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When I listen to professional players making everything sound so easy, their high range sounds so smooth that it really doesnt sound that high to me. When I play high, or anywhere above middle C even for that matter, my sound begins to sound more and more strenuous....how can i work to fix this, id like to blame it but i really dont believe its the horn.

in expanding my high register, I found it really helpful to have a progressive warmup routine. My teacher used the Allen Vizzutti stuff, which is designed to help you pace yourself. I always encourage my students to relax into the top notes as funny as that sounds. A strong tendancy is to 'try' too hard and tension moves from your mouth, through your neck, and all the muscles connected and related to it.

What's worked for me is making sure your breathing apparatus stays expanded, that your instrument is alligned so you find yourself in a position of confidence and power, with the least constriction for your air. Keeping the corners of your mouth turned down and contracted so the upper lip moves as little as possible, drawing the corners of your lips in as you would close a ziploc bag. The importance is to refrain from tightening up and knowing when to move on to other aspects of your technique (not too long). It is also REALLY helpful to connect your high notes into the pedal tones as this helps you stay loose and keep a more unified tone color throughout. There are tons of exercises out there for these purposes. Take lots of breaks, don't hammer it. Another thing is "squealing" in which you try to lightly blow air through the tiniest possible opening making an ugly squealing noise, and then dropping into the pedals. The key to this is tiny tiny, unforced air. Gradually you can develop this into a more proper tone. It takes time to build a strong upper register, allow yourself sometime and see what you can relax into. Pattern scales also work wonders as long as you can stay relaxed. Build your highs from your strong foundations and it'll go well.

I doubt its the horn as well, or the mouthpiece. Then, there's always the chance have a mouthpiece brush stuck in your piping. Its amazing what that can do to freshmen trumpeters.

OOPS I DOUBLE POSTED LOOK DOWN....

Alright thats great advice, but Jeremy wahts the point of the post it note....Heh i think Im just pushing myself too fast because i actually have improved a lot and just want more. At the start of this school year (no private teachers).. i could barely squeak a high Eb or F but now I can hit an Ab or A with ease.


Anyway,

Thank you very much

Kevin

a footnote:

equipment probably shouldn't be ruled out. i've seen amazing things happen when someone moved from a small bore/mouthpiece to a large bore/mouthpiece instrument. Particularly depending on your dental work. I had a kid with braces suddenly discover new life when i sold him my old schilke 51D.

Also, make sure you're jaw is dropped low enough to get a big enough opening. if your teeth are still together in the back and your tongue's up in your throat, it's not going to help anything. Something to think about. What works for some doesn't work for everyone.

cheers

When I once had a lesson with Brian Kiser, he suggested playing with the air you would use if you were a boy soprano, (or girl soprano, same thing,) hitting a really high note. Just streamline the air through the horn. Also, another good tip I got from another teacher is "Make the squeak of today the high note of tomorrow." Which means make your awful disgusting high note the beautiful high note of tomorrow by just practicing in that range.

I absolutely recommend that all brass players take at least a few voice lessons to learn better how to breath, including phrasing, and approach pitch properly, as the voice is the ultimate musical instrument. None of us, vocally, will approach the vocal quality of fine opera singers. But I find it eminently necessary to learn how they construct a phrase and manage breathing in order to figure out how to manage my own breathing to construct and interpret phrases in the music I play. Learning to sing classically and properly also helps you relax the throat and integrate your mouth cavity properly with your embouchure, including managing the proper velocity of your airflow to achieve proper intonation and dynamic. If nothing else, having learned how to at least carry a tune in a bucket, you will be able to find a church choir to sing in to help practice your breathing and phrasing, which makes you visible and available to be asked to play on the "big" Sundays, like Easter, Christmas, and other principal observances depending on the denomination, etc.