SECRETS IN BRASS PLAYING?

[ubq]

I've recently had a conversation with one of my collegaues (trumpetplayer) about the assumed secrets in our "Brassworld". He said, the only secret is to practice a lot - which I think is a very good advice, although not a secret - if you dont know how to practice porperly - you waste your energies, lots of it can create serious damages....

So - what do you think, are there secrets in Brass playing?

I know one, which seems to solve my 8 years long suffering. I lost in a way my middle register, I couldn't articulate, and attack a note properly with a beautiful sound. You know it was a very very hard period for me...
My secret - in my case it functions very very well, and I hope that if you've had similar problems it will help you as well. I HOPE SO!!!

So, I do bending exercises. Starting from mittle c (second space). I hold the note for two slow beats then bend down a half tone to b ONLY with the lips/air, then back to the c. Its about 8 beats/ MM = 50. WITH THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SOUND POSSIBLE. Repeat. And so on descending from, b, b flat, a etc, until low c, or even lower. When I feel that I have the controll, I start over, from the next partial note - in this case f on the 4th line. And so on...

Maybe for some of you this is an longknown everyday proccess and not a secret. To me it is: I was searching for it very long.
I really hope that if you suffered from the same like me - not beeing able to play the music I want - than you'll find it helpful!

Just my little secret.

[djwesp]

squeezing hard and blowing hard isn't the secret to playing high...

took me 13 years to figure out that secret, but once i did it made a heck of a difference...

playing high really is a "parlor trick" as i think roger lewis has said, more of a technique to be mastered, than a muscle to be built...