Because everyone can't be Bill Vermuelen and might want to be, here is a neat little trick to see how the aparture works.
In a rehearsal for Mozart 29 I sat next to the oboe player and we experimented with parts. He took an old oboe reed he had lying around and put it into my horn mouthpiece. The small aparture of the reed in conjunction with the horn produced High G's above High C's, sometimes I could lip up to a High A and a High Bb above high C. This result prooves that a really fast air speed and a very small aparture produces very high notes and NOT pressure. I should mention that the tone was very full and bright unlike the fake high c's you can get by halfly depressing the first valve on some horns or something like that. I then experimented with a Bassoon reed which is about twice the size, the result was a G right above the staff one octave lower. With a Contra reed the result was a 3rd space C on the middle of the staff. Really, to actually produce a High G or any note for that matter, all we need to do is use lip tension to create an aparture small enough or high enough for the note we are aiming for----plus use enough airspeed to get the note to speak at that vibration or frequency. I think one of the things left out in this talk was the important use of lip tension to create high notes. I think pressure creates tension in a bad way in brass playing; it's unreliable and therefore it is discouraged although it can get the same result as tension playing within the lips. But the trick is creating the tension in your lips without needing the added mouthpiece pressure so the tone is not distorted or airy or doesn't speak at all. So, what is the biggest key of high playing or loud playing? Let the air do the work, relax, and don't use pressure but tension in your playing. If you don't trust this theory, get an oboe reed and play some High G's! Make sure you put enough air through the reed that it speaks though. The reed can be in terrible terrible shape so you don't need a new reed, maybe a friend will have one they are willing to give away? Josh Johnson _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
