Re: Re: Re: Physical Fitness for Brass Players


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Posted by Rob P-M on March 12, 2004 at 11:32:42:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Physical Fitness for Brass Players posted by Brian Frederiksen on March 12, 2004 at 10:38:27:

Thanks, Brian. Which trumpet list was the discussion on? I would be interested in seeing that. I'm not looking for something suggesting a player has to be a fitness nut, just on the importance of fitness in being able to efficiently use one's lungs, to increase endurance and stamina in order to meet the demands of professional play. Especially for a female player, such as my daughter.

Appropos of Bud herseth using less pressure in the high range than most players, one of my daughter's teachers is Doug Myers, who had been a student of Bud's as well as of Vaccianno. Doug does a great deal of very high baroque playing on high horns, including a lot of work on the high corna d'caccia. He has been a fierce advocate of absolutely minimal pressure, and my daughter has learned to play with almost no pressure. Farkas also talks about pressure in The Art of Brass Playing. Barbara Butler, at Northwestern, made an interesting observation in a piccolo trumpet studio class we observed there last month to the effect (I'm trying to distill it rather than paraphrase) most trumpet players need to work harder, but by "harder" she mean more muscle control in the embouchure - control, not rigidity, and that control in the embouchure did not mean greater pressure. Indeed, that having to use pressure was indicative of a lack of control. Perhaps I'm not putting well, but it made a great deal of sense at the time.




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