Developing High Range

[phoenix]

With college auditions coming up, I think it would be wise of me to begin developing my high range. It's pretty decent right now, up to a D most of the time without any trouble. Any suggestions or exercises I could do?

P.S. I'm playing on a Laskey 30H on a Miraphone 1291, if that helps any.

Thank You all in Advance, any advice would be appreciated.

[daktx2]

i attribute my decent (A above the staff) to daily mouthpiece buzzing with some sort of pitch source like a piano, keybord, or tuner with a speaker. i can actually go a tiny bit higher on the horn, but the mouthpiece buzzing makes it harder to cheat on the high range.

[Mudman]

To improve your high-register, just play up there. (Short answer) The previous poster is correct in stating that having a good low register will often make it easier to play in the high register. One still needs to work on the actual high notes to make them reliable and musically usable.

What should I play in the upper-register?

A few exercises:

-scales/arpeggios

-simple melodies

-play a tune in your easiest register (something very simple like the the first 6 notes from Happy Birthday). Transpose it up by half steps until you reach a point where it sounds weak. Go down a few half steps and work back up again. Allow the melody to sound as good up high as it does in your cash register.

-give your chops plenty of rest while working on range. It is harder to hurt yourself in the extreme low register. When working up high, many people will press on the mouthpiece, cutting off blood-flow to the lips. Get the mouthpiece off the face.

-transpose fragments of Rochut/Bordogni, Blazhevich, Kopprasch upwards. 4 bar phrases or less transposed all over your horn work great (or try as few as 4 notes of a phrase).

-if you buzz the mouthpiece, make sure you don't do anything strange or heroic to get the buzz out. Try to play the mouthpiece in a similar way to the way you play your horn.

-"five note diatonic patterns". Major scale, notes 1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2 123454321 (play them very short and detached. double the speed on the second group). Transpose up by half step.

-think of a trumpet embouchure (small, not very wide across). Form a trumpet embouchure in your tuba mouthpiece and see what happens. (make a small, focused buzz)

Good luck--there are unlimited ways to work on your high chops. Steady progress will be made if you do daily exercises that become a part of a well-rounded practice diet. It takes time to develop range.

[Stefan Kac]

-play a tune in your easiest register (something very simple like the the first 6 notes from Happy Birthday). Transpose it up by half steps until you reach a point where it sounds weak. Go down a few half steps and work back up again. Allow the melody to sound as good up high as it does in your cash register.

-transpose fragments of Rochut/Bordogni, Blazhevich, Kopprasch upwards. 4 bar phrases or less transposed all over your horn work great (or try as few as 4 notes of a phrase).

The best part about these methods is that they develop your ear, too. If you work your way up to transposing longer or more intricate passages, you will benefit even more, although you can't overdo it if it's also in the upper register. This is also a great excercise for jazz (or any kind of) improvisation if you're into that at all.

[Chuck(G)]

Some find that changing the direction of the air stream (upwards or downwards) helps their high range. (Think about how a flutist aims the air stream and you've got the general ideal).

And there's no substitute for playing. If you can find a tuba-euph quartet to play with, play the 1st tuba parts (which will often take you above the 2nd euphonium).

[Scott Sutherland]

I, too, agree with most of the ideas Mudman came up with. I play Bordogni/Rochut etudes in three octaves. Using the trombone Rochut etudes, I will play an 8 measure phrase down one octave (standard, middle register) then play the next 8 measure phrase in the written octave (high register) then the next 8 measures down two octaves (low register). I would not sight read these etudes in this manner, as knowing these etudes in advance is part of the reasoning behind playing them in this manner. This will help you play music in the extreme registers, instead of just exercises, and relies on your ear to play accurately.

Good luck.

[ThomasP]

Take any scale start playing it, go up 1 or 2 octaves, then back down, move up a half-step and repeat. I can play an Eb on the top space on treble clef, but I can't play an Eb scale up to that note yet, so to me its worthless, probably worthless even if I can play the scale up there, but I can't put it in any context other than a high note........yet. What got me there were playing scales. Extending the low side of the scale as well as the high side. When you practice the high range to delay fatigue balance all high playing with just as much low playing and also playing just as low, comparatively and practically speaking.

[imperialbari]

A general reply to this topic:

The Claude Gordon approach!

Klaus

[Bob Sadler]

In addition to spending quality time in the low register, I've found that doing dynamics exercises (not sure if this is the "teacher approved" terminology) is very helpful in developing a nice sound in the high register. Try the cresc./decresc. exercises in any method book or with metronome at 60 do 4 beat crescendoes chromatically down an octave or two then do decrescendoes. Once that starts working include a two octave scale with each note held 16 beats and play ppp-fff-ppp on each note. Great for the embouchure, great for the air, great for the ears, and it really helps with the high stuff. (p.s. objective is good sound and constant pitch throughout dynamic range, not loud for loudness' sake)

Bob Sadler
Edmonton AB

[Leland]

What they said...

Plus, just because I haven't seen it posted yet --

Start with ALL of the buttons pressed down. Play the bottom note by itself and release. Then, start at the bottom, and slur up to the next partial, then back down. Start at the bottom again, and add one partial tot the top. Keep going like this until you do about three full octaves' worth.

You'll have to play every note on the way up and down, and that's going to include a major scale up high (and closer, too). When I get to that point in the exercise, I pick the top note based on a Bb major chord -- just because it's somewhat melodic, and besides, each valve combination would take twenty minutes to play through if I stopped at every micro-incremental partial.

Also, if you have to stop to breathe in mid-phrase, don't reset the embochure -- keep it there on the mouthpiece, and take an easy breath through your nose.

Now, after you've gone all the way up, change to the next higher fingering, and start all over with just the bottom note. Finish that fingering, then go up again.

The goal with this exercise is NOTE ACCURACY. Playing in the high register will all those buttons pressed is going to promote finely tuned small-scale muscle control.