Mouthpiece pressure?

[Ames0325]

I am having trouble hitting anything above a D above the staff and even that is not very clear. I have doen some reading and searched the archives as well and it seems htat part of my problem could possibly be too much mouthpiece pressure but I am not completely sure. How can I tell I am using too much mouthpiece pressure and if I am what can I do to fix the problem?

[Tom]

You've got to talk to your teacher!

Any number of things could be keeping you from playing your D (and beyond). Mouthpiece pressure is only one of those things. You could also have some air stream issues. The list goes on and on and on.

You need to have someone that has heard you play and/or watched you play to check for physical adjustments for your high register (ie, mouthpiece pressure).

As for suggestions...
Do not force things and jam your face into the mouthpiece to squeak notes out. That's the best I can do without having heard you play.

[Roger Lewis]

viewtopic.php?t=4051&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

[Rick Denney]

I am having trouble hitting anything above a D above the staff and even that is not very clear. I have doen some reading and searched the archives as well and it seems htat part of my problem could possibly be too much mouthpiece pressure but I am not completely sure. How can I tell I am using too much mouthpiece pressure and if I am what can I do to fix the problem?

Welcome to my world!

If the skin on your lips is marked and swollen, and if your lips go numb after extended high-register playing, then you are using too much pressure. Fatigue from playing high should muscle fatigue not skin or tissue trauma.

But using less pressure might not open up the high end for you. You still need considerable strength in your embouchure to play up high, and that strength comes from proper practice and development. This is where you need a teacher. Playing higher than your strength will support will reinforce improper methods (this is where the pressure problem comes from in the first place), and playing too high will do more harm than good to your upper register. You have to work into it, the same way a runner works up to a marathon.

And spend as much time in the low register as in the high register. This will help with air flow. Also, flexibility exercises will help with range more than anything else, even when you do them in the middle of the range. The muscular strength and air support needed for lip slurs is the same stuff you need for playing high.

Rick "learning this the hard way--over and over" Denney

[Wilco]

Now, if there was only a trick to strengthen the Bb above that and beyond...

Doc

Play trombone... I double on tuba for about a year now (changed from 3/4 piston Bb to a mira 186 Bb a month ago which is major improvement), my main instrument is tenor trombone. I really like the tuba - solo in Pictures at an Exhibition so I tried that on tuba. The first couple of attempts gave me quite a shock: I couldn't get to the higher notes! The solution for me was a different placement of my lips on the mpc (which is a JK 4C btw). For high range the bottom lip anchored on the rim, for middle range a 70% bottom/ 30% top- lip placement and for the extreme low range a very high lip placement: 40% bottom/ 60% top.

So, move around bit see what works for you. Then spend your time timing in the changes...

[Wilco]

<oops, mishap... please delete>

[Roger Lewis]

is only part of the solution. You can have all the air you want but if you have soft lip tissue in the mouthpiece you are doomed to failure. The laws of Physics just won't allow soft tissue to vibrate with enough speed to create the vibration frequency necessary to get the high range to work. Check the link I posted earlier on this thread and you will see how this all works. And it will work to double high Bb and above as well.

Just remember - the low register is the CASH REGISTER - this is where we make our money. Few people pay me to play high notes - a lot of people write me checks to play in the low register. This is where your bread is buttered and should be your main focus. If you think you are solid in the low register you are most likely fooling yourself. Take the Clarke Technical Studies and do them in the pedal register, from C 2 ledger lines below the staff DOWN. If you can do these at tempo, smoothly then I would say your low register is solid. Remember - there are no limits. Richard Bach, the author of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, in one of his other books stated something that will stay with me forever: "Imagine a limitation, AND IT'S YOURS FOR LIFE!" (emphasis mine). If you say or think "I can't..."- then - you won't. This is the most important lesson about tuba playing and life that you will ever learn because this applies to everything you do in life, not just your playing.

Okay, I'll go take a shower now.