When it comes time for scales, I have found that the best thing to do is give the student the hardest scales first. Too many range and endurance problems result from this unrolled beginning lip position. I have found this beginning rolled setting so much more successful than starting with unrolled lips which produces a low C as the first note. The lips will unroll and find a more flexible setting as the player extends the range in both directions. The player then works down to low C after the first three to five day setting has taken place. Long tones are encouraged to strengthen the lips. Nothing lower than this G should be attempted for three to five days in order to set the embouchure. The sounded note G or higher indicates the necessary innate tension required in a good embouchure. The airstream from the “M” position is crucial and some pressure is required so that the rim of the mouthpiece holds the embouchure in place while the lips relax enough to vibrate. Certain points may need to be checked here if no sound comes forth. We then join the trumpet to the mouthpiece, with instructions on how to hold the trumpet, and the same airstream exercise will produce a G on the second line or higher. The student holds the mouthpiece (no buzz) that was accomplished through the rolled lips. After this is accomplished, the teacher places the mouthpiece on the students lips during the “M” formation, about half upper, half lower.

Saying piiip or peeeeep with the air can sometimes facilitate this action. Blow an airstream through the center of the lips without unrolling them. Take care that no red part of the lip shows and there is no rolled lips between the teeth. Without the trumpet or mouthpiece, have the beginner roll the lips inward as if saying the letter “M”. It is not so much what it looks like, but what it produces. Armando Ghitalla “For The Beginner” Good endurance, range, and tone equal an embouchure with potential.

Trumpet isometrics pdf