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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.

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...