Ask a Conductor Senior Band conductor Stephen O'Doherty talks stamina and music theory
A trumpeter of Beecroft asks:
"How can I improve my
stamina as a brass player?"
You know, one of the most incredible, frustrating and yet encouraging things about playing an instrument is that technique is so counter-intuitive. You want more stamina? You want to go higher, longer? You exercise your lips right? You push harder into the mouthpiece, or pull the
Image: Unsplash
instrument tighter against your face (which is the same)? Well the best brass teachers would say no. Work smarter, not harder.
Y Zguy of the Upper North Shore asks: "Is
F# the same
as Gb?"
Arnold Jacobs was perhaps the most influential brass
No.
pedagogue of the 20th century. His techniques liberated generations of brass players from the bondage of working too hard and blowing themselves out. From 1944—1988 he was Principal Tubist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, widely regarded even today as having one of the finest
S Peranto of no fixed address asks: "Is global
music truly a
language? Surely different cultures have different
pitch and tuning systems so like it's random?
sounding brass sections around. Music can be played in random ways but pitch is certainly His genius was to strip things back to simple physiology and psychology. He taught students to think the notes they were playing, in other words sing their parts, but with their lips responding to the brain’s stimulus instead of their vocal folds. He changed people’s thinking about breathing by arguing for a relaxed technique using the diaphragm muscle to open the chest cavity, letting air naturally rush in because of the change in partial pressure. It’s as easy as… well breathing.
not random. It follows physical laws relating to the nature of sound as a vibration. When you change a vibrating object to twice its volume or length it halves the pitch: an octave or ratio of 2:1. A ratio of 4:3 gives a fourth (like CF). 3:2 gives a fifth (like C-G). Say what? Well let’s say you fill a bottle with 400mls of water, and another with 300mls and you and a friend blow across the top of them like a flute. The one with less water will be lower in pitch. The one with more water will sound higher and together they should make the interval of a fourth.
I well remember when my clarinet teacher John St George
Do try this at home.
used what I now know was the Arnold technique to completely remake my technique (Chris McLeay was also fortunate to have the same teacher).
The point is that while tuning systems (the way pitches are organised) do differ in different cultures, these fundamental physical laws always apply, so you’ll find
There are some very good videos (albeit old and scratchy,
octaves, thirds, fourths and fifths everywhere.
transferred from film) of Jacobs teaching on Youtube, and brass players could spend many productive lockdown
Next time, more on the harmonic series
hours watching and applying his wisdom. I like this one on breathing: https://youtu.be/P2iTKTdVdoU.
[Ed: you promised that last time] [Me: yes but it’s only half written, sorry].
Stamina starts (and perhaps ends) with breathing. A great supportive air column will take the pressure off your embouchure and make all the difference. (that’s the counter-intuitive bit).
Here is another brilliant video on
the same subject from our own Master Brass player James Morrison: https://youtu.be/nkbxa8LcZj4.
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