The Physics of the Trumpet Ep. 2: Physiology

In this episode of "Trumpet with Bob," trumpeter ‪@bobbyspellman‬ discusses the physics of the body's functions when playing trumpet.
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Twitter: @bobby_spellman
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Musical Physics Reading List:
Physics and Music: The Science of Musical Sound by Harvey E. White and Donald H. White
Horns, Strings, and Harmony by Arthur H. Benade
Trumpet Science by Ben Peterson
Teaching Brass by Kristian Steenstrup
Blow Your Mind by Kristian Steenstrup
University of New South Wales study on brass players tuning the vocal tract: newt.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/repri...
"The acoustics of wind instruments - and of the musicians who play them" from the University of New South Wales: www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/reprin...
newt.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/bras...

[@blow-by-blow-trumpet]

I'm really enjoying this series Bobby. It takes a long time to figure all this out through trial and error so this is a great addition to trumpet pedagogy. These are the questions that every trumpet player asks but no-one ever seems to give a satisfactory answer. This is the most comprehensive and objective explanation I've heard. Wish I'd known all this 6 years ago. Better late than never.

[@RidgewoodSchoolofMusic]

Thanks Jon!

[@gregorysloat4258]

Really enjoying this series. I love how both Claude Gordon and Jerry Callet claimed that THEIR way is the only way. The extreme of this would be the example we’ve all heard where a teacher would insist that all his students play an certain mouthpiece because that’s what HE played, discounting that everyone is different. I like to think of approaching trumpet playing the way Bruce Lee approached martial arts. He thought having a certain school or style was too limiting. If you knew what a certain style taught you would know what to expect from a student of that style and you therefore knew their strengths and weaknesses. What HE did was to learn ALL the various martial arts and take the best techniques of what worked for a given style and incorporate that into his own skills, and if it didn’t work, not to use it, but it was a journey of discovery for every student as to what works for them. I think trumpet playing is like that. There are certain basic fundamental skills upon which you need to build, but beyond that to say you have to do it this way or that way could be limiting because of all our physical differences. Just think of all the factors in your mouth, alone. Everyone has different teeth, tongues, lips, oral cavities, etc. To say that a given approach will work the same for everyone is naive. Therefore, I think you should learn as much information from as many good trumpet players as you can, sift through the advice-even if it contradicts other good players-and see what works best for your own playing, and use it, and if it doesn’t work for you, don’t beat yourself up over it, because that is not your path to success in playing the trumpet. Also, when you expose yourself to the ideas of many players, over time you come to recognize they are explaining the same or similar concepts, just in how THEY learned or internalized the approach, and advice from one player might not “click” with a given student, where hearing it from another will. So, try to hear what every good player has to say, and take their ideas that work for you and make it part of your own approach to playing. Just don’t get too “out there,” because as I once read that Scott Englebright said, when it gets down to it, we’re just blowing air through a brass tube.

[@paulspaulding79]

Well said!

[@daemonorops3528]

You had me at Bruce Lee.

[@user-vf3cs4oi1y]

Great video, and to paraphrase Douglas Adams a duology in three parts.

[@benoittissier58]

Very interesting. I played trumpet for 2 years and one day I tried to reach the high C, not sure I got it, but I damaged something at the upper corner of my mouth and could never play again. So I love to hear about physiology of the trumpet !

[@RidgewoodSchoolofMusic]

Thanks! Sorry to hear about your face!

[@MrBochawa]

This is excellent work.

[@KleberebelK18]

All we want is to reach all of these harmonics inside this metal tube with easyness. What just does not happen like we want.

[@RidgewoodSchoolofMusic]

If only we could transcend the laws of nature and eliminate all suffering from our mortal world! Alas, we play the trumpet.

[@daemonorops3528]

Great video, thanks for the helpful explanations. I'm confused about this air pressure factor. On one hand, you can use more air pressure for increasing the VOLUME of the sound, and yet, it is also a factor to increase the PITCH of the sound. Your creative lip experiment leads me to the following conclusion: when we want to increase the volume, then we're adding more air pressure but we must also simultaneously open the aperture, or play with any other factor that you have mentioned. When we want to increase the pitch, not only do we add air pressure, but we must also play with the tightness of the lips or aperture size. Makes sense so far! Interesting for a beginner is what would the significance of every factor be, if you want to reach the highest notes for example? Tell me if I'm wrong, but I'm guessing that when you play your highest note, you do have more pressure from the metal on your lips, you do have a smaller aperture, and of course you have more air pressure. Just thinking out loud. I've been watching your other videos, and I find them very helpful so far! :)

[@RidgewoodSchoolofMusic]

It's a great question, and though I'm not 100% sure the answer, I would agree that it's likely that we are compensating with the other factors in order to increase the volume without increasing the pitch, or increasing the pitch without increasing the volume. To add to that, one problem with my artificial lip device, is that as I added air pressure, the aperture of the balloon lips naturally increased, limiting the potential increase in observable pitch. When we play, we are able to use the muscles in our lips to keep our embouchure solid while we increase air pressure. While it doesn't give a full answer, I found it fascinating to check out this video of French hornist Sarah Willis changing dynamics in an MRI machine: kzbin.info/www/bejne/g4jGgKqdjNiDfqMsi=uW8bzIxsbI5Y1cwu&t=286

[@RidgewoodSchoolofMusic]

Secondly, when we reach the highest notes, it seems to me that we are employing all of the factors we have at our disposal, with the one exception being that it's generally best to apply as little mouthpiece pressure as you need to keep the horn firmly on your face, rather than bludgeoning your chops to get the notes. Thanks!

[@ryanspellman6884]

Great video! Who knew trumpet physics could be so controversial.

[@davidcockcroft5444]

Great series! I've been playing for 1 day and this is awesome! Do you do online lessons?

[@RidgewoodSchoolofMusic]

Thanks! I do! Check out the links in the description.

[@coin777]

Great Video. 7:40 I must add a correction its weight of the string, not its diameter that counts.

[@RidgewoodSchoolofMusic]

I suppose it's really the mass, but you're right, I probably should have specified mass rather than diameter. The way guitar and piano string manufacturers add mass is by increasing the diameter of the lower strings, so I'm not completely off the mark, but I try to be as specific as possible when dealing with these technical discussions. Thanks for the added clarification!

[@Zakvasir]

Surprised you no-sold the terrifying fake lips apparatus.