I am pleased and honored to have my books, ideas and teaching mentioned and quoted and to have this site listed in the TOP 10 Trumpet sites in these books:
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This site Trumpet College is about; Trumpet lessons and trumpet books by Clint 'Pops' McLaughlin. Trumpet college is the most visited trumpet site on the net. All trumpet embouchures taught. Play the trumpet effortlessly based on your facial structure. Thousands of trumpet students helped from amateur to pro level. Check out our trumpet lessons, our online trumpet lessons and our trumpet books. Trumpet playing, trumpet lessons, trumpet books. This site Trumpet college covers these topics: trumpet, trumpet playing, trumpet lessons, trumpet books, trumpet embouchures, TCE, Stevens, Superchops, Maynard Ferguson, mouthpieces, Bach, Bill Chase, Callet, Schilke, Doc Severinsen, Yamaha, Maggio, embouchure, trumpet books, trumpeter, trumpeting, Marsalis, Louis Armstrong, build a balanced embouchure on the trumpet. Thanks for visiting Trumpet College.
I have had articles written for one of my books and testimonials from:
25 Authors of over 82 trumpet books;
My trumpet books are different. They are text books that teach air usage, aperture control, embouchures, lip compression, mouthpiece design & trumpet design. There is more info on those kinds of topics in my trumpet books that you get in 4 years of HS and 8 years of college getting a DMA.
Many, many thanks to you and your knowledge of the trumpet and the embouchure. It has helped me immeasurably since my lesson with you!
Pops; Your book is just fantastic and thank you for inviting me to offer up some of my thoughts on the subject. Congratulations on a job well done.
"Clint McLaughlin is one of the leading experts on embouchure. His books discuss many of the embouchures used by leading trumpet players. I consider his publications excellent resources!"
David Hickman Author of the new book "Trumpet Pedagogy".
It is absolutely wonderful!!! May be the most complete book on embouchure ever compiled. You have done trumpet players a wonderful service!
It was only after reading/playing your books, did I get the range thing! I assure you that it was only your book (and Mr. Jacoby's) which gave me the help I needed.
Thanks for all your intelligent advice.
If they don't get it from reading this; then they should take up the sax.
Don't waste any more time searching for the *ultimate guide to trumpet playing*. It has already been done.
You have said two things which have really helped me and have brought about an instant improvement in my trumpet playing. It's all 20% easier! So thanks again for your positive contribution to the brass world.
I think you're doing a great
service for the brass community. I once heard that the art of teaching is in finding out how to explain the same thing in different
ways to have it hit home for each individual student.
Thanks for making Trumpet College the #1 ranked Trumpet site for 2003 & 2004 (#2 in 2005) with over 20 million hits.
Hey Pops!
The embouchure controls the pitch and to some degree the quality of your sound.
Regardless of the embouchure you use these things MUST always happen.
The lips must be moist. The surface tension of the water aids in setting up the vibrations. The lips must be touching. (If the air has nothing to fight there is NO buzz.)
Use as Little pressure as possible. Pressure only separates the lips and stops the sound. Backing off the pressure will allow you to soar. Everyone says Tighten up to play high. Hold something between your finger and thumb. That squeeze is what they
are talking about. Playing high involves slightly pushing your lips together as you ascend.
75-80% of all players use this embouchure. Say the letter "M". In this embouchure you must Point the CHIN down. It is the pointing of the chin that prevents
you from stretching the lips too thinly.
Now what they DIDN'T say.
Use a Pivot
Use a Tongue Arch
Remember use compression for range. Like finger pushing against finger. The Maggio system was established because Louis Maggio had sustained an injury which prevented him from playing any other system.
In this system you cushion the lips by extending them or puckering ( like a monkey ).
This puckering enables the players to overcome physical malformations.
This requires a special mouth formation to be 100% successful.
To set this embouchure you:
Make sure that your teeth are 1/4 - 1/2 of an inch apart.
Make sure that your jaw is forward making a flat playing surface.
Make sure that your lips are touching and slightly push your lips together to make a cushion.
Then PLACE the mouthpiece ON your lips.
To ascend you will push the lips
together.
The lips will have a natural tendency to slightly curl in. That's OK.
The muscles of the chin are used to push the lips together and resist the air.
This is the embouchure Mendez played. When he taught he made his students lip buzz a month before he gave them a mouthpiece. He then made them mouthpiece buzz a month before he gave them the trumpet. By then they could change pitches and had decent tone. I use this embouchure on most of my students.
The fastest way to successfully go to a closed embouchure is :
Lip Buzz: (Like spitting seeds.)
(After the new setting is secure go back to normal breathing.)
Stay in the staff until you have strengthened the NEW embouchure.
Do a lip setting drill:
Do those things for 1 month. Then AFTER the new embouchure is set and the chops are stronger you can work on the Stevens palming exercise. I only do open arpeggios with this. Do it 15 minutes a day and after a month you should be able to play over High C with almost no pressure.
Then you must learn to relax the face and let the tone become full. Work on pulling the corners in to adjust tone color and assist range. Relearn your pivot and tongue arch. Work on more efficient breathing....
Clint 'Pops' McLaughlin
Copyright protected from 1995 to date.
Pops
"Tongue Level & Air"
by Eric Bolvin
"Sound the Trumpet: How to Blow Your Own Horn"
by Jonathan Harnum
"Trumpet Pedagogy"
by David Hickman
"Embouchure Enhancement" books
by Roddy Lewis
"Trumpeting by Nature:
An Efficient Guide to Optimal Trumpet Performance"
by Jeanne Pocius
as well as in the International Trumpet Guild Journal,
Overture, Windplayer many dissertations and even several Utube teaching videos done by other teachers.
61 college trumpet professors and noted teachers;
48 pro players who have recorded over 3,900 movie, tv and cartoon soundtracks;
9 trumpet embouchure clinicians;
3 Trumpet Guild presidents;
12 Trumpet Guild board members past and present;
8 mouthpiece and trumpet designers and makers.
They are 90% instructional text and 10% musical examples to teach the proper way to do some physical aspects of trumpet playing.
These trumpet books have been adopted by several college professors to be used with their college trumpet majors. There are also many HS teachers who have used them to great advantage when teaching their students.
Get up off your ___and get a gig. A 35 page Ebook / (30 in print) designed to show you where and how to get a good supply of gigs.
This will lead to to gigs that you never knew were there.
More Power - More Range
29 pages of exercises and directions that will wear you OUT. They help make your range powerful and seamless. The exercises follow my thoughts on Lip Setpoint and expand you from below the staff to the Double High Register.
How the Chops Work (The Big Book of Chops Pics)
69 pictures and diagrams showing how compression is made with all of the different embouchures: Buzzing, Farkas, Maggio, Stevens, Super Chops and TCE.
Chops Builder is a (14 page) 10 week isometric exercise course that will give you screamin chops and tons of endurance. It has NO music.
30 Minutes A Day to Better Playing is all about working both hard and smart. 9 unique Musical exercises that will work the mind, fingers, tonguing skills, breathing, breath support, tongue arch, tongue hiss, flexibility, range.... In short everything.
The Pros Talk Embouchure.
I asked some of the best of the best for their ideas about embouchure.
In this 244 page Ebook (200 page print book) are the thoughts of over 70 pros, including 21 authors of trumpet books.
I chose these people because I know what they have to offer. They are top students of Legendary teachers like Adam, Broiles, Caruso, Cichowicz, Gordon, Herseth, Jacobs, Jacoby, Maggio, Mendez, Reinhardt, Schilke, Stevens and Vacchiano.
Many have become world renown teachers in their own right. Plus of course world class players in all areas of playing including hundreds of years combined experience in world class Symphonies and over a thousand years of combined experience in Big Bands.
The No Nonsense Trumpet From A-Z is 117 page Ebook (100 page print). It is mostly text and 16 pages of music. It is an overview of the trumpet and every aspect is included. It talks about the 4 main embouchure types and gives 26 examples to improve breath control. It also has info on mouthpiece and trumpet design and walks you through learning to adjust equipment to serve your needs. So it covers a lot of ground.
Trumpet FAQs is 119 page Ebook (100 print) and is all text. It is a question and answer book about playing problems and how to fix them. It is mostly about fixing embouchure and breathing problems.
Extended Range and Endurance on the Trumpet. Air on the Move is a 51 page Ebook (42 page print book). It is what is normally covered in an all day lesson for range and breath support. I've had people add more than an octave of range after taking this master class. It covers advanced techniques for air compression and aperture control. There is NO music in this book.
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Mark Curry - Curry Precision Mouthpieces - http://www.currympc.com and former lead trumpet player with Ray Charles.
John Haynie - Author of "How to Play High Notes, Low Notes and All Those In Between". Professor Emeritus of Trumpet @ University of North Texas 1950-1990
David Hickman is a Regents' Professor of trumpet at Arizona State University, recording artist, author, past President of the International Trumpet Guild, founder of Summit Brass and as a trumpet virtuoso has appeared with over 400 orchestras around the world.
http://music.asu.edu/ http://www.hickmanmusiceditions.com/
Bill Knevitt - Author of several trumpet method books including: "The Truth About How To Play Double High C On Trumpet". - http://www.ultratrumpet.com/
Roddy Lewis - Author of "Embouchure Enhancement" vol 1,2 and 3, 12 years playing trumpet in the West End in London - http://www.R-o-d-d-y-T-r-u-m-p-e-t.cC
Jim Manley High Note Trumpet Artist - http://www.jimmanley.net
Leon Merian - Author of "Trumpet Isometrics", "The Man Behind the Horn"; Jet-tone personal trumpet mouthpieces. - http://www.jet-tone.com/merian.htm
Jeanne G Pocius - Author of new book "Trumpeting by Nature", Teacher, Player and trumpet embouchure clinician - http://abel.hive.no/trompet/jeanne/
Eddie Severn - Author of "Trumpet Solutions" and European trumpet artist. - http://www.eddiesevern.com
Matt Shulman Trumpet Player, Composer, Inventor of the ShulmanSystem for Brass - http://www.ShulmanSystem.com
Last night I had a gig, and during one of my solos I got hold of an F#
above
C. It wasn't a squeak...it was a monster sound!
In fact, the
trombone
player (formerly with the Dorsey Band) couldn't believe his ears. He
put his
horn down and refused to follow the solo. It was all done in good
fun, but
he truly was impressed with my playing.
Here is the rest of the story: during that same gig, I continuously hit
F
above C, spinning all notes (the first time I was actually aware of the
horn
shaking in my hand) and at the end of the night, the last song, the last
note, I got an A above C! It wasn't a monster A, but in your words
"it was
still an A."
Pops, for the first time in my professional career, I truly felt
confident
and "good" about my playing. I have 3 more gigs this week, (2 on
Friday, 1
on Saturday) and I can't wait for each of them!
"The bricks are coming down!!!"
Thanks again for your help....I'll keep you abreast of my progress.
Your friend,
Lew C.
Factors for a dynamic embouchure on the trumpet.
This embouchure is described FULLY in "The Art of Brass Playing" by Phillip Farkas.
He told people to blow as if they were trying to cool
soup. That is how he set the embouchure.
The skin under your lower lip will be taut with no
air pocket.
Your lips do not over lap nor do they roll in or out.
The corners of the mouth are held firmly in place.
To play with an extended range you must.
In fact their T-shirts are a closeup of a monkey forming the embouchure.
Remember to use as little pressure as possible.The more that you can back off the pressure the more you have in reserve for later.
Use a PIVOT.
The lip compression comes from pulling all of the muscles in toward the center.
This system does not use a tongue arch. Instead the tongue is placed very forward in your mouth to direct the airflow.
All tonguing is to be done thru your teeth.
Do this 15 - 30 minutes a day. Buzz scales, songs, arpeggios, etudes....
Set your new embouchure:
Buzz a note and while holding the buzz sneak the horn & mpc into playing position.
Take ALL breaths through your nose (so you don't disturb the embouchure). (Most open aperture players try to start closed and open up the chops as they breathe. They pin the lips in place while separated and can only make the lips touch by using mpc pressure.)
And play songs and etudes.
Buzz and sneak the horn into place to play 1 note. Remove the horn and start over. It takes thousands of good reps to break a bad habit.