Most efficient way to build high range

[AndrewMeronek]

Maybe it's me in my "engineer" mind-space but I'm re-thinking my assumptions about trombone an range-building commonly known exercises like the Maggio stuff.

More specifically, thinking about what we do in terms of understanding muscle contractions via concentric, isometric, and eccentric motions.

It seems safe to assume that most trombone playing is isometric, but strictly speaking I'm not sure if that's true unless I'm simply holding a steady pitch. And isometric contractions aren't the most efficient type of motion for building strength given the energy expenditure. The most "efficient" in these terms seems to actually be eccentric contractions. So - are there eccentric contractions that happen in trombone playing? Specifically, with regard to the facial muscles?

[Chatname]

What is the Maggio stuff?

[AndrewMeronek]

Example Maggio book being sold:

https://charlescolin.com/product/origin ... for-brass/

Always look for the chimp pucker.

[Chatname]

Thank you.

[WilliamLang]

I can't speak to all the muscle work that you mention, but for building high range, I love to play two octave arpeggios starting on low E and going up by half steps to failure each day.

While doing this I recommend using a mirror help minimize excess facial motion, and also focusing on the tone staying rich while descending. I found that holding notes statically for a long time while going up chromatically led to a more muscle-bound approach to that register, while approaching high notes in an arpeggio felt more satisfying musically, and less stressful physically.

[AndrewMeronek]

I can't speak to all the muscle work that you mention, but for building high range, I love to play two octave arpeggios starting on low E and going up by half steps to failure each day.

While doing this I recommend using a mirror help minimize excess facial motion, and also focusing on the tone staying rich while descending. I found that holding notes statically for a long time while going up chromatically led to a more muscle-bound approach to that register, while approaching high notes in an arpeggio felt more satisfying musically, and less stressful physically.

Right, this is pretty typical. In terms of concentric vs. eccentric muscular contractions however, I'm not sure if this is ideal. If there is any actual concentric and eccentric and non-isometric contractions, and if the ascending arpeggio is concentric, the held high note is isometric, and the eccentric is extremely brief as the note is released? It seems that current exercise theory suggests to make sure the eccentric motion is slow and controlled - if the arpeggio analogy is similar, that could mean a slower descending arpeggio or descending chromatic scale after hitting the high note.

[Wilktone]

I'd take the Maggio text with a grain of salt. I'm not a fan of the forward lip position and putting the mouth corners at the eyeteeth. I've gone down that route unintentionally and while it did give me some pretty good squeakers up around double Bb, it messed with my money range below that. Some of the Maggio exercises are fine, but pedal tones and low range don't automatically build high range - particularly difficult on trumpet because it's so easy to play pedal tones on an embouchure that isn't correct for the rest of the range. Any brass musician who isn't playing low register correctly already (and this is easy to do) would risk getting better at playing wrong practicing much of Maggio's exercises exactly as instructing in his book.

As far as the various muscle contractions used in a brass embouchure, I think you're correct that it is largely isometric. Unless I misunderstand the details of concentric and eccentric contractions, I'm not sure how we would go about building embouchure strength other than a largely isometric contraction. Maybe drawing the lips back while blowing very loud notes would be considered an eccentric contraction?

I'm all for practicing range by starting in the upper register and descending, although I'm not certain if that truly qualifies as eccentric exercise. Many players, myself included, will have a better chance of correct embouchure form when in the upper register and need practice descending correctly (opposite of how Maggio's exercises and many others approach, starting low and ascending). My thought here is that while you can easily play low register with incorrect embouchure form, playing in the upper register requires correct form. If you're not playing it correctly, you get much more immediate feedback in the upper register. It's not beneficial so much because of the type of muscle contraction you're making, but that you're reinforcing good form from the beginning of the exercise.

Dave

[AndrewMeronek]

As far as the various muscle contractions used in a brass embouchure, I think you're correct that it is largely isometric. Unless I misunderstand the details of concentric and eccentric contractions, I'm not sure how we would go about building embouchure strength other than a largely isometric contraction. Maybe drawing the lips back while blowing very loud notes would be considered an eccentric contraction?

One thing that gives me pause with the isometric contraction assumption: the size of the aperture can change, even if the mouthpiece doesn't really move much. I'm thinking in terms of how the aperture gets smaller the higher the pitch and the softer the dynamic level. If the aperture is changing, does that mean that at least some of the muscles are actually lengthening or shortening - i.e., going into at least some amount of eccentric or concentric contraction?

[baileyman]

That's what I would expect to be eccentric. One could set isometrically for a pitch at a volume and then add volume, which may add a bit of air pressure, which may stretch the contraction eccentrically. Maybe that's why those volume exercises are valuable. I can't think of any other eccentricities. Maybe flinging the slide for trills?

My own experience indicates the isometric set is good over a rather large range, where pitch is is the independent variable and mouth volume/shape is the independent. And it indicates the isometric set can be prompted to adjust by contrary input from mouth volume. As in, previously reported, for Bb octaves its useful to have a largish mouth volume for the tuning note in order to get to high Bb by mouth volume shrinkage, but it's also useful to have a small volume for low Bb in order to get to the pedal by mouth volume expansion. In between it's contrary motion that seems to force the change in isometric set from the low range to the high.

I don't often go for the next octave up, but sometimes it will be, after getting to high Bb with a small mouth volume, I'll then expand the volume, and the set powerfully contracts in compensation, then shrinking mouth volume takes the pitch up again, maybe to the next octave if it's a lucky day.

[harrisonreed]

The key to building a good upper register and endurance in that register is tied to learning to use your tongue and diaphragm to shape the air. The more you try to use your face muscles, the faster you will tire. Your diaphragm and tongue will take a long time to get tired. Your face still get tired very quickly.

Practice this with octaves. Go up to your high Bb but used the back of your tongue on the upper note, like "tahhh-keee". Or if it is a low Bb to mid Bb, "tohhh-kuuuu". Your face should barely be under tension if you are leveraging your tongue.

Then practice a gliss within a given partial, say middle D. Use your tongue to keep the air compression exactly the same as you gliss down and back up. The tongue will adjust the entire time. There is no single isometric position over a large range. Every note has a spot.

[Burgerbob]

The really great high register players are obviously using SOME face to maintain those notes, but air is the main motivator. Peter Steiner said in an interview or masterclass that his face does not get tired playing the rep he does- but his abs do. I've also seen it in Jim Miller, who can blow the loudest high F on any instrument you put in his hands- and I do mean blow, not muscle into existence.

Figuring out exactly what that is for? No clue. I'm not there!!

[AndrewMeronek]

To be clear, I am aware of the importance of good playing technique, tongue position, proper use of abs (NOT the diaphragm!), etc.; I'm hoping for more of a nuanced insight into designing the best kind of practice routines and using our time wisely. To that end, I started this thread to see if I can get some help drilling into just what the muscles have to do and what are better and worse ways to train them to build range, assuming that technique is not a limiting factor.

[Bach5G]

The pencil trick?

[harrisonreed]

I started this thread to see if I can get some help drilling into just what the muscles have to do and what are better and worse ways to train them to build range, assuming that technique is not a limiting factor.

From what I can tell, based on people ruining their careers trying to do so, these aren't muscles that you train. I mean this in the most genuine, not snarky way. The thought process of "I need to train my face to play higher" is a dead end road. If you are getting tired and want more in the upper register, there is only what you are calling technique, and to a lesser extent equipment that helps hold your muscles in place. Metal doesn't get tired.

You used weight training terms in your OP, isometric, etc. The face is not a major muscle group like your core or back. The ceiling on training them is very low, and the chance of injury from overuse or abuse is high.

[Wilktone]

I went out for a hike just after posting earlier and was thinking about this thread as I was hiking downhill, which was an example I read when I looked up eccentric muscle contractions. If you're bench pressing, the eccentric contractions are what happens when you lower the weight to your chest. You don't just collapse everything, you come down in a controlled fashion.

That reminded me of Donald Reinhardt's phrase, "descend with compression." I alluded to this concept in my earlier post. When you start an exercise in a higher range and then descend, you want to keep the sound open as you descend, but you don't want to do that by collapsing your embouchure formation. I don't know that this officially constitutes as eccentric exercise, but I might try using bench pressing as an analogy for descending with compression next time I work with a student who needs help with this.

If the aperture is changing, does that mean that at least some of the muscles are actually lengthening or shortening - i.e., going into at least some amount of eccentric or concentric contraction?

That's a good question. From watching those slow motion videos of brass embouchures you can find online I don't think a soft, lower register note and a loud, higher register note look the same. Yes, the aperture size could be more or less the same, but for a lower note there is more lip mass vibrating, which is why the oscillation take a little longer and establishes the lower pitch. Watching a player crescendo on a single pitch shows the aperture getting larger, but from what I can tell the amount of lip mass that vibrates is basically the same.

There are many different examples of brass players and teachers who use mid-register soft playing as an exercise to help build strength and control for upper register. I've found it useful for my own practice, for what it's worth.

I can't think of any other eccentricities.

Bending the pitch to smear between partials without moving the slide?

As in, previously reported, for Bb octaves its useful to have a largish mouth volume for the tuning note in order to get to high Bb by mouth volume shrinkage, but it's also useful to have a small volume for low Bb in order to get to the pedal by mouth volume expansion.

I like to think of this sort of mechanics to be points along a track. Each of those Bbs have an idea spot for tongue position. It's easy to go too far or not far enough, but conceptually I like thinking of the required change being consistent between octaves, just in the opposite direction. So from mid Bb to high Bb you go distance X in one direction. From mid Bb to low Bb you make the opposite change, but still the same distance. That seems to work pretty well, at least as a starting point.

The key to building a good upper register and endurance in that register is tied to learning to use your tongue and diaphragm to shape the air. The more you try to use your face muscles, the faster you will tire. Your diaphragm and tongue will take a long time to get tired. Your face still get tired very quickly.

Sure, that's a very important part of the whole. I prefer to explain the "key" as the coordination of all those factors. If the muscles in the face aren't sufficiently strong enough to control the lips for long enough all the correct tongue position and breath control aren't going to be enough to play for very long. Likewise playing with poor breathing or tonguing makes your embouchure work harder.

I don't think there's anything wrong with conceptually separating certain playing factors from each other to understand them better, so long as we keep the bigger picture in mind eventually.

The really great high register players are obviously using SOME face to maintain those notes, but air is the main motivator. Peter Steiner said in an interview or masterclass that his face does not get tired playing the rep he does- but his abs do.

That's interesting and contrary to what Arnold Jacobs talked about. According to Jacobs, we really don't need an awful lot of abdominal contraction to play even high pressure instruments. There are, apparently, physical and anatomical controls in our bodies that regulate the air pressure we blow, so using the abs to blow harder is mostly wasted effort.

Bringing breathing back to eccentric muscle contraction, with the lungs comfortably full we can commence the blowing mostly by relaxing our muscles of inspiration and allowing the air pressure inside to start the exhalation. After a certain amount of air is expired we begin to engage the breathing muscles. So maybe an example of eccentric muscle contraction in trombone playing is blowing with controlled relaxation of the breathing muscles. We can't just let them go, or else we expel more air than we want right then, so this is sort of like bringing the weight back down to our chest when bench pressing?

The pencil trick?

That would seem to be more of an isometric exercise. I've seen some folks pushing special tools and training programs where you do something similar to the pencil trick, but allow the tip of the rod to drop and bring it back up in repetitions. Maybe those would be an example of eccentric exercise, but I don't think I would recommend spending time on them, I think there's better things to practice.

From what I can tell, based on people ruining their careers trying to do so, these aren't muscles that you train.

Depends on what you mean by "train." We definitely need to "train" our embouchures to focus correctly with the breathing, tonguing, slide, etc. And there definitely is a strength and control component there too. We can certainly disagree on the best way to go about developing that and how much is enough, including the idea that it gets trained enough simply by practicing enough.

Many students who reach out to me specifically for help with their chops have trained their embouchure incorrectly, and usually learned to play that way by not thinking about their chops. That was my experience too, before Doug Elliott helped straighten me out.

Dave

[Burgerbob]

The really great high register players are obviously using SOME face to maintain those notes, but air is the main motivator. Peter Steiner said in an interview or masterclass that his face does not get tired playing the rep he does- but his abs do.

That's interesting and contrary to what Arnold Jacobs talked about. According to Jacobs, we really don't need an awful lot of abdominal contraction to play even high pressure instruments. There are, apparently, physical and anatomical controls in our bodies that regulate the air pressure we blow, so using the abs to blow harder is mostly wasted effort.

Again, I speak to this only as an observer- I do NOT have a world class high range. Obviously those players are doing something correct at the chops... but whatever it is is obviously not a huge isometric effort.

[Wilktone]

Again, I speak to this only as an observer- I do NOT have a world class high range. Obviously those players are doing something correct at the chops... but whatever it is is obviously not a huge isometric effort.

I think what we observe with expert players is less a huge muscular effort in their face, but rather a concentration of where the effort is put. Matthias Bertsch published a paper a while back that compared beginning, intermediate, and expert trumpet players before and after a warmup with infrared thermography. The more experienced the player, the more the muscular effort ended up being focused around the mouth corners and chin. Beginning players were using muscles all over their face while playing.

I suspect what makes advanced players who make upper register playing seem so effortless is partly because they are relaxed in areas that don't need to be doing work. Struggling players who look like they're straining are engaging muscles that don't need to be used and that's getting in their way.

Dave

[AndrewMeronek]

The pencil trick?

Not what I was trying to get to. I think Prof. Wilken is following what I'm trying to ask. Interesting how even the act of trying to ask a question where everyone understands what I intend to try to ask is in itself not always a simple undertaking.

Other ways of exercising our facial muscles like the pencil trick or even mouthpiece buzzing, I've become not very fond of. Apparently in exercise science this is also a criticism: for highly specialized athletic-like training, it's always best to train on the actual motions that the person needs to do, not to train the same muscles to do different things, unless there's a really good reason to isolate something that leads directly back to the focus task. In my personal experience (and based on discussions with other pros) the best way to train trombone playing is trombone playing.

When he was in the NBA, Shaquille O'Neal did indeed have to run around a lot, but he didn't waste his time pounding marathon training because that's not like the kind of running that he actually had to do on the court.

[baileyman]

The pencil trick?

...Other ways of exercising our facial muscles like the pencil trick or even mouthpiece buzzing, I've become not very fond of. Apparently in exercise science this is also a criticism: for highly specialized athletic-like training, it's always best to train on the actual motions that the person needs to do, not to train the same muscles to do different things, unless there's a really good reason to isolate something that leads directly back to the focus task. In my personal experience (and based on discussions with other pros) the best way to train trombone playing is trombone playing. ...

Reading back through this and my own comments about preparing the high Bb set for the next octave up, I'm thinking I will try an exercise idea on it. Basically, play an easy high Bb with the small forward mouth volume, then gradually open the volume till the pitch tries to fail, then back to the small. I feel a powerful contraction (isometric) when I do this, but I've never thought to make a "strength" exercise out of it. Now that I think so, I'll try it.

[timothy42b]

Reading back through this and my own comments about preparing the high Bb set for the next octave up, I'm thinking I will try an exercise idea on it. Basically, play an easy high Bb with the small forward mouth volume, then gradually open the volume till the pitch tries to fail, then back to the small. I feel a powerful contraction (isometric) when I do this, but I've never thought to make a "strength" exercise out of it. Now that I think so, I'll try it.

The bold is mine. I totally missed your meaning. You are talking about shaping the small forward mouth volume, which I think is what singers call F2.

I had been thinking you meant the whole mouth volume including behind the tongue, which I think singers call F1.

[tbdana]

I always start my high range work on a low note, from low F to low Bb and doing arpeggios up to high F or above in order to ensure that I'm not falling into the trap of resetting my embouchure for the upper range.

Of course, when I started practicing this way, it was much harder to hit those high notes. But now I play from low F to double Bb and back down without any change in my embouchure. And really, that range isn't very usable if you have to make a shift to play it.

I don't know if this falls under the heading of "efficient way to build range," but it's certainly an efficient way to play. And I haven't read all the technical and long posts in this thread. Unlike the OP, I don't play with attention to technicalities. I don't think about whether muscles are lengthening or contracting. I just play by feel, and try to play with no to minimal changes in my set. And this worked for me. Not the deep scientific analysis the OP wanted, but surely there are some others out there like me who simply play by feel, and maybe this will be a help for them...or not. LOL!

[Doug Elliott]

I always start my high range work on a low note, from low F to low Bb and doing arpeggios up to high F or above in order to ensure that I'm not falling into the trap of resetting my embouchure for the upper range.

The opposite is also a valid approach, and ultimately both should be practiced:

start LOW range work on a HIGH note, from HIGH Bb to HIGH F or even DOUBLE Bb and do arpeggios DOWN to LOW F or BELOW in order to ensure that you're not falling into the trap of resetting your embouchure for the LOWER range.

[JeffBone44]

It seems to me that there at least three components to high range playing.

1) the ability to reach those notes
2) endurance
3) accuracy

#1 is not a problem for me. #2, endurance, is improving a lot. Most of my high range difficulties are the result of #3. Playing in the upper range accurately is like trying to thread a needle. It's hard to hit the right partial in that range, especially when playing faster passages, because they are so close together.

What is the best way to practice ACCURACY in the high range?

[norbie2018]

It is physical as well as mental. Hear the note in your head, set your embouchure, inhale through the corners and play the high note. Play the high note in an arpeggio or octaves down and back up. Make certain you are using a tee attack so your oral cavity and abdominals are correct. There's more which is dirfficult to explain here, but a lesson with Doug will help clarify things immensely.

[tbdana]

It seems to me that there at least three components to high range playing.

1) the ability to reach those notes
2) endurance
3) accuracy

#1 is not a problem for me. #2, endurance, is improving a lot. Most of my high range difficulties are the result of #3. Playing in the upper range accurately is like trying to thread a needle. It's hard to hit the right partial in that range, especially when playing faster passages, because they are so close together.

What is the best way to practice ACCURACY in the high range?

4) Facility

The range isn't very useful if you can only reach up and grab the occasional note. But if you can fluidly play scales, arpeggios and patterns in that range -- staying in that range -- then you have something you can use.

[JeffBone44]

It is physical as well as mental. Hear the note in your head, set your embouchure, inhale through the corners and play the high note. Play the high note in an arpeggio or octaves down and back up. Make certain you are using a tee attack so your oral cavity and abdominals are correct. There's more which is dirfficult to explain here, but a lesson with Doug will help clarify things immensely.

I've had several lessons with Doug, and he's helped me a lot, especially with my low range. Another lesson or two dedicated to the high register would be good for me.

[Doug Elliott]

The thing that helped me the most was playing George Maxted 20 Studies. It was out of print for a long time and I don't know it it's available now.

[Kbiggs]

The thing that helped me the most was playing George Maxted 20 Studies. It was out of print for a long time and I don't know it it's available now.

I bought a reprint about 15 years ago. It’s advertised on Amazon, Google Books, and a few others.

[JeffBone44]

The thing that helped me the most was playing George Maxted 20 Studies. It was out of print for a long time and I don't know it it's available now.

I'll look for that one.

[baileyman]

Reading back through this and my own comments about preparing the high Bb set for the next octave up, I'm thinking I will try an exercise idea on it. Basically, play an easy high Bb with the small forward mouth volume, then gradually open the volume till the pitch tries to fail, then back to the small. I feel a powerful contraction (isometric) when I do this, but I've never thought to make a "strength" exercise out of it. Now that I think so, I'll try it.

The bold is mine. I totally missed your meaning. You are talking about shaping the small forward mouth volume, which I think is what singers call F2.

I had been thinking you meant the whole mouth volume including behind the tongue, which I think singers call F1.

I mean the mouth volume in front of the tongue, the part that also gives whistle pitch.

It seems to me there are two primary dimensions at work in this embouchure thing. One is "tension", whatever that really is. Musculature sets some kind of frequency range. Two is that forward mouth volume. The volume seems to operate on the range defined by "tension". Within that range, volume can quickly choose any pitch.

This scheme fails outside the range determined by "tension". Huge volume cannot lower pitch beyond the range. However, altered tension changes the range.

So, high range may bottom out on the way down, then a change in "tension" must happen. What I find is that at a single pitch, a large mouth volume will force a change in "tension" in order to maintain the pitch. Then with a small mouth volume on a low pitch, the range for the "tension" in use will allow further decline in pitch driven by mouth volume.

I think for someone who has worked out a coordinated volume/tension path through all their notes, this may not make sense. "I just play" is what I usually hear. But it's easy to separate out the effects. High Bb or maybe F below is is a good note to test on. Play with a small mouth volume, then gradually make a larger volume and observe what happens to musculature.

[aasavickas]

I play up to Bb two octaves above the tuning note and double pedals on whichever horn I'm playing that day, whether bass or pea shooter. Obviously low sounds better on bass than tenor but I'm more interested in my chops buzzing freely and easily than the sound in a daily Warmup/fundamental session.


This is what I'm doing lately.

1. Your tongue directs the air and becomes more important as you go up. The tongue will move up and forward and direct a fast stream of air into the bottom of the cup (for typical players with an overbite). Don't blow too much air. Best exercise is to take a big breath and let out 75% then play. It will be easier and clearer. Too much air is a problem. The compression feel is right by my chops for me and the tongue is what directs and compresses the air. The more I focus my chops down the less muscle feel in my face. This helps with endurance bc one of your strongest muscles is your tongue and your lip muscles are incredibly weak. I basically set my embouchure and there looks like no movement outside the mp. Other than a pivot over larger ranges but that is really about horn angle and where the pressure is on the lips and where the air is going.

2. Breathe in with the mouth shape of the note you want to play. Sing the note with the correct mouth shape and inhale for that note. So a big slow easy inhale for a Bach Cello Suite on bass and a small tighter sounding breathe for high stuff. This one step of inhaling with your mouth shape set helps a ton with high entrances for me. I'm sure this is heretical but it works. Breathe for the phrase(don't over breathe) and set up on the inhale.

3. When you practice play around with tongue shape and position. Really get stupid. Some things will work some not but you will definitely learn something.

4. You need to pivot, at least a little. Once you get the hang of it, work on minimizing movement and smoothing out larger intervals. Others on here can explain this one. I feel like it is almost always misunderstood unless it is Doug Elliot or Wilktone talking about it.

5. Play up there. Do your boring lip slurs up an octave. Play Borgogni in tenor, up an octave, up two, whatever. Added benefit is if you can play getting sentimental over you or bolero a 5th higher, the actual playing feels easy bc you have more left over.

6. When you practice extreme range stuff, don't worry about the sound at the edges at first. Squeak a note up high at first it is fine. As you connect it to your normal range and play in and out it will open up. Down low, just don't pass out and work on moving the air far slower than you think and focus more on a adding brilliance with mouth-shape rather than more air for projection and volume. For up high stuff, start with no articulations, your tongue is really busy and getting a good attack up high is a high wire balancing act. Get the note to speak first, then slowly open it up and get a good sound with a breath attack, then add a tiny little articulation and it should develop quickly.

7. Work on singing to really learn mouth shape stuff, timbre stuff, and extreme range stuff. Check out Mongolian Throat Singing to really dial it in. Probably the biggest improvement in my playing, especially at the extremes, is from lots of singing. The throat singing really helps understand what your tongue is doing and how to emphasize different overtones for different reasons. This is a very physical and intuitive version of the old "ooo" shape for warm sound, "eee" for high. Except it is very nuanced and easy to integrate into your playing. It detangles the low/warm high/bright dichotomy and you can choose to play with whatever sound you want in whatever range. Maybe you want a bright sound down low and a warm sound up high. Easier to do once you let your tongue tell you where it needs to go.


***********************************************************************************************************

My ideas are sometimes unconventional and other times heretical, so take what I'm saying with a grain of salt. Everyone is different. Try everything (with a good teacher if you are really confused), keep what works quit what doesn't.

I'm starting to think many folks, especially orchestral guys, practice like middle schoolers and play very safe and don't have the range, sound, or facility they could if they actually risked missing a note in the practice room. Not trying to start a fight, just an observation. There are plenty of wonderful orchestral folks with good chops and and good teaching. I'm just frequently disappointed by what I hear them play and teach more often than I would have thought.

If you sound good in the practice room, you ain't practicing.

Caveat Emptor

[hyperbolica]

There's a lot of great information here. I'm not a teacher, but I did develop a pretty good range when I was playing a lot. The #1 most effective thing for me was to freebuzz. I would only do this for a minute or two at a time, mostly once a day. It helped me focus my embouchure down to a small area of the lips so that I didn't have to use the mouthpiece rim as the boundary of the embouchure.

The other work that I did regularly was scales and intervals. You could think of this as arpeggios, but the bigger intervals had some benefits also for the ear. Long tones of course. Tuner, metronome, because if it isn't in tune and in time, you aren't really doing it.

The final part of it was to use the notes in context. For me that was later Rochut etudes, solos, some of the high orchestral excerpts and more advanced studies. Finally, this was mostly ear training, but pick a high note and just nail it out of nowhere. Db - bang. B - bang. Eb - bang.

And you have to be self critical. If it's a nasal or pinched tone or not nice in some way, you have to work at opening up the sound. Record yourself. It's so easy these days. Huge benefit. Can be absolutely demoralizing as well, but it's better to be embarassed in the practice room than in an audition.

[BarryDaniels]

I found a place to download a pdf of the George Maxted 20 Studies.

https://pdfcoffee.com/george-maxted-20- ... -free.html

Hopefully, this doesn't violate forum rules.

[CalgaryTbone]

The thing that helped me the most was playing George Maxted 20 Studies. It was out of print for a long time and I don't know it it's available now.

I think cherryclassics.com is selling the Maxted book. Gordon Cherry (retired Vancouver Symphony Principal) has a great online publishing company with lots of new material and some old classic material that had gone out of print.

Jim Scott

[Bach5G]

I had a quick look at the Maxted. First thing I see us a high E. How do you build your chops in order to take on the Maxted?

[Doug Elliott]

Yes, the very first one goes to high F. I think every one of the 20 studies has F, F#, or G. I'm not suggesting it as a place to start, but if you have ANY ability to squeak them out, that book gives you a chance to use that range in a musically useful way that's really not that difficult.
If you want to increase your useable range, I do lessons by Skype and can help you develop up there in a safe and correct way to make it relatively easy.

[Crazy4Tbone86]

I stumbled upon the Maxted studies when I was in high school. Fearless and young, I went after them the best I could. If I would have recorded myself doing them back then, I’m sure it would be a good laugh today.

I ended up putting Maxted on the back burner when I went to college and worked on a lot of the French solos that go up to high D, E-flat, E and F. When I came back to the Maxted studies a few years later, they seemed much more approachable.

[Bach5G]

I started in on #1, concentrating on the stuff up to about C or so, occasionally squeaking out an Eb or F. Good alto clef reading exercise if nothing else. I figure the notes in the top 4th will get easier eventually. Putting the horn down frequently and trying not to strain.