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starkid
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30 May 2015, 9:00 pm

I started playing trumpet over twenty years ago and I am still not so great at it. I learned in the public school system and only had lessons for a few weeks in college.

My problem is with embouchure. I never seem to develop much stamina or the ability to play comfortably in the higher registers. I've tried so many different mouthpieces, it is ridiculous: shallow ones, deep ones, double cup, megatone (this seems the best so far), flat rim, and rounded rim. I generally start off feeling good on a new mouthpiece, then, within a few weeks my apparently new-found stamina wears off and it becomes difficult to play high notes or play for longer than an hour or so again. I do not understand why I have these issues.

I'm probably not going to be able to get lessons any time soon, so, any advice?



Aristophanes
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30 May 2015, 10:58 pm

1. Proper warm up and cool down exercises help with stamina.
2. Make sure you're not jamming the mouthpiece into your mouth to hit high notes, the airflow change should be created by the air flow coming from the embouchure. Breathing properly helps with this-- don't take gasping breaths that only fill the top of the lungs, fill the lungs from the bottom to the top. If the ring of the mouthpiece is indented on your lips when you're done playing, you're jamming the mouthpiece into your lips too much.
3. If you haven't played in a while do a minimal amount of playing and increase that amount every day a slight amount.

Haven't played in quite a while, but those are the things I remember relating to stamina.