I found that the Pedal C began to play softly when I backed off the mouthpiece weight, made sure it favored the bottom lip, and sealed at the sides of the mouthpiece by using the scissor action (described in an earlier post, “ The Final Seal and Focus“).
During that process I noticed that the urge to let go of the form and erupt the lips was related to (and often provoked by) poor mouthpiece weight distribution (with too much on the center of the top lip, inhibiting its vibration), and the lack of mouthpiece seal at the corners, which left the lips too far apart to produce any sound without having to resort to sloppy technique. I began to experiment with trying to play a pedal C with the same strict form I aspire to use throughout the rest of the range of the instrument…no compromises, avoiding actions like lip eruption, tilting head down, putting more mouthpiece pressure on the top lip, opening and/or receding the lower jaw, etc. Those induced tones are not easy to play, especially in good form, and rarely sound good.
Besides, those fundamental tones are not the same as the induced notes, the pitches between (but not including) the low F# below the staff and the Pedal C (see the example below), which are not reinforced by an overtone series above.
The constant reminders of the positive results achieved with good fundamental technique (both with my students and in my own playing), eventually made me wonder…if that pedal C (or any other of the lower fundamental notes in that slot of the horn using the other six fingering positions), is a “real” note on the horn (after all, it IS the instrument’s fundamental pitch), why shouldn’t we be able to play that note with a good sound, and in good form too? And not just be able to play the note, but to slur to and from it, to tongue it, etc.,…all the things we expect to do with any other note within the playing range of the instrument.
As they learned a better approach to their low range, not only did their sound improve on the low notes, but so it did in the middle and upper range as well. Inexperienced players tend to approach the lower register by letting the airspeed sag, and by letting their lips erupt out…which always produces a compromise in the sound (becoming airy, blatty, and less focused), and hindered their ability to suddenly return to the middle and upper registers. Still, what was it about those pedal tones that had created such a loyal camp of followers?įlash forward years later, when I was working with students on their downward slurs. Everything else he taught was based in a solid grounding of the physical laws that govern trumpet playing, so I had a lot of faith in his logic from first hand experience. Roy was not a fan of pedal tones at all, saying that playing in that range would only encourage a lack of embouchure focus, leading to problems in the upper range. Over the years I have heard of other players who have had the same lack of success, but have always wondered why this method worked for some and not for others.Ī few years later I began studies with Roy Stevens in New York City. However, there was no change whatsoever in my upper range. Learning of all of the great musicians who endorsed the Claude Gordon method increased my dedication, and inspired me to develop pedal notes below double pedal C. Of course I wanted to be able to play those high notes too, especially since I’d lost much of that range when I began trying to play with less mouthpiece pressure. All of this was done independently of their trumpet lessons at the university, but once one player heard that the routine was great for developing the upper register, many others followed suite. Years ago when I was in college, many of the school’s trumpet players began to follow the Claude Gordon Method, which started with a series of long tones chromatically descending into the pedal register of the instrument (named after the lowest pitches of the organ, which are played with the feet).