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The “OUT, NOT UP” Gateway to Air-Based Playing
(Excerpts from "Jake's Method, the Trumpet
Method of Don "Jake" Jacoby" surrounded by “**”)
**Put your mouthpiece on your lip where it always
goes and then, TAKE YOUR MIND COMPLETELY OFF OF YOUR LIP. We are not going
to try to play this F with your lip. We are going to put an attack on it
and let the air vibrate your lip to produce the note. Remember, think only
of the air and about six feet out in front of your horn. There should be
no lip movement whatsoever. OK, try it. Try it again. Try it once more
until you feel the air making the sound instead of trying to manipulate the
note with your lip. When you get that feeling, then let’s do this:
Play the F exactly as before and when you slur to the
“G” one step above, don’t change anything but just reach out about
one additional foot and move the air just a bit faster. This will produce the
“G”. It should feel exactly the same as the “F” and be just as free and
full-bodied with no lip involvement. You should feel, at all times, completely
relaxed and think AIR, AIR, AIR. Be careful not to use “more” air --- just
a little “faster moving” air.**
Start on the “F”, and slur to “G” and then to
“A”, each time simply moving the air out in front of you one
additional foot without changing your lip at all, and just moving the air
a little faster. Repeat this until you are comfortable with the feeling
of letting the air do all of the work, with no lip involvement whatsoever,
then add another note in the “F” major scale. Feel free to use natural breaks
of the horn and gliss or use a very lightly legato tongue – just ensure
that the focus remains on driving the air faster and “out”, one foot at a
time, to make the note change – with NO ADJUSTMENT OF THE CHOPS.
When you reach “C” and higher, **we add JUST A
HAIR (no more) of the tongue slightly raised and forward. Remember, no more
than a hair of tongue involvement and when it is put into that position, keep it there.**
When you have completed the entire “F” major scale, use
this same approach to playing slurs: middle “F” to middle “Bb”, then down
chromatically. Then try it with “F-Bb-D” and so forth. The important thing
is not to rush through this as if it is a set of calisthenics – it is not. If
you lose connection with the feeling of ignoring your lip and letting the
air do the work, you must go back to the beginning of the exercise.
The point of the exercise is that learning to play OUT (visualizing
progressive points in space in front of you, adding a slightly raised tongue in the
middle register) instead of UP on a simple level and gradually teaching the body
to incorporate the technique in everyday playing is a very effective gateway to
the very essence of air-based playing, which is a prerequisite for any brass player with
aspirations toward becoming a professional. There are many ways that brass players
learn to base playing the instrument on air (although some are born to it and have no
need of single-mindedly focusing on air), but using air as the primary tool of
playing is an absolute necessity for the professional brass player.
©2003, Joe Jackson. All rights reserved.