Cobra1502 wrote:Thanks for the replies. I have had some small break throughs. I can now hit high Gb G AB and A. Note: to avoid another survey this is the A above the high F above the staff.
These notes are not good and not consistent - yet. I have tried a little of what everyone has advised over the past couple days. What seemed to work for me was giving myself permission method from Bloke and a fast tongue strike to get the vibration going (like spitting something off tip of tongue that is stuck) from other forums that were referenced. I am going to try mouthpiece buzz that was recently posted. Keep the ideas coming.
Any ideas as to why both Eb and BBb range limit is the same note? Would have thought I would get a few more semitones on Eb.
A couple of suggestions. First,keep in mind that high and low notes are just fast and slow vibrations, nothing else. Second, development of the high register is something that takes time so that the muscles of the embouchure can develop enough to produce the faster vibratory rate.
The main thing as you play these notes is to focus on making them sound good. Make sure you sustain them for 6-8 seconds, striving to make them sound as good as possible. If you start the note, and immediately stop if it sounds bad, you will be teaching yourself to play a bad note.
This is one of Arnold Jacobs' philosophies "Bad notes can be made into good notes, silence can't." He taught Dale Clevinger an exercise for high range development when the CSO horns were preparing the Schumann Konzertstuck and he heard Dale practicing the piece. He told him to start in the upper middle register, where he could play comfortably, and play long tones, just one or two notes a day. But he had him play each note 30-40 times. At first, the beginning and end of each note didn't have to be his best tone quality, but the middle of the note did. Then, over time, the quality of the middle of the note had to be transferred to the beginning and the end. After a week or so, move the exercise up a half step and repeat. Over time, you will develop an excellent high register.
Another exercise Jake had was what he called the four note exercise. At quarter note = 60, play the same note three times and slur to the note an octave higher and hold it. For example, F-F-F-f. Play at a mf-f dynamic and focus on transferring the quality of the low note to the high note. Jake called this making the lower note teach the higher note. Start where the upper note is comfortable, and repeat the exercise, moving up a half step at a time.
A third exercise is based on the major scale. Play a quarter note slurred up to a dotted half note (again 60 bpm) in any key, starting on the tonic up an octave (Do-Do). Then follow the pattern Re-Do, Mi-Do, Fa-Do, So-Do, La-Do, Ti-Do. You can also do the exercise in reverse, slurring from the higher note to the lower note. This time the pattern is dotted half slurred down to a quarter note (Do-Ti, Do, La, Do-So, Do-Fa, Do-Mi, Do-Re, Do-Do).
On all of these, think of a tuba that sounds like a human voice singing with a low vowel sound (OH, OOH, or AHH) to keep the tongue low in the mouth so that a thick column of air reaches the lips and start with comfortably full lungs, playing at a mid dynamic (mf-f). Never forget to always strive for your finest quality of tone.
A couple of random thoughts at the end. Use legato primarily when initially developing the high register. This will help keep the tongue from rising in the mouth and cutting off the air stream. And always think very musically when playing in the high range. This will help develop a beautiful sound. You want to make sure not to overdo practice in the extreme ranges (high or low) keeping roughly 80% of your practice in the two octave cash register (low Bb/C to Bb/C just above the staff). The remaining 20% can be split between the high register and very low register. Rex Martin once broke it down even further for me (50% from low Bb to middle Bb, 30% from middle Bb to high Bb, 10% above high Bb, and 10% below low Bb). The main point is that playing too much, too high, can be detrimental to the development of the rest of your playing.
Finally, don't be afraid to let the embouchure change positions on the mouthpiece when changing register (high or low). Jake would often tell the following story to illustrate that point:
"In my second year at the Curtis Institute of Music I was studying Benvenuto Cellini, which goes to a G above our high C. I was having a terrible time playing that note. Mr. Donatelli, my instructor, was a fine tuba player, but he rarely played for me. I asked if he would play this part for me? So he took my tuba and he played it very well. But I noticed that right before he went to the high G, he shifted his embouchure on the mouthpiece. He moved down lower on the mouthpiece and a bell, a light went on in my head. I said aha! he broke a rule. He shifted on the mouthpiece there but he got the high G and it sounded good. I was a former trumpet player, as soon as I saw that and I broke the rules, I not only had high G, but I had G above high G…I haven’t had a bad time with high notes since."
The idea is that the placement of the mouthpiece on the embouchure should be the result of playing each note with your finest quality of sound. Jake didn't care where you put the mouthpiece as long as you sounded great. He would often say to me "Do whatever you want, but just sound better than everybody else. Then they will copy what YOU do."
