Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2011 21:46:49 -0400 From: "DB" <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Hornlist] Andrew's latest comments To: "'The Horn List'" <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[email protected]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Luke, Unless you buy the product you do not know what this technique is. Valerie refused to answer a direct question of what it is intimating you had to buy the product to find out. And you know that it helps little kids play the full range but that is about it. However, What you do not know is that if you follow the instructions to the letter you could damage your embouchure that could take weeks if not months to overcome. As a brass player the last thing you want to do in playing your instrument is bunch up your chin. Check with Cindy Lewis of the NJ Symphony she is the foremost expert on brass player injuries. You will find that it could be the quickest way to end your career. I play daily from pedal c to f above high c and there is not a hint of a bunched chin. It can be done without bunching up your chin and puffing your cheeks looking somewhat like an idiot. If you want to throw your money away be my guest, heck I did, but you can get better results from Scott Hartman's left coast exercises which are similar and they are free to download and the instructions will not potentially harm you like Valerie's product will. I am sorry I offended some on this list but there are plenty of vendors on this list who do not abuse their presence are not obnoxious. I for one welcome a reminder that someone is around every couple of months or so. Ralph Snake Hornplayer Extraordinaire Dear "Ralph", I agree that constant hawking of products can be annoying, but it is a fine line between that and just being enthusiastic. But maybe if you are going to criticize others you should use your real name. If you want to watch someone who uses BE, go on You Tube and watch Steven Park. it is also odd that you claim that if you follow Jeff's instructions "to the letter"...see above, etc. Really? I guess there must be a bunch of players out there that are injured that we don't know about. You can hurt yourself following anyone's instructions, especially if you don't read them carefully. That is a problem with any book. Personally, I do think that the BE thing could use some clarification and fleshing out, but I also know that this not Jeff's intent. He wants people to discover things on their own. That might be a subject worth discussion, because there are points to be made on both sides of that one. The exercises are meant to free up your movement and give you insight on things that you might not get otherwise. It is not meant to be taken as specific instructions, per se. Yes, most great players do not bunch their chins, but that is a resultant and not real methodology. A firm chin can become a frozen chin of steel too, with no help at all to your playing. Bunching the chin is NOT a goal of BE anyway. By the way, Cindy Lewis is not the foremost expert on horn injuries, and neither am I. I don't know who is. She did write a book, though, which has some good info. There are a lot of sources of information about playing injuries from all instruments out there, though. There are things in her book that could be easily questioned on here if someone wanted to. Playing injuries is a subject that could use a lot more research, and it is something that teachers should be more concerned about. Scott's stuff is free, so i guess that satisfies at least one big requirement for bloggers and web surfers. I am a friend of his, so don't get too excited. And just for the record, i do not teach BE. Not because I don't like it, but because i haven't had time to try it enough myself and i was working on a similar track that I wanted to finish before I compared it to Jeff's stuff. I just might take some lessons with Jeff, because pedagogy and good methodology interests me. The fact is, that there is a lot of pedagogy out there that is pretty worn out and potentially misleading or really only effective on a hit and miss basis. I do advocate learning to roll the lips in and out for better range and movement between the ranges. I don't teach it like Jeff does, but i have talked to him on the phone and it sounds like we are on the same track. If you or anyone else wants to read my thoughts on the subject and get some FREE exercises, you can go to the Addendum and Extras page on my website and download the exercises, complete with history and instructions. I also demo it on my DVDs. Let me know what you think. Maybe discussing my stuff a bit would take the edge off this whole BE thing. Whatever. Sincerely, Wendell Rider For information about my book, "Real World Horn Playing" and the DVDs, go to my website: www.wendellworld.com _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
