "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water." Don't throw the rest of your trumpet playing away just to add a few notes to your upper register. Don't sacrifice other aspects or your playing to gain a greater range.

What Does It Mean?

What does it mean when we say this?

"Don't sacrifice the other aspects of your playing just to make your range better."

To me, it really comes down to:

"How are you spending your practice time?"
"What do you work on when you practice?" 
"What's important to you?"
"Where are your priorities?"

Even though I personally do not practice range exercises, I don't have any hang ups about people who do. So don't misunderstand me on this. Even if you read this entire essay and still feel a need to practice range studies, know that I'm not saying that you shouldn't. What I am saying is that the time you spend practicing should be prioritized in a way which covers the other, more important aspects of your playing FIRST!!!!

Some trumpet players say they have only about an hour to practice each day and during that hour they only have time to practice their range stuff. In other words, all these players EVER practice is range exercises! THAT is what I mean when I say "sacrificing other aspects of your playing to get a better range". 

Priorities

What you practice should be determined by your priorities. Obviously, someone who ONLY practices range exercises and nothing else appears to be someone who makes range the top priority. If I have an attitude towards high notes and high note players, it's towards these players who only care about the range and nothing else. 

What are your priorities? Do your practice habits reflect those priorities?

A lot of times I question players who practice only range exercises and learn that they do this because they don't know what else to do. They do have other priorities, but don't know how to work that out in their practice sessions. The problem is that an hour each day is simply not enough time to get in the more important STUFF and THEN work on range. I've said it before and I truly believe it - if you only practice an hour each day, then you don't have time to work on range unless you make it your highest priority. 

I would say that, if you want to practice range exercises, you should be practicing at least two hours per day.....and no more than thirty minutes of that two hours should go towards practicing range. 

Why???

Why should our practice time reflect our musical priorities? Well, think about it. What are those "more important aspects" of trumpet playing? I don't want to answer that question for anyone but myself. But here are some of my more important aspects:

1. Phrasing
2. Style
3. Sound
4. Flexibility
5. Technique
6. Articulation

My practice sessions reflect these priorities. The majority of my practice time, from 60% to 75%, goes towards learning literature. You can't learn phrasing, style or musicality by practicing exercises. And then for exercises, long tones, lip slurs, articulation studies and scales are far more important to me than range studies. If I wanted to practice range exercises, it would have to happen AFTER I've fulfilled these other more important requirements. 

If I don't practice these things, my playing suffers. And here is where we get to the "Throw the baby out" part of the essay. I've been reading, studying, meeting, learning from hundreds of different kinds of trumpet players over the years. Although there is no consensus as to what rudiments should be practiced, only an insignificant number of players have ever told me that they don't believe in practicing rudiments. So there is a general consensus that rudiments are important. If you don't practice some sorts of rudiments, your playing will suffer. 

How will it suffer?

Phrasing:

If you don't work on phrasing and spend all of your practice time on high notes, you will sound like a trumpet "meat head" when you perform in public. People think that high note playing is exciting because of the high notes, but it's not. The single most exciting thing about high note trumpet playing is the phrasing. From Maynard to Arturo, it's all about phrasing. If you don't work on phrasing, you will sound like a Jr. High player with lot's of high chops. No one will want to hear it.

Style:

To me, style is stuff like note lengths, accents, vibrato and embellishments. Style is what makes trumpet players sound like human people and not just machines. A player who never practices style and only practices range will sound crude and unrefined. And I don't mean that in a stuck up, snobby kind of way. Sometimes "rough around the edges" is an acceptable or even desirable style. But someone who doesn't spend time working on style is someone who cannot control their style. Most of these players sound awful.

Sound:

It's obvious that getting a good sound should be a priority. Even most of the exclusive high note guys say so. But my point is that time should be spent in the practice sessions working on sound. If you don't work on sound and only practice range exercises, you will be able to play high, but most likely with such a horrible sound that people will not want to hear it. 

Technique:

Most players I know who have adequate control over their technique say that it should be addressed on a regular basis. If all you practice is range and never work on technique, then you will not have the proficiency to play the music required in a performance situation. What good is it for you to be able to play high if you can't play the part? What will you do, sit back and wait to squeal a high note for the last note of the piece? Technique gives us the proficiency to play music. Without it, you are totally useless as a player.

Flexibility:

Many of the so called high note methods focus on flexibility pretty well. So I won't say much here beyond just saying that flexibility is important and should not be neglected. 

Articulation:

I mention articulation specifically because many of the high note methods I've seen never include any articulation. Think about it. Articulation is a skill that must be nurtured and learned. If you NEVER tongue anything, ever, then how will you be able to do so when it's called for?

It is a sacrifice!

Do you see now? If you don't spend enough time on these things, you won't grow as a player. If you don't work on these more important aspects of trumpet playing, it won't matter how high you can play, you still won't be any better of a player than before you could play high. Higher range in and of itself does not make a person a better player. Greater range without improvement in the more important areas of trumpet playing only make you more annoying, not better. Rarely do people mind when bad players keep it to themselves. But when you play badly, up high and real loud, it's down right offensive. It's not something anyone should ever be proud of. 

Is that what you want as a player?

Time Restrictions Summary

Now, getting back to the point I made about time restrictions. If you practice an hour each day or less, then you don't have time to practice range. If you do, you will surely be "Throwing the baby out with the bath water." If you have your heart set on practicing range exercises, I recommend that you increase the amount of time you spend practicing so that it can include the more important work AND the range exercises. Two hours should do it.

However.....

An Alternative

When I acquired my range, I did it without EVER practicing range exercises. So, if you are someone who simply cannot practice more than an hour each day but need to develop a greater range, don't give up hope. My approach to gaining better range is one of expanding those other aspects of trumpet playing to include your full current range. This is the subject of another essay I call "Use It or Loose It" and I won't go into details here. But I felt the need to point out that range exercises are not the only way to acquire range. In fact, I believe that practicing range exercises is an undesirable way to gain range. I don't try to discourage people from going that route because everyone needs to decide what's best for them. All I'm saying is that there is an alternative and for me and many of my students, this alternative is more desirable than practicing the range exercises. 

Other Related Essays:

I have several essays which are tied to this one with a common theme. For example, if you'd like to see a list of stuff to practice, check out my Check List page. Another closely related essay is my essay called "Range Familiarity" where I discuss other benefits of practicing across your entire current range. Another VERY closely related essay is "It's Not All Physical" which explains the importance of keeping musical literature in your practice sessions. 

TPIN Post

Here is a copy of a post I sent to TPIN. Basically it's the same thing as what I just wrote above. I'm including it here because it's significant to me. This was the first time I was ever able to put these feelings into words. My original intention was to use this post as a model for the essay and not include it here. But I think the two compliment each other well. So I've decided at the last minute to include it after all. 

Subject: Floundering Around on Range and High Notes
Date: Sat, 04 Aug 2001 13:34:51 -0700
From: Eddie Lewis <tigerlew@flash.net>
Organization: FlashNet User
To: tpin <tpin@parnassus.dana.edu>

Every once in a while I get to a subject that I simply cannot express my
feelings very well. This high note thing is one of them. I just read my
other post and I didn't like the way it came out. But I really don't
know if I can do any better than just flounder.
To me, it really comes down to "how are you spending your time?". Aren't
most of the players on this list "Come Back" players? Most of the CB
players I've taught were terribly short changed in terms of how much
time they had to devote to the instrument. Between jobs and family
commitments, there's really not a lot of time left to practice.

So, what do you spend your time practicing? What's important to you?

Where are your priorities?

If you practice only one hour per day (this is a lot for most CB players), how much of that time will you spend working on range? It's my
impression, from what I read on this list, that many of you spend almost all of that time working on range. It's my belief that, if you have only an hour or less each day to practice, then NONE of that time should be spent working on range because there are far too many other things which are much more important.

I believe that the bare minimum of what everyone SHOULD practice includes; physical rudiments (long tones, etc.), scales and other
technical studies and an equal amount of literature. I tell my students that their "Physical" work should be no more than half of their practice time. If you have only an hour to practice each day, then AT LEAST one half of that should be spent on literature. Didn't Jack Taylor just tell us that "Music is what it's really all about, right?"? I agree. I believe that if you're not putting at least half of your practicing time into literature, then you are missing the point. What do I mean by literature?

lyrical studies
etudes
solos
excerpts
songs
jazz tunes
jazz transcriptions
jazz etudes

And if your practice time is one hour per day or less, and you work on physical rudiments, scales and literature, when are you going to have the time to practice range? There's no time left. And THAT is what I mean when I say "Don't sacrifice other aspects of your playing for range". I don't think many people understand what this means. When I say it, I'm referring to how you spend your time in the
practice room. If you are short on time for practicing and you spend that time working on range instead of the "bare minimum", then you are indeed making such a sacrifice.

Remember that old saying, "you are what you eat"? Well, music is the same way. You are what you practice. If you are not taking care of the "bare minimum", it will show in your playing and no amount of range work will make up for it. 

Fortunately for me, I figured out these "priorities" about fifteen years ago and found ways to gain range without EVER spending ANY time working on it. You don't have to practice range to gain range. I haven't practiced anything range related since that time, fifteen years ago. And yet, my range has not stopped growing.

So don't think that, just because you are giving up the range work to practice the "bare minimum" it does NOT mean that your range will stop growing. As many people on this list have said, being a better player is sometimes all it takes to get a better range. Now I don't feel like I'm floundering anymore. I think this pretty much sums up my point. I have NOTHING against practicing range. But the "bare minimum" should ALWAYS come first. When you've finished working on that, then and only then is it alright to work on range. And if you only have an hour to practice each day, in my opinion, that's the only reason to
NOT work on range. If that's all the time you have, then you have more important things to work on, things that, if you don't work on them,
then the chances are the range work won't be very effective either. That would be like building a high rise office building without laying a solid foundation first. How steady will it stand?