Great explanation! I deal with swollen lips all the time due to excessive pressure. I’ve been working on it for years, but still haven’t found the magic combo for pucker and pressure. I’ll get it one of these days!
I learned to play trumpet took about a year to be proficient with it. But that was a lot of practice time this video is really good for pressure but mouthpiece size plays an important role in the amount of pressure required. So it's important to get the proper sized mouthpiece for your lips in order to get the best sound and range from your trumpet. Oh before I started trumpet I played the saxophone For about 4 years pryer.
My question is, how do I reverse "too much upper lip pressure" and move that to my "lower lip"...This is the first time I've ever heard of a upper and bottom lip pressure. I think this has been the major reason why ; a; I have no upper register b. I have very little endurance c. my upper lip always ends up swollen after a 3-4 hour gig playing trumpet with a German Beer Garden Band...I thank you very much Dr. Shook for your explanations!!! I have been playing the trumpet since middle school in the late 1970's.
Yep...me too! I wish I'd had access to these videos - or Dr. Shook as my private instructor - back in the 1970s in college! For years I could play up to and sit on an 'F' above high 'C'...most of the time....but never a squeak higher! Never! No matter what I try: pedal tones, shallow MPCs, working out, long tones, lip slurs, etc. You know the routines. And as Dr. Shook has demonstrated it's obvious to me I'm stifling my top lip vibration - shut down just as easily as when he slid his MPC shank up a bit while buzzing his lips. But there's just no obvious detail I can isolate in my approach other than I fatigue easily, top lip swells & gets tender & the whole process makes me nervous - making everything worse! - depending on the type of gig. Just once I'd like to be able to hit & sit on a 'G'. Back in HS a buddy of mine could hit a G so loud/long his breath would condense coming out of the bell if the weather was cold! And back in college 2 of the only guys who could hit a 'G' weren't even music majors & not practicing (outside of marching band every day in the fall) so I'm thinking it's a natural ability in the lips/jaw/teeth/throat WHATEVER...but it ain't natural for me!
I try to play the cornet. In the beginning not quite as good as I hoped. When I placed the mouthpiece higher (far more toplip in the mouthpiece) with more pressure on the bottom lip it went much better.
you said too little pressure then sound and a tone will escape on the sides of the mouthpiece you said the same happens when you have too much pressure. How do you tell which one you have_ This happens to me How do I tell if I have too much or too little pressure thanks
