All right trumpet players, let’s talk about high notes.

First, let’s deal with 2 of my favorite excuses about why you can’t play as high as you’d like:

1) You’re born with it.

That’s right, if you weren’t blessed with a Double-C at birth, you’ve got no shot. This is my personal favorite. It’s the greatest cop-out in trumpet. In any beginning band section one kid will have an easier time making a good sound, another kid will have an easier time coordinating fingers, and another kid will have an easier time playing higher. All teachers seem to agree that you can practice towards a better sound and better fingers, so why is it such a leap to think you can also practice your way to better range?

2) If I could just find the right mouthpiece then all of my problems would be solved.

For you equipment junkies, read this carefully: There is no magic mouthpiece. Certainly the right equipment can make your job easier, but it is no substitute for dedicated, smart practice. “Right equipment” is a relative phrase. Just because a player you admire plays a certain mouthpiece does not mean it is the right mouthpiece for you.

Feel free to add your favorite excuses in the comments.

Now that we’ve gotten rid of the excuses, here’s the secret:

There are no high notes

I know, now you feel cheated. Follow me on this and it will help. If we can agree that a 3rd space “C” is not a high note (and I think we can), then since “C#” is only a 1/2 step higher, it certainly doesn’t qualify as a high note either. And “D” is only a 1/2 step higher than “C#”, so it can’t be a high note. Well, “Eb” is only up another 1/2 step, so it can’t be high. You can keep going as long as you’d like. Now we know there are no high notes. Now what?

Now we need a better mental picture. Because of the way music is notated, it’s very common to picture high notes as “up” and low notes as “down”. This leads to 2 very common problems:

Over-relaxing to play low. Players will let go of all support and get that really special tube sound so familiar to beginning band directors. Over-tightening to play high. Players will tighten up every part of their bodies just to squeeze out a note they think to be high.

So forget up and down. Now go and look at a piano (it’s okay, I’ll wait)……..

Is it any harder to play high (or low) on a piano? No.

Why?

All of the notes are right in front of you

That’s your new mental picture. The entire range of the trumpet is right in front of you. Now you only need one thing to access it:

Coordination

It’s not just air, or just tongue arch, or just any other single thing. It’s coordination.

Part 2 (Coming Soon!) will deal with how to build that coordination throughout the entire range of the trumpet.