Ep. 15: Trumpet Aperture and James Stamp's Teaching
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- The aperture: great mystery of trumpet playing. This episode of Ryan's Trumpet shares an insight into understanding the aperture, courtesy of Newell Dayley, that sheds serious light on the pedagogy of James Stamp.
Newell studied with James Stamp decades ago, and had the opportunity to observe Stamp's teaching of many other players.
In our last lesson together, he dropped this absolutely gem-of-an-idea on me.
Truly, I have never, ever heard anyone talk about the aperture in this way. It was a light bulb moment for me! So I figured I needed to share it with you!
In this episode, I talk more about some of the foundational principles of Stamp's teaching ("Stay up to go down;" "Stay down to go up"), and explore how to apply this aperture-induced-insight to Scale Studies, Chris Gekker's Articulation Studies, and Pilafian/Sheridan Moving Long Tones ("Beautiful Sound" from their book, "Brass Gym").
Here are the books! Check them out!
James Stamp, "Warm-Ups and Studies for Trumpet."
www.editions-b...
Chris Gekker, "Articulation Studies."
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Sam Pilafian and Patrick Sheridan, "Brass Gym."
patricksherida...
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Ryan's Trumpet is a recurring series that shares ideas and practices that have been extremely helpful to Ryan as a trumpeter, musician, composer, improviser, and teacher.
Have some questions about this episode? About the trumpet? Music? Performance? Jazz? Composing? Comment below!
If your question captures Ryan's imagination, you just might get a free lesson and have an episode dedicated to you!
Ryan Nielsen is the trumpeter in the Kobie Watkins Grouptet.Their first album, "Movement," received international acclaim and was selected by Howard Reich (former member, Pulitzer Jury) as one of the 10 best albums of 2018.
Ryan has recorded and performed with Ra Kalam Bob Moses and the Summit Brass. In 2021, he was an adjudicator for the preliminary rounds of the Carmine Caruso Jazz Trumpet Competition, "The world's most prestigious competition for jazz trumpet." He has performed as lead and solo trumpet with Delfeayo Marsalis's Uptown Jazz Orchestra, and received the Doc Severinsen Award for Outstanding Classical and Jazz Trumpet.
Ryan co-authored "The Classroom Guide to Jazz Improvisation" with John McNeil (Trumpet, Hush Point; frmr. trumpet, Horace Silver; Professor Emeritus, New England Conservatory). It is due to be released later this year by Oxford University Press.
He is currently Associate Professor of Trumpet at Utah Valley University.
Visit Ryan online at www.ryanstrumpet.com
Nice!
Tossing my hat in the ring here. It was my honor to have benefitted from the last lessons Vincent Cichowicz ever gave, right in his living room! Listening to your well-presented and articulate ideas here it has reminded me that Vince used to tell me “always follow your sound…be present on the other side of the bell…if things sound right then you are DOING them right.”
The simplicity, the bumper sticker length thought I can hold in my head…so helpful. Paralysis by analysis is my personal quicksand!
How I miss that man.
I think one of my favorite things from this is the idea that the master still takes lessons.
Definitely feeling like a student still! Thanks, Mindy 🙂
Thank you for your sincerity and your kindness talking about all these issues that i felt throughout my entire life as a trumpet player. I never took lessons as a grown up because i never believed that i could solve the problems. 😃
Found my new fav music spot! 🎵💕 These tracks are amazing!
I had the privilege of studying with Jimmy Stamp in college (1968-1972). Little did I know I was in the presence of royalty. A kind and caring gentleman. 50+ years later I still am mastering his simple doctrines.
Ryan
Some of the “smartest” material about this subject out there! thank you for these videos - keep them coming. They really help!’
Thank you 🙏
Thank you for sharing that wonderful video! It was a true work of art, and I'm so excited to see what you have planned for the future.
Thank you! This one is gold. I was using the concepts of Finding the Five and the Trumpet Guru when playing Adam long tones exercises. I always have my tuner on; when I feel like I have found the center, I check the intonation. There were still several notes that were quite a bit out of tune, but I couldn't figure out why. When I tried it with the Stay Up to Go Down and vice versa, I was amazed. It "fixed" nearly all of the issues! The 3 Half Whistles have been helpful, too, although I am struggling a bit with the transition from the 2nd to the 3rd. Anyway, thanks for your great explanations that make it easy to try and apply.
Love hearing these stories, Kyle. So glad this is feeling helpful to you!
Gotta say Dr. N, I’m missing studying together! I hope all is going well. I gotta keep practicing my Gecker studies too haha.
Have not heard this angle on the "stay down to go up" etc. concept. I feel like I am more apt to let the aperture find the right pitches during phrases where the valve combinations change, but when ascending or descending through partials it becomes a struggle, especially at higher tempos. A few practical examples: for ascending; the triplet pickup in Cheese Cake, for descending (really ascending too); the 3rd measure in Scrapple from the Apple. I have been attributing all of this to less than stellar flexibility, but maybe there is more to it? Thanks for taking the time to cover this topic.
Have you read the Inner Game of Tennis? It was used by Bill Adam in his teacging. One of the fundamental concepts is" "Don.t make it happen (learning or performance)m Let it happen."
I never got to hang out with Bill . . . . Would have loved that!
So true. But with every great advice it is the same. You have to experience it yourself to get the real value 😀
Great Videos, love them all, thanks a lot !
Thanks @artisfine. . . glad that they are feeling helpful!
Very interesting info as always, thanks Ryan!
Thanks so much for talking about aperture because I feel it is one of the least understood aspects of playing. Disclaimer- I’m an amateur of limited ability but voracious fascination for all aspects of brass playing. My latest breakthrough has been from James Morrison in his video on range where he teaches that aperture controls volume and airspeed controls range. This is not inconsistent with what you are saying. I now find I can go from low to high Bb on trombone without consciously tightening my aperture. Even more interesting to me is that I find by progressively increasing the muscle tension around my lips as I crescendo on a long note, I get a significantly more resonant and powerful note. I think of this as pulling the aperture open. Quite a few teachers talk about the importance of aperture control, but I have yet to find a description of how to actually do it! Charlie Porter has a very good video on how to create an aperture when setting the mouthpiece.
I think that's what I loved about the way Newell said this . . . it's the opposite of the conversation about "aperture control," in the sense that he's literally saying, "get your conscious awareness out of the way and let the aperture respond (tighten or loosen) on its own. Other factors (like the resonance of the mouth chamber, the alignment of the body, and the initial setup of the lips) determine whether the aperture can respond in sync."
Again, not that that's "the right way," but that it provides a new door into practicing and understanding . . . .
Thank you thank you... it's so important issue...All your videos are very useful..Please keep going..and what do you think about Maggio System?
Thank you, Begum. I've found Maggio to be most beneficial for "fixed jaw" players . . . if you watch Adam Rapa or Doc Severinsen or James Morrison's videos, they talk about approaches that work great for "fixed jaw" embouchures. For them, the model of "firm corners; corners forward, think oo, faster air" seems to be especially effective. But that's at most 10% of players (in my experience). For most of us (who are "floating jaw" players), the Maggio may not be as helpful. And . . . I have never studied with someone who worked with Maggio; I've only had a chance to look through some materials 🙂
❤