Less Pressure & More Consistency! | "G for Grip" | Trumpet A-Z, S01E07
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- Опубликовано: 8 фев 2025
- Do you feel like you're injuring your lips with mouthpiece pressure, or feel that your chops lack consistency? In the latest episode of Trumpet A-Z, "G for Grip", Bryan Davis shares a simple practice tip that can help you lessen mouthpiece pressure and develop the sensation known as the "grip" of the lips on the mouthpiece. You'll be playing more easily and with less pain in no time!
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Questions and feedback welcome as always! Let's hear it.
I’ve recently changed my holding of the trumpet. I actually put my thumb under the bottom pipe leading into the 1st valve. It’s very similar to you explanation but I do this to make sure the trumpet is more level when I’m playing so I don’t get lazy and end up playing to my feet. It also helps if you’re static miked up instead of clip on’s anyhow great explanation looking forward to the next one cheers 🍻
not the first time I've heard of gripping with the lips ! love your instruction !
Thanks for making your way through my A-Z. I’m glad you’re finding the videos helpful.
I like your comment about holding the trumpet. I've been practicing that way for years, trying to give the trumpet a "suspended in air" feeling to avoid using too much backwards hand pressure onto the lips. I also use it to get away from a smile type embouchure I first employed for years, due to the way I was taught many years ago and instead try to concentrate on keeping my lips in a slight pucker, coming out to meet the mouthpiece, rather than pushing the mouthpiece into them. I guess that's the effect practicing the Maggio System while recovering from a severe chop injury had on me. I want to work now on trying out your suggestions on "gripping" the mouthpiece. I'll keep you posted! Keep up the great work here!
Thanks for watching!
Very good advice, very similar to the palm exercise of the Stevens-Costello method, but closer to real playing, only if you can play that way you can be sure not to use too much mouthpiece pressure !
I certainly can't play everything I would usually play with this hand position, but it can be a worthwhile reminder that I need to focus on my air rather than pressing, particularly if I feel out of balance.
I'm glad you enjoyed the video. Thanks for watching!
one of my playing flaws! Great advice thanks Bryan.
Glad to be of service, Gavin. Thanks for watching!
Hi Mr Bryan Davis, I did get volume 1, from airflow music, however it woud've been Nice the book included a cd, or dvd, to see how lessons would sound like, just My humble opinión, thank You!
This is the perfect video
Thanks for watching. I’m glad you enjoyed it!
wow... nice tip. I tried it ...and It makes my practicing harder. But I feel It Works.!!
Thanks for watching.
Playing this way has a different feel, for sure. If it makes it a lot more difficult, that indicates that your habit is to use a little more arm-related pressure than you need to. Practice this way a little everyday and your system will rebalance after a while.
Great tip, thank you again!
+Javier Martínez - you’re very welcome. Glad it was helpful.
This is great Bryan. I use this with my students who use way too much pressure. I call it the "No pressure grip". Not quite accurate but it helps my students understand why theyre using it.
It’s ironic that my original definition of the grip was about the embouchure - this video has become about the hand grip, just as much. Thanks for watching!
Not sure the falsetto analogy works because in falsetto we actually use more air and less compression that modal voice . Falsetto also typically has less high overtones and is mainly fundamental when untrained. You may have trained yourself to do falsetto with more compression counter tenors use almost as much compression as modal voice, but the process of joining the registers is partly about how to get that falsetto to be more similar to modal voice.
Could you please tell me why I have to wipe my mouth regularly and how to stop thank you
Bryan, could you please elaborate on the feeling of grip a bit more. You showed how to keep pressure to minimum, but I guess I missed any tips on how to develop that sense of grip and why it's important.
That's a great question, but I'm not sure I have a good answer for you. I can't really explain it any better than to say that when the pressure feels balanced, I just have a feeling of security in my embouchure, as if the lips are gripping the mouthpiece, but without the feeling that the mouthpiece is pressing in too hard. It's important because I feel that my lips are free to respond to the air and form the aperture, and that the aperture can adapt to changes in airflow freely. Those are the times when everything feels really easy!
I hope that's somewhat helpful. Let me give this some more thought and make a followup video.
Bryan, it's a great answer as it it. I know it's hard to explain further, but what you've said resonates with me already. It's a feeling that you can get any note from your range with ease, that the vibration happens in the depth of the tunnel that your embouchure forms, not close to the mp where your lips contact the mp. When it happens, your lips vibrations don't get dampened by the mp pressure, but kind of work independently so your mp and the pressure doesn't dictate you what range or what sound you get. Man, I know it's hard to explain :)
When you say you get the sensation of the lips “gripping the mouthpiece”, what exactly does that mean? I’m almost wondering if my lower lip rolling under my top lip (causing a choke of sound) is because I am either overblowing, or not “gripping” correctly.
The sensation of the grip is a little hard to explain. It's a point of balance where your embouchure feels in place and secure but where you're not pressing too hard and mashing your lip(s) with the mouthpiece. Both overblowing and/or pulling in too hard are the primary culprits, and one can lead to the other, as I talk about in the video.
Now, if your lower lip is changing position as the register changes (I just saw your email btw, but figured I'd respond here in case it helps somebody else) then it's quite possible that the mouthpiece is not properly set on the lower lip. A basic tweak I can suggest is not to change your mouthpiece placement but simply to change the order - place on your lower lip first then your upper. That's a small change that can make a big difference to how our embouchure muscles engage.
That kind of lip position change usually ties to jaw motion which, as I talked about in "J for Jaw", can be related to overblowing and the tension that causes in the jaw and the tongue so their motion becomes connected. It can also be a sign that the corners are not engaging and supporting properly. Try some isometrics like the pencil exercise (watch "I for Isometrics") to get them going and see if that helps.
That's the best advice I can offer without seeing you play and watching what happens. If you'd like some more personalized advice, then I'd be happy to schedule a Skype lesson - details at bryandav.is/teaching.
- Bryan
Good morning. I'm having problems with my ear. I have to practice blowing with as little pressure as possible, as little effort as possible. Do you have any suggestions? Thank you
Good morning. Look up my video #TrumpetProTips E08 - how to play with less tension. That should get you off to a good start.
What do you think about "no-pressure devices" or do you have any experience of those?
Minimizing pressure is a worthwhile goal, hence making this video in the first place. However, there is no such thing as “no pressure” in playing a brass instrument. A seal between the lips and mouthpiece has to be formed and so there is always *some* pressure - we just don’t want to overdo it.
I’ve tried a number of different gadgets, over the years, and they generally do little to address the underlying problem. You’re much better off, in my opinion, spending your money on a lesson with a good teacher than on gadgets and gizmos.
And my K tongue sounds funny
Sorry lots of problems, lots of problems. (smile)