Top Three Inches of Reed Instruments I have seen many students over the years purchase step-up or professional quality instruments while still in their school years. I can certainly understand the sentiment for doing this as the better instruments are just so much nicer to play. When you are spending many hours per week playing the instrument, it is a real treat to play a better quality horn. I am always amazed though when I see students spending thousands of dollars on better horns, but still not considering the quality of the top three inches of the reed instrument. That would be the mouthpiece, the ligature, and the reeds. I have often said that you can take a student model instrument and make it sound like it is worth thousands more by just getting a pro-quality mouthpiece, a decent ligature, and better reeds. The trouble is, the inverse is true as well. You can take a pro model clarinet and reduce its sound quality by playing on a student-quality mouthpiece, a crappy ligature, and entry-level reeds. A pro instrument cannot turn a crappy sound from the mouthpiece into something that it is not. So, I always recommend starting with the top three inches and considering the horn later. That way, the student will always be pleased with the result despite the amount of money invested. The first place to invest should be the best result for the money spent, and in my opinion, that is the ligature. The ligature is the metal clamp on the sax or clarinet that seals the reed against the mouthpiece and holds the reed in place. Manufacturers do not put decent ligatures into student model instruments as a way of keeping the price of the student model instruments affordable. Ligatures are also kind of a personal thing with many different styles that give people many options to select from. The trouble with the student model ligatures is that when the screws are tightened, much of the force that is created squeezes the sides of the reed, instead of sealing the reed onto the mouthpiece. The result is that it can cause the reed to bow slightly from side to side, which allows leaks to form between the reed and the mouthpiece. The solution is to change the ligature to one that defeats this effect. The Rovner ligature is one that I have long recommended, as it is very effective and still very affordable for students at the cost of only about one box of reeds. The Rovner ligature is made of vinyl and has one metal adjustment screw on the backside of the ligature. The screw should be placed opposite the reed on the back of the mouthpiece, and not next to the reed. Now when tightening up the Rovner ligature, the vinyl strap will convert the screw pressure into gentle even pressure on the mouthpiece without any side squeeze on the reed. The best way to convince a student to step up their ligature is to have the students try it. Band teachers can keep a Rovner ligature on hand, and then just offer it to your students to try. Once they have played on something better, they will understand the benefits and work towards getting one. Rovner ligatures have several variations as well, starting with dark, medium and light sounds. I have preferred the dark sound for school concert bands as many students already have a too-thin sound and this helps correct it. The Rovner also has the added benefit of gripping the mouthpiece better than the student model ligatures. I have seen many student metal ligatures slip off and no matter how they are adjusted little grip is provided. The Rovner fixes that problem because of the vinyl strap contacting the plastic mouthpiece which grips better. Finally, there is an added benefit of the Rovner ligature that few people know about. Virtually all ligatures are made for right-handed people since about 80% of the population are right-handed. This means that the screws for all ligatures are made to be in the right hand when the ligature is positioned correctly and the player is facing the reed. Rotating a student model ligature around for a left- handed person may solve the handedness problem, but will create other problems of gaps in the ligature due to the way it is constructed. The Rovner ligature, though, can be turned into a left-handed ligature by undoing the nut and screw and removing them completely. Then slide the two bars out from the ends of the vinyl strap and swap them the other way around. Reposition the screw and the nut, which should now be on the left-hand side of the ligature when the screw is placed on the backside of the mouthpiece and the student is facing the reed. There are many other better ligatures of all sorts of types and styles. Professional musicians will spend substantial amounts of money on their ligatures when their livelihood depends on the sound that they create. But, for students, a Rovner ligature for about the cost of one box of reeds is a bargain that makes their instrument so much more enjoyable. The next best investment students should make to improve their sound is that of a pro model mouthpiece. The only reason that I did not make this recommendation first is that a good mouthpiece will be 3-4 times the cost of a box of reeds or more. As such, students often do not do this change first, but it is certainly an important decision to achieve a better sound. One of the biggest reasons to get away from the student model mouthpiece is that the face of the mouthpiece is often cut very flat on student mouthpieces. The face is the flat surface where the reed is held in place with the ligature. Manufacturers cut this face very flat for beginners because it allows students to achieve an almost immediate sound the first time they try the instrument. That is because the students do not need to bend the reed in very much with their embouchure, and so they get that early, easy sound. The trouble is that this early sound will not have a great tone, nor will the student be able to play with a good projection. With such a flat face, if students blow harder to get more sound, the reed will easily close off and the student will get no sound at all. The unintended outcome is that a student model mouthpiece encourages students to play with a small sound and weak embouchure, and this can be very destructive to future development. While it may work on day one, in year two or three it is already holding back the student! A pro model mouthpiece will have the reed face cut more open allowing for more air to pass through. This will create a larger sound but requires more effort from the student to bend in the reed. This also will help students develop a stronger embouchure, whereas the student mouthpieces tend to encourage students to NOT develop their embouchure. Pro model mouthpieces also have a more open shape inside the mouthpiece. I am not an expert on reed mouthpieces, so if you are interested in the specifics of these parameters, you should contact a specialist on your instrument. In the beginning, though, most secondary school students would find a good improvement in a “middle-of-the-road” pro-quality mouthpiece that is cut to create a full rich tone. Contact a Tapestry specialist about this if you are interested. Finally, a pro-quality mouthpiece is made of better materials than that used in student model mouthpieces. Usually, the student mouthpieces are made of plastic, whereas the pro mouthpieces are often made from a hard rubber which plays with a darker, richer, and more pleasant sound. Once again, teachers are encouraged to keep one sample in stock for students to try. Once they have played on it for a class, students will surely understand the benefit of improving that mouthpiece. Finally, students should consider improving the quality of their reeds before they consider stepping up the instrument. Juno and Rico Royal reeds are excellent for beginners, but students should move away from them shortly after beginning and aim for something better. Vandoren is a standard brand for high school students, but there are many great things available beyond even those such as Zonda reeds. I encourage you to look back at the blog article titled “What Reed Strength Should Beginners Start On?” to read about a plan for the care and development of reeds. I am always amazed when I see students playing on great instruments while still playing on student model reeds. The top three inches of a clarinet or sax can truly make a great sound, even on a student model instrument. Just stepping up the reeds, mouthpiece and ligature make an astounding difference that most students are surprised to hear. Despite my being a trumpet player, I always kept a student model clarinet that I could use as a demo instrument for my students. Then, I would add a Vandoren B45 mouthpiece, a Rovner Dark ligature, and Vandoren Classic 2 1⁄2 reeds. When I played this right after playing the same instrument with a student model mouthpiece, ligature and Rico Royal 2 1⁄2 reeds, students were amazed at the sound difference. Many then would want to try the better equipment for themselves. Now here is an added suggestion for your best clarinet players. Before I retired, the clarinet that I had for a demo instrument was a Backun Alpha, which I consider to be the best student model instrument available anywhere. It is not significantly more expensive than the other student model instruments, but some notable changes make it a worthwhile investment for secondary school players. These include Backun’s improved key quality and strength, high overall build quality, and a unique ring that is cut into the inside of the bell of the clarinet. Even a trumpet player like me noodling on a clarinet can tell the difference going over the break with this instrument! For the small amount more as compared to other student model instruments, students that play on the Backun Alpha will just be so much more pleased for all their years of school music. The bonus from Backun though is the wooden barrel and bell options that can be added to any clarinet. Backun Clarinets has acquired a substantial supply of exotic woods that they are using to cut these ultra-high-end additions for clarinet. On the Backun Alpha that I used as a demo clarinet, I added a Backun barrel made from Cocobolo wood that created a breathtaking sound, even coming from a trumpet player like me! The cost of an added wooden barrel or bell is a fair bit more than the ligature at about a couple hundred dollars or more. Yet, this is far less than upgrading an entire instrument to pro-quality. Students that are just looking to improve the quality of sound even further could consider one of these amazing additions. All of these options are worth the small added costs to improve playability and sound quality. Most can be done one at a time, and these also happen to be items that make wonderful birthday or Christmas presents! They should certainly be considered before replacing the horn for pro-quality, and then when that pro horn comes along, the upgraded “Top Three Inches” can be used on the new horn as well! Ed Dumas, B.Ed., M.A.Ed.     -->

  Why Do Trumpet Valves Jam?  Ed Dumas Jamming valves on trumpet and other piston valved instruments is one of the most frustrating things that happen to young musicians. A jammed valve is sometimes called a sticky valve but is a little different. Sticky valves generally happen all of the time in the same consistent way & speed and are usually a result of the instrument needing some cleaning and servicing. The valves have become gummed up and just need to be cleaned out and freshly lubricated. A basic bath and service usually will solve that problem. Jamming valves is something different. This usually happens at random times and is generally not consistent. Usually, it happens when the student lifts a finger to allow the valve to return to the up position. Partway up as the valve is lifting it just suddenly seems to stop and refuses to move, even if for just a split second. Sometimes one of the valves will even jam on the way down and momentarily refuse to move even with a firmer push from the finger. These events can be enough to cause the trumpet player to stop and have to deal with the problem valve and are most frustrating, especially for young players. There are several reasons for valve jams but often the most common culprit is something that some teachers are not aware of. Presented here is a strategy for helping solve the valve jam issues for your trumpet players. The first solution for valve jams is to apply fresh valve oil to all of the valves of the trumpet. This is usually the first thought for young trumpet players because it is what they know. If you choose to do this first, point out to the trumpet players that they should remove old valve oil before applying new oil to the valves. This will have the added benefit of cleaning off the valves and casings in case the jam was brought on by dirty valves. Just applying oil on top of old oil will not solve a dirty trumpet problem. When trumpet players add valve oil, rarely do they remove old oil first. This really should be done each time oil is added, at least to the valve assembly if not also to the inside of the valve casing. Use a rag made of non-stretchy cottons, such as a piece of an old bedsheet, or the back of Dad’s worn-out cotton dress shirt. The size of this rag can vary, but it should be small enough to pass through the valve casings. About 1-foot square will do. Please do NOT use the rag that comes from the manufacturers with the instrument, as these are usually buffing rags meant to remove fingerprints from the outside finish of the trumpet. These buffing rags give off too much lint to be useful inside the valves, as a small piece of lint left behind can cause another valve jam. With the cotton rag, wipe off the outside of the valve stem where oil is applied, particularly the bottom half of the stem that is often grey. This is the part that contacts the inside of the valve casing where the oil is required. Then remove the bottom valve cap of the valve that is now open. Have a look inside this bottom valve cap for any built-up residue and “yuk.” If a fair bit is sitting in here, then it is probably time to have the trumpet serviced. You can also remove the tuning slide to look down the lead pipe to see how much “yuk” is built up inside the tubes. If it is rough and jagged looking inside, again it might be time to have the trumpet serviced. Now using a wooden pencil or pencil crayon (it doesn’t scratch) without a metal eraser tip, wrap a corner of the rag over the unsharpened pencil end. GENTLY push the rag through the open valve casing using the pencil so that it can be pulled through the other end. Pull the rag through allowing it to wipe off all oil and “yuk” inside the valve casing. This can be done a few times to make sure it is thoroughly clean. At this point, I usually also check for lint left behind from the rag. As mentioned before try to use a cotton rag that absorbs oil readily, but hopefully, one that has less lint left behind. Look for tiny lint hairs left on the valve assembly or inside the valve casing. Gently blow out any lint hairs before applying fresh oil. Replace the bottom valve cap. Apply oil to the lower half of the valve stem. Remember to not put the oil into the holes (ports) in the valve stem as this does not help. I suggest touching the tip of the valve bottle right to the bottom side of the valve stem and using this tip to spread the oil around to cover all of the lower surfaces. Note that “dropping” valve oil from a height onto the valve stem will cause a splash of droplets onto the musician’s clothing which will stain permanently and ruin clothes. Now turn the valve upright to allow any excess oil to drip off. Use the oil rag to catch any drops of excess valve oil. Gently insert the valve assembly into the casing with the number on the side of the valve facing the mouthpiece. Note that some older horns have the valve number facing the bell. Rotate the valve slightly back and forth until it “clicks” and is locked into place. Gently do up the top valve cap, and then test the valve to see if it performs better. There is one more test that students should know about. Blow gently into the trumpet without making any sound on the mouthpiece. If the air feels stopped up, gently push up and down on the valve that was just worked on. If there is a change in air pressure, the valve was inserted incorrectly. It just needs to be opened again and rotated 180 degrees and clicked into place once again before screwing on the valve cap. Now after doing this, many students still find that the valve still jams. Adding more oil once again will not likely make any difference. The next step is to examine the quality of the valve oil. I have always been convinced of playing on the best valve oil that I could find, as over the years I feel it has made a difference in lowering the frequency of valve jams. In the last few years, though, there have been some dramatic improvements in valve oils, and now there is only one that I recommend. Valve oil used to be primarily made from petroleum, and as such, it is no wonder that it stained permanently, smelled bad, and required re-applying daily due to evaporation. Today there are several good synthetic oils, but the one that seems to me to be head and shoulders above the rest is UltraPure. I have handed this oil out to many trumpet players and I do not know of anyone that did not prefer it afterward. UltraPure is the only oil that I use on my own horn now. If you are not sure if your valve oil is a petroleum product or synthetic, try this test that came to me from Drew in the Tapestry repair shop. Shake the bottle of valve oil in question until it makes a layer of foam at the top of the bottle. Watch how long it takes for the foam to dissipate. Shake the bottle of UltraPure and watch the foam at the top. You will notice that the UltraPure oil makes far less foam and is dissipated almost immediately. The petroleum product takes much longer to clear. The reason for this is the much lower surface tension in the UltraPure product, which means it lubricates better. Now if your trumpet student is still getting valve jams after wiping off old oil and applying fresh oil, check the status of their oil. Switch them to UltraPure and see if that makes a difference. Considering that UltraPure is no more expensive than any other kind of valve oil and even cheaper than some, I immediately switch ALL of my trumpet players to UltraPure and just avoid the others entirely. Now, if your student is still experiencing valve jams, it is not likely to be cleanliness or bad oil at this point. There is only one place left to look, and that is the students’ hand position. Sometimes when I suggest correcting a hand position, students are so stuck in the thought that there is something “wrong” with the trumpet that they just cannot comprehend how a bad hand position can cause this problem. I believe that bad right-hand position on trumpet is the leading cause of valve jams and have found that teaching better hand position from the beginning can completely avoid a lot of these problems. Now examine the right-hand position of the trumpet players. Note that the palm of the right hand must NOT be lowered down to be almost touching the side of the valve casings. This position would have the palm vertical and the fingertips moving more side to side rather than up and down. It is the side-to-side movement that pushes the valves even just slightly sideways, yet enough to cause them to jam. The palm of the right-hand needs to be parallel to the floor, or close to it so that the fingertips are moving more up and down rather than side to side.  To help ensure that the palm is in the correct position, place the tip of the right-hand thumb under the lead pipe and between the first and second valves. This placement will act as a spacer so that the palm cannot get closer to the trumpet. Note that the elbow does not need to be lifted, just the palm. An incorrect position for the right thumb is for it to be in between the lead pipe and the bell of the trumpet, and then sticking upright almost the height of the first valve. As soon as this happens, the palm must approach the trumpet, and the valves are either pushed sideways or played with the knuckles which will be extremely slow. The best position is to keep that thumb under the lead pipe between the first and second valves, with the thumbnail facing the floor. This allows the fingers to naturally squeeze the valves down between the fingertip and the thumb below the lead pipe. Now I have presented that order to check in the order that students will typically do when they face those valve jam frustrations. First, they will reapply oil though often not bother to wipe out the old oil which is a bad plan. Then they might consider the quality of the oil, and finally, they will consider themselves as the problem last or not at all. You may want to consider reversing that order. If you have already made sure they are using UltraPure valve oil, and you have shown them how to apply it properly by wiping out old oil first, then you should consider hand position as soon as students complain of a problem. Remind them that the majority of valve jams are caused by bad right-hand position, and if they take care of this, there should be no more problems with jamming valves. If students have done all of these things and have a good hand position when playing but the trumpet still jams, only then should you have the instrument checked out by a repairman. At this point, the valve casing has likely been slightly dented from the outside and nothing to do with oil or hand positions will repair that. It needs to go into a repair shop for servicing. Yet, too many times trumpets which are perfectly fine are being sent to the repairman when the problem is in the hand position of the trumpet player. Best that you check out the other steps first to save you and your parents some unnecessary costs and your trumpet players some unnecessary frustration.   -->

  Which Instrument is Easiest to Play? Ed Dumas I have taught more beginning band students than I can count, seriously. After doing so many of them, I found they were quite enjoyable to work with. Beginners get the greatest thrill from simple little improvements, and the joy on their faces was such a treat to see. These beginners, though, always seemed to ask the same questions when they were just starting in the band program. The most common one would surely be, “Which instrument is the easiest to play?” That question always kind of made me shudder on the inside. There almost always seemed to me to be a meaning behind the question which was, “I don’t want to work too hard at this.” With that suggestion, I would point out that learning to play any musical instrument takes work. It does not need to be all- consuming all day long every day, but it does need to be consistent. Then we would discuss appropriate amounts of practice time for beginners, which is along the lines of 20-30 minutes per day with about 5 days per week. Some students would surely miss the point of what I was saying, and then begin to ask if flute/clarinet/sax/trumpet/trombone was hard to play (take your pick). So, I would give them this explanation. “Every instrument is hard to play in its own way. Every instrument is easy to play in its own way. They are just different.” Here is a more detailed explanation, and feel free to use this if you choose. The flute has the hardest startup in the entire band. The first 2 to 3 months can be unbearable for flute players, and I have seen too many flute players in tears just because they are SO frustrated that they cannot make the instrument do what they want it to do and what they feel they should be able to do. Flute players, in the beginning, need to have great patience and to make a decision to stick through the tough times until a few months go by. Then, and only then, will they get a more realistic picture of what it is like to play the flute. The reason for such unbearable stress on beginning flute players is because of having to learn all the things that everyone else is learning, such as note-names, counting, phrases, and so on, AND they have to do it with 9 digits right off the bat! At this point, I usually have to explain the difference between fingers and thumbs, and that together they are called digits. Very few beginners are ready for this stress that flute provides, but I promise them and mean it, that the stress WILL go away soon. Patience here is important! For flute players in the beginning it is a good idea to also teach them some strategies for handling stress. When they feel like they are going to do something rash, like tossing the flute out the window, they must know how to handle this. They could set the flute down, take a break, have a snack, or watch a show, and then come back to it later. A fresh start gives them the best chance to get it right. Clarinet has the easiest start in the band. That is because they are using primarily a thumb and three fingers of one hand in the beginning. Even though it is in the left hand, it is still far less stressful than the flute. But, does that make clarinet easy? I doubt you could find a professional clarinet player that would agree with that! Clarinet players get a similar stress level as flute players as soon as you start asking the clarinet players to go over the break. This usually comes anywhere from the second semester to the second year or so. This is the time when clarinet players need to pull some patience and persistence out of their trick bag, for they are going to feel just as stressed as the flute players did in the first few months. Like flutes, this is the point where some clarinet players drop out, so they need to understand where their patience needs to kick in. The question I have often asked students wanting to begin band is “Where would you prefer to have the stress, now, or six months later? Just understand, there WILL be stress at times!” Sax I view as more like making bumpy progress. It seems to have bumps along the way, but the bumps are not so big like flute or clarinet which can throw students right out of the program. Sax stress bumps for beginners will come on things like tonguing in the beginning. Young sax players sometimes don’t get the feel of the reed on the tongue because either they shy away from that feeling, or they have positioned the mouthpiece in such a way that the tongue cannot find the reed tip. This often happens when sax players slouch and allow the mouthpiece to drop down in their mouth making the reed unavailable. Sometimes it takes some work to get sax players to change the big stuff to make the little stuff work. Another bump for sax players, in the beginning, is often playing in the upper octave. There can be a host of problems that lead to this, such as octave key problems, soft reed, dead reed, mouthpiece positioned incorrectly, and on and on. Solving these kinds of issues is a matter of patience and perseverance, with a dose of knowledge from the band teacher. Another common problem I have experienced with sax players is that of sitting with their head tilted to the side, and therefore not learning to read the music as well as others because it is sideways to their vision! I have taken the time to explain to sax players that the mouthpiece should not be rotated to be aligned with the sax, as this will put their head slanted when playing. Instead, they should rotate the mouthpiece to keep the reed parallel to the floor, and therefore their head upright. All of the kinds of problems encountered on sax are not stressful like flute stress, but being that there are a number of them, they can build up. Others to watch for are honking on the instrument due to bad mouthpiece position (too deep), the upper register being very flat (reed too soft), octave leaps are jumpy, difficulty controlling the air (especially when ending a pitch), and so on. Sax players will need patience and persistence to overcome so many little bumps. Trumpet players have a steady go of it more than any other player in the band. The startup usually goes reasonably well and the progress usually continues at a consistent pace. But, the trouble for trumpet is that it is always a lot of hard work to play. Beginning flute players are renowned for saying that trumpet is easy because it only has three valves. They just don’t understand that having only three valves is what makes it hard. What trumpet players cannot do with keys like flutes and clarinets they must do with their abdominal muscles. It is kind of akin to learning to paint the Mona Lisa with your toes! Therefore, there always seems to be a moderate level of stress around learning trumpet, and it never goes away. Even when you become a great player, you will still have to work at it with consistent practice just to maintain what you have built up in skill. This consistent hard work is why trumpet players are often referred to as “The Workhorses of the Band!” Trombone players have two significant challenges in the beginning. The first is the different set of note names that they must learn because of having to play bass clef. Self-starters are required for this as these people will need to push themselves willingly without having someone else constantly drive them to learn the note names. The other challenge for trombone players is that of having to learn the slide, which is a gross motor movement instead of a fine motor movement. This again will require self-starters, so please refer back a few sentences! Once beginning trombone players have gained some momentum with bass clef notation and managing the slide, the trombone becomes a fun instrument to play. But, beginners should understand that at this point it is more like trumpet needing constant attention to keep the skill maintained. Trombone players have the same gross motor abdominal muscle demands as trumpet coupled with the gross motor arm movements of the slide. In that way, the trombone has a tough startup similar to flute but not quite as frustrating, followed by a constant demand like a trumpet. Trombone players, then, should also be workhorses as well as self-starters to get the most success. So, going back to the original question, “All band instruments are hard to play and all band instruments are easy to play, in their own way. They are just different. Which way do you want to have the work? Just expect that it will take work, and THAT is what makes learning a musical instrument so much fun!” At this point, I would usually get into a discussion about how hard work is fun, but that is for another post!     -->