PRODUCT OVER PROCESS:

THE IMPORTANCE OF SOUND CONCEPT

FOR THE DEVELOPING TRUMPETER

by

COLEMAN TYLER SCOTT

B.M.M.E., University of Kentucky, 2019

A thesis submitted to the

Faculty of the Graduate School of the

University of Colorado in partial fulfillment

of the requirement for the degree of

Master of Music in Trumpet Performance and Pedagogy

College of Music

2021

Committee Members:

Dr. Ryan Gardner, advisor

Professor Mike Dunn

Professor Justin Bartels

Scott, Coleman Tyler (M.M., Trumpet Performance and Pedagogy, College of Music)

Product Over Process: The Importance of Sound Concept for the Developing Trumpeter

Thesis directed by Associate Professor Ryan Gardner

As a trumpet instructor, although I am often asked to help trumpet students with technical

aspects such as range, articulation, efficiency, and endurance, I am more often asked to provide

insight related to tone quality. I’m repeatedly told by music educators that their trumpet students

are good musicians, and can play correct notes and rhythms, but still aren’t able to consistently

produce a quality sound.

Sound quality is of tremendous importance as it relates to trumpet pedagogy. A quality

sound concept can be used as both a process of improving sound production/tone quality, as well

as a catalyst to improve many other technical aspects of trumpet playing. The purpose of this

document is multi-faceted; to express the importance of sound concept in trumpet players, to ex-

amine how sound concept can be utilized for the progression of trumpet technique, to examine

the factors that contribute to a trumpet student’s quality of sound, and to provide guidance on

how to most effectively navigate the seemingly-nebulous process of improving and developing

sound concept and production in trumpet players.

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CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I. INTRODUCTION 1 .........................................................................

II. THE IMPORTANCE OF SOUND CONCEPT 2 ............................

DEFINING SOUND CONCEPT 2 ............................................

III. SOUND CONCEPT AS A TOOL 5 .................................................

PRODUCT OVER PROCESS 5 .................................................

SOUND CONCEPT AS IMPROVED TECHNICALITY 8 .......

RANGE 8 ....................................................................................

ARTICULATION 10 ..................................................................

EFFICIENCY AND ENDURANCE 12 .....................................

IV. IMPROVEMENT OF SOUND CONCEPT/PRODUCTION 13 .....

CONCEPTUALIZATION 13 .....................................................

RESPIRATION 14 .....................................................................

V. CONCLUSION ….17 ......................................................................

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FIGURES

Figure

1. Vincent Cichowicz Flow Studies 9 .......................................................

2. Efficient Breath Diagram………………………………………………16

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Music educators are some of the most capable and versatile people in the world. They are

not merely called to be teachers, but also to be mentors, negotiators, motivators, counselors,

event planners, and so much more. Most music educators would agree that they are capable of

being all of these things. They also, however, will admit to having weaknesses.

Music educators share in their affinity for introducing new concepts to students, and

watching them take those concepts to new heights as they continue to be nurtured and grow. It

would be ignorant to not recognize, however, that some concepts are easier to nurture than oth-

ers. For example, teaching a beginning trumpet player the fingering for a new note is not an ab-

stract concept, but a rather unambiguous one that can be easily reenforced as that student pro-

gresses. However, more broad concepts such as range, articulation, endurance, and efficiency can

be more challenging for music educators to foster growth in for their trumpet students.

A quality sound concept can be used as both a process of improving sound production/

tone quality, as well as a catalyst to improve many other technical aspects of trumpet playing.

This document will express the importance of sound concept in trumpet players, examine how

sound concept can be utilized for the progression of trumpet technique, examine the factors that

contribute to a trumpet student’s sound concept and production, and provide guidance on how to

ultimately improve trumpet students’ tone qualities.

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CHAPTER II

THE IMPORTANCE OF SOUND CONCEPT

As a beginning trumpet student, I was often asked the question by my private-lessons

teachers “what is the most important part of trumpet playing?” The answer, I quickly came to

understand, was “tone,” or more specifically, the quality of sound produced. I was fortunate

enough to learn early on in my own private study the significance of a quality sound. A captivat-

ing trumpet sound has the innate potential and ability to enthrall an audience; something that

mere technicality, such as finger dexterity, articulation, or other technical aspects cannot do on

their own independent of a beautiful sound.

DEFINING SOUND CONCEPT

Sound concept and sound production are two separate entities, but sound production is

greatly dependent on sound concept. Sound concept is the quality of sound that is audiated/con-

ceptualized by a player in his or her head before playing. The strength, or weakness, of a player’s

sound concept directly impacts his or her ability to produce that sound, which would be called

sound production. Without a vivid idea or concept in mind of what a great trumpet sound is,

there is not a clear path to the ability to produce a great trumpet sound.

Knowing this, it is important to conceptualize a great trumpet sound in order to produce

a comparable sound. It is vital, then, to share with and listen to recordings with students in trum-

pet lessons, as well as assign them listening material on a weekly basis. Similarly, it is of great

importance to model a quality sound for the student within the setting of a lesson, so that the stu-

dent may continue to strengthen their process of conceptualizing and emulating that sound, in

addition to receiving new information about the trumpet from a verbal standpoint. Wiff Rudd,

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Professor of Trumpet at Baylor University, discusses his foundation of strong sound concepts

being instilled in him as a young student in his book Collaborative Practice Concepts for Trum-

pet:

“Bill (B.D.) Brawn was my first high school band director (Dobie High School in Houston). He is still one of the most enthusiastic people I know and many of us owe him a debt of gratitude for his teaching methods…Mr. Brawn was an avid listener and his teach-ing insured that we were, too. Each day, as we arrived for band he would have music playing in the room, a different style every day played by the best soloists and ensembles. I remember one day in particular. I stopped in my tracks to listen to the trumpet playing from that day’s LP - giant CD’s of the day. I know now it was something by Mahler, probably his second symphony. Mr. Brawn caught my eye and seized the teaching moment: Those are C trum-pets. Then he walked away. I memorized the sound I was hearing. I had never seen, much less heard of a C trumpet. I wouldn’t play one for two or three more years, but when it was time I was chomping at the bit. I knew what to go for; I knew how C trumpets were supposed to sound. In fact, my first C trumpet outings were quite good. It wasn’t until another teacher told me that they were hard to play that I struggled with the instrument. I believed him, too, but only for a little while. Two teachers, two styles. It is clear to me that creating opportunities for concept building is the best way to plant seeds.” 1

I find Rudd’s two teachers described here, and the results of his study with both of those

teachers, to be quite interesting. As he described, as a result of being exposed to great C trumpet

tone qualities by his teacher Mr. Brawn, his first experience playing the C trumpet was “quite

good.” Because Rudd had the sound (i.e. the “product”) that he wanted to produce in his head, he

was able to find success quickly on the instrument. This was a result of not thinking about how to

achieve that product (i.e. the “process), but by simply attempting to recreate that product with a

Wiff Rudd, Collaborative Practice Concepts: For Trumpet: Plus...thoughts on Team Building, 1

Teaching & Career Development (Woodway, Texas: Wiff, 2012), p. 160

3

clear representation of it in mind. This is taking a “product over process” approach to trumpet

playing. Consequently, Rudd discussed that, when another teacher told him that C trumpets were

“hard to play,” he began to struggle with the instrument. It is likely that, at this point in his study,

Rudd shifted his focus from primarily “product” to primarily “process” because he likely began

thinking about how to achieve the desired product, rather than simply trying to recreate that de-

sired product. This is taking a “process over product” approach to trumpet playing. This is the

difference between trumpet practice and teaching being “product” oriented versus “process” ori-

ented, which I discuss further in Chapter III of this document.

4

CHAPTER III

SOUND CONCEPT AS A TOOL

PRODUCT OVER PROCESS

Through several years of dedicated study, practice, and teaching, I reiterate that I find the

focus of a trumpet player, in all settings, should be primarily on the product of the sound they

want to produce (i.e. their sound concept), but not the process of how to produce that sound,

which is only secondarily important. This approach is encouraged for both younger, as well as

developed players.

The primary pedagogical importance for this “process over product” approach, especially

for beginners, is that it gives the player a focal point/cornerstone on which to base all of their

other technique. This is brilliantly explained through the medium of tennis by Timothy Gallwey

in his book The Inner Game of Tennis, which serves as a guide to the mental aspects of peak per-

formance. Below is an excerpt from The Inner Game of Tennis, in which Gallwey describes a

predicament one of his students experienced, and how that predicament was overcome:

“One day while I was wondering about these matters, a very cheery and attractive housewife came to me for a lesson complain-ing that she was about to give up the game of tennis. She was real-ly very discouraged because, as she said, “I’m really not well co-ordinated at all…” when I asked her what the problem seemed to be, she said, ‘For one thing, I can’t hit the ball on the strings; most of the time I hit it on the frame…’ I hit her ten waist-high fore-hands near enough so that she didn’t have to move for them. I was surprised that she hit eight out of ten balls either directly on the frame or partly on the strings, partly on the frame…So before hit-ting the next set of balls, I asked Joan, ‘This time I want you to fo-cus your mind on the seams of the ball. Don’t think about making contact…Just let your racket contact the ball where it wants to, and

5

we’ll see what happens.’ Joan looked more relaxed, and proceeded to hit nine out of ten balls dead center!” 2

The student Gallwey describes is having an issue with a fundamental aspect of her tennis

game: coordination; causing her to not be able to consistently and accurately hit the ball with the

correct part of her racket. Gallwey’s remedy to this problem was not to address the coordination

problem directly, neither to make it the primary focus of his teaching, but rather to turn her atten-

tion to a focal point, a cornerstone of the game, which in this case was the tennis ball itself. By

focusing on the ball itself, i.e. “keeping her eye on the ball,” Joan’s coordination and accuracy

problems began to fix themselves. This was not because they suddenly improved drastically, but

rather because they were simply freed to operate effectively as a result of her focus being shifted

from primarily on the “process, or “problem,” to primarily on the “product.”

It is my belief that, in the realm of trumpet playing, the “ball” is sound concept. The

“problem” could include any number of things from range, to efficiency, to endurance, to articu-

lation, etc. “Keeping our eye on the ball,” or in this case, “our ear on the sound,” ensures that all

of these principles are guided in a healthy way, and in-turn allows them to operate freely and ef-

fectively in the most efficient way possible. I further discuss why this approach allows for the

most efficient operation possible in Chapter IV of this document.

As a further demonstration of the success of this approach to playing and teaching, dur-

ing a masterclass at the National Trumpet Competition hosted at Messiah College in the spring of

2015, John Rommel, Professor of Trumpet at Indiana University, shared his background of

growing up with a professional trumpet player as a father, whom was also his first teacher. He

W. Timothy Gallwey, The Inner Game of Tennis (London: Pan Books, 2015), p. 11-122

6

then went on to explain that, in his high school years, he experienced some “embouchure issues.”

Rommel expressed that he felt he was playing the trumpet exceptionally well considering the

embouchure he had, but didn’t feel that it was as “easy” as it needed to be. He was repeatedly

told by several mentors that he needed to change his embouchure to rectify this issue. He came to

a standstill with his trumpet playing, therefore, until he received a lesson from William (Bill)

Adam, who taught trumpet at Indiana University for 43 years. Rommel discusses this lesson in

the following quote from the above described masterclass:

“I knew some of his (Bill Adam’s) students, and I knew a number of people who had studied with him. I liked the way some of his players played, but there were some other things that I wasn’t quite sure about. So I called Mr. Adam, and of course he taught around the clock literally at IU. I got a lesson within a few days - he fit me into his schedule. When I was driving up to study with him, I thought ‘I know how easily he gets people playing the trumpet, and I know how I want to sound…’ When I walked in the door, I re-member telling him specifically about my issues and what was go-ing on. I remember telling him ‘Mr. Adam, I know exactly how I want things to sound, but I don’t know how to play the trumpet well enough to do that. I’ve got to figure out how to play the trum-pet well. I’ve got to make the trumpet work better.’ He looked at me and said ‘John, you have it backwards. If you know exactly how you want it to sound, you have to focus on that sound in order for your body to develop the skills. You don’t need to figure out how to play the trumpet better, you need to focus on the goal of what your sound is.’ It was just stunning because when I first picked up the trumpet, I think that’s kind of what I did, listening to my dad play and listening to Bud (Herseth) play on recordings. I wasn’t thinking about playing the trumpet. But, then some things got weird for whatever reason, chop-wise, and I went through an embouchure change, and I started thinking about the physicality of playing. You can read all these books on how to do this and that, and what the tongue is supposed to do, and what the aperture is supposed to do, and all these different things. I kept trying all those things, and they’d work good for maybe a few days, and then my playing would get worse. Then, all of the sudden, I’m sitting in

7

Adam’s office and he’s saying ‘You just need to focus on sound. If you know exactly how you want it to sound, that’s the key.’” 3

Rommel’s playing efficiency issues were not resolved by an embouchure change, but

rather by the “product over process” approach. To conclude this section, I believe that, often

times, we as trumpet players and teachers get it “backwards” as William Adam told John Rom-

mel in the above described lesson. Rommel’s purpose in sharing this story was ultimately to

stress the importance of a “product over process” approach in the technical development of a

trumpet player (efficiency in his specific case) using sound as the catalyst for improvement. It is

vital, then, to adopt this mindset in order to encourage successful development for the student in

the realm of technical aspects of trumpet playing, which I discuss in the next section of this chap-

ter.

SOUND CONCEPT AS IMPROVED TECHNICALITY

The importance of playing with a quality trumpet sound as it relates to an audience listen-

ing to a performance is in and of itself enough reason to prioritize sound concept and production

from a student’s very first notes playing the trumpet. However, this is not the sole reason that

playing with a quality trumpet sound should be stressed from the beginning. There is tremendous

pedagogical merit relating to sound concept in the development of many technical aspects of a

student’s ability on the trumpet.

RANGE

In order to approach range from the standpoint of sound concept, it is imperative that the

student begins his or her work from a place where they are able to comfortably play with his or

YouTube, September 19, 2015, accessed April 10, 2021, (https://youtu.be/yOA_17K8hoM)3

8

her best sound. The most common starting point for most students as it relates to this would like-

ly be somewhere between a C below the staff to a third-space C in the staff. The reason for the

importance of the student beginning in a range in which they can play with their best sound re-

lates back to Gallwey’s tennis-lesson approach; to bring the student’s attention to the “ball,” and

in this case, expanding that in both directions: ascending and descending. Once the student is

able to find the center of a given note, and is therefore playing with his or her best sound, he or

she can and should focus almost exclusively on maintaining that sound, or as Gallwey would put

it, “the ball,” as range is expanded up and down.

There are many prewritten exercises that may prove helpful in this expansion process, but

one in particular that I would like to discuss is Vincent Cichowicz’s Flow Studies. Cichowicz

performed as a trumpeter with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for 22 years, and taught trumpet

at Northwestern University. He was famous for his pedagogical approach of “respiration and re-

lease (flow)” that, as he believed, serves as the foundation for beautiful tone production.

His studies begin on a second line G, go down a half step, back to the second line G, and

then gradually expand more and more into the upper register before ending on C below the staff.

These studies can also be transposed down by half steps in order to continue expansion into the

lower register. A copy of the flow study exercises, in Cichowicz’s own manuscript, can be found

below. Again, it is important to note that there are many similar expansion/flow exercises simi4 -

lar to Cichowicz’s flow studies, two of which include James Stamp’s warm-ups and studies, as

well as Arnold Jacobs’ flow patterns.

Dulin, Mark, and Michael Cichowicz. Vincent Cichowicz Long Tone Studies. Montrose, CA: 4

Studio 259 Productions.

9

The ultimate goal of each segment of the exercises is for the player to play in the center

of each note, maintaining his or her best sound, from the second line G to the C below the staff

(or transposed equivalent) regardless of how much expansion occurs in the range of the exercise

between those first and last notes. In order for this to be achieved, it is essential to adopt Gall-

wey’s tennis lesson approach. Many different factors that affect trumpet playing could take the

place of the primary factor in the mind; air speed, tongue arch, lip tension, corner firmness, etc.

When the sound is designated as the primary factor, rather than any of the technical aspects pre-

viously mentioned, it acts as the catalyst for the development of range. This encourages a much

more efficient method of improvement regarding range because the focus of the student is

“product” oriented and not “process” oriented.

ARTICULATION

It is important to understand that the tongue itself cannot make any sound, and therefore

is entirely dependent on the air column to “articulate.” A comparable analogy to the relationship

between the tongue and the air, as it relates to articulating on the trumpet, would be that of the

10

Figure 1 - Vincent Cichowicz Flow Studies

water stream of a water faucet and briefly interrupting that stream with one’s finger; the water

stream representing the air stream and the finger representing the tongue. In order for the finger

to interrupt the water stream, no adjustment needs to be made to the stream of water itself.

Rather, the water stream can stay consistent, allowing the finger to easily and lightly interrupt it.

If the water stream is not consistent, the way that the finger interrupts the water stream will, con-

sequently, not be consistent. Similarly, in terms of trumpet playing, in order to most efficiently

and effectively articulate, the air stream must stay consistent; allowing for a consistent interrup-

tion of the airstream by the tongue, therefore producing a consistent articulation. It would be rea-

sonable, then, to draw the conclusion that the airstream should be the primary focus when prac-

ticing articulation, and the tongue the secondary. However, even more of a primary focus than

the airstream should be sound concept. The airstream is a technical aspect of sound production.

Therefore, by making the airstream the primary focus over sound concept, the focus of the player

still remains on a “process” rather than on a “product.” In order to adopt Gallwey’s tennis lesson

approach, then, the primary focus of the player when articulating should remain primarily on

sound concept (the “product”), and not primarily on the airstream (still the “process”).

Continuing to follow the “product over process” approach, just as the player can focus on

the “product” of sound desired (i.e. sound concept), he or she can also focus on the “product” of

articulation desired. To provide insight on this topic from a prominent trumpet pedagogue, in-

stead of using the word “articulation,” Bill Adam used the term “pronunciation” with his students

when discussing articulation. Although a subtle change, the word “pronunciation” lends itself

more to an aural perception of how something should sound, rather than a mechanical process.

For example, consider the common syllable used for single tonguing on the trumpet, “tu.” The

11

term “pronunciation” lends itself to thinking of how the syllable “tu” should sound, rather than

the mechanics of what the air and tongue need to do to produce that syllable. Adopting this idea,

and focusing on the “product” desired in articulation rather than the “process” of how to achieve

it is the most efficient way to improve articulation. This is echoed by Dr. Marisa Youngs in her

dissertation, The Language of Music: Linguistics in Trumpet Pedagogy, as she further examined

research on this topic:

“Paul Budde’s PhD thesis “An Analysis of Methods for Teaching Middle School Band Students to Articulate” outlines the various directives given to young students to articulate on wind instru-ments. In the study, Budde pared the data pool down to three main groups of seventh-grade band students, each given a different method of instruction regarding articulation. The first group in-cluded students that were given a written ‘articulation guide’ con-taining information about the oral cavity, including a computer-generated graphic showing the tongue in the oral cavity…The sec-ond group was a ‘practice group’ in which students regularly prac-ticed articulation exercises during band rehearsals…The third group was deemed the ‘audio group’ in which students were ex-posed to recordings of articulations modeled by professionals play-ing the same exercises given to the students. The analysis of data concluded that the written ‘articulation guide’ group had the lowest performance on the articulation exercises. While there was not a significant statistical difference between the audio group and the practice group, both of these performed at a higher level than those given the articulation guide.” 5

A conclusion can be drawn from these findings that taking a “product over process” ap-

proach to articulation is much more beneficial than a “process over product” one. Simply by

hearing the desired product, conceptualizing that product, and emulating that product, students in

Marisa B. Youngs, The Language of Music: Linguistics in Trumpet Pedagogy, PhD diss., Uni5 -versity of Kentucky, 2018, p. 16

12

the “audio group” were able to out-perform students that were given an “articulation guide” with

much more specific information and instructions on the “process.”

EFFICIENCY AND ENDURANCE

If a student has a strong sound concept, he or she will have the ability to know when he

or she is playing in the center of each pitch, and when he or she is not, which will affect both ef-

ficiency and endurance. If a student is playing in the center of a pitch, his or her embouchure will

be functioning in the most efficient matter that it can. This is because the embouchure would not

be under any extraneous tension from an imbalance of proper airspeed and lip tension for a given

note. If the student is playing in the center of notes, and his or her focus is primarily on playing

with his or her best sound (i.e. in the center of notes), then his or her efficiency will consequently

improve. Efficiency is directly correlated to endurance in that, if efficiency improves, endurance

will also improve. Therefore, if sound concept can guide efficiency in this productive way, then it

would consequently affect endurance in a positive way as well.

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CHAPTER IV

IMPROVEMENT OF SOUND CONCEPT/PRODUCTION

It can be concluded that, if a student is able to conceptualize and produce a quality trum-

pet sound, that trumpet sound can be used as a catalyst for technical improvement on the instru-

ment. It would be important, then, to further explore what factors contribute the most to sound

concept and production, as well as to explore how to improve them. Conceptualization and respi-

ration most greatly affect sound concept and production, and this chapter will examine how to

best teach them in order to best foster improvement in students.

CONCEPTUALIZATION

A student’s ability to improve his or her sound production on the trumpet depends primar-

ily on the strength of their conceptualization of what a great trumpet sound is. The question, then,

becomes “how does sound concept translate to sound production?” Timothy Gallwey, again, ex-

plains this process beautifully in his book The Inner Game of Tennis, using the names “Self 1”

for the conscious mind and “Self 2” for the subconscious mind. Much of the process, he de-

scribes, has to do with “quieting Self 1,” and letting “Self 2” be free to operate in its most effi-

cient way possible. He argues that “Self 2” (which I will coin the product mind) already knows

how to accomplish any task, and the only reason that it doesn’t is because “Self 1” (which I will

coin the process mind) gets in the way:

“We have arrived at a key point: it is the constant ‘thinking’ activi-ty of Self 1, the ego-mind, which causes interference with the nat-ural capabilities of Self 2. Harmony between the two selves exists when this mind is quiet and focused. Only then can peak perfor-mance be reached. When a tennis player is ‘in the zone,’ he’s not thinking about how, when or even where to hit the ball. He’s not trying to hit the ball, and after the shot he doesn’t think about how

14

badly or how well he made contact. The ball seems to get hit through a process which doesn’t require thought. There may be an awareness of the sight, sound and feel of the ball, and even of the tactical situation, but the player just seems to know without think-ing what to do.” 6

Similarly to tennis, in the realm of trumpet playing, “Self 2” knows how to recreate a

conceptualized sound; it is the “product” oriented part of the brain. “Self 1,” however, is the

“process” oriented part of the brain, and stands in the way of “Self 2” being able to accomplish

this task. “Self 1,” because of its ego-minded nature, has to have something to focus on. Since

“Self 1” is the conscious mind, it can be voluntarily told what to “think” about. By focusing

“Self 1’s” attention on the desired sound (i.e. sound concept), “Self 2” is then free to do what it

already knows how to do: to translate that sound concept into sound production. Therefore, en-

couraging the primary focus of the student to be on sound concept, and not on any technical as-

pects of trumpet playing, will encourage healthy and efficient tone development in the student.

RESPIRATION

Another factor that contributes to sound production on the trumpet is respiration. A re-

laxed inhalation encourages a relaxed exhalation, which will exponentially increase the quality

of sound that is produced. It is common that many students take a good, relaxed first breath, but

become tense on subsequent breaths in the context of exercises, études, or other music.

Signs of good inhalation include, firstly, a quiet breath. A noisy breath is a symptom that

there is excess tension and/or resistance in the oral cavity, which will not allow for the most effi-

cient exhalation, and therefore best sound production, possible. Another symptom of poor inhala-

tion is unnatural movement/raising of the shoulders. The shoulders can naturally raise slightly as

W. Timothy Gallwey, The Inner Game of Tennis6

15

a result of the expansion of the lungs, but should not be done voluntarily. This adds unnecessary

tension that will lead to further issues. Concerning exhalation, “pushing” or “forcing” the air as a

process of exhalation is inefficient. The air should simply be released. In order for this to be most

easily achieved, a full breath must be taken, as opposed to a shallow breath. A comparable analo-

gy would be that of a full tube of toothpaste, and one that is almost empty. It’s quite easy, almost

effortless, to get toothpaste out of a full tube, but can be a challenge for one that is almost empty.

Similarly, lungs that are full of air lend themselves to a much more efficient and natural exhala-

tion process than lungs that are not full of air.

Returning to the pedagogy of Vincent Cichowicz, Larry Knopp expresses how Cichowicz

emphasized this idea of the importance of taking consistently relaxed breaths in his own teach-

ing:

“Many young players develop the ability to take a good breath and start a flow study well. However, by the third or fourth phrase, they’ve forgotten the underlying principle in the flow studies: each subsequent breath should be as free as the first. Mr. Cichowicz was very quick to stop a player when the breath suffered, and immediately had the student exhale the tight air and re-take the breath with a good re-lease. This is the quickest way to ensure a student does not practice with tension in their playing…Again, the goal should not be to make it from the top of the page to the bot-tom without stopping, but instead make every breath like the first breath and play freely throughout. If this is your focus you might surprise yourself and get to the end of the page with minimal fatigue and effort.” 7

According to Knopp, Cichowicz stressed not only the importance of relaxed inhalation,

but also of the exhalation, or “release," of the air. Another potential area for the accumulation of

Mark Dulin, Michael Cichowicz, and Larry Knopp, Vincent Cichowicz Flow Studies Volume 1, 7

vol. 1 (Montrose, CA: Studio 259 Productions), p. 8

16

unnecessary tension is the “turnaround” in the breath; the point at which inhalation becomes ex-

halation. The air should never stop moving. It should always either be moving in (inhalation) or

coming out (exhalation), but should never be stagnant. If the air is not in motion, then the breath

is being held, which causes unnecessary tension and diminishes tone quality. A good visual mod-

el of what a healthy breath should look like is displayed below. No “hitch” or hesitation in the

breath is present.

17

Figure 2 - Efficient Breath Diagram

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, sound concept proves itself important not only for the sake of “sounding

good” in a performance, but also as a catalyst for improving the more technical aspects of trum-

pet playing such as range, articulation, efficiency, and endurance. This is true because of the

“product over process” approach that using sound concept as a guide encourages. The best meth-

ods of improving sound concept and production on the trumpet are through conceptualization

and respiration, and encourage healthy tone development in students. Through these ideas and

approaches, trumpet students’ priorities become sound oriented, or “product” oriented, and not

technically oriented, or “process” oriented. This ultimately leads to more desirable results, as

well as a more desirable process of practice and improvement.

18

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Dulin, Mark, Michael Cichowicz, and Larry Knopp. Vincent Cichowicz Flow Studies Volume 1. Vol. 1. Montrose, CA: Studio 259 Productions.

Dulin, Mark, and Michael Cichowicz. Vincent Cichowicz Long Tone Studies. Montrose, CA: Studio 259 Productions.

Gallwey, W. Timothy. The Inner Game of Tennis. London: Pan Books, 2015.

Rudd, Wiff. Collaborative Practice Concepts: For Trumpet: Plus...thoughts on Team Building, Teaching & Career Development. Woodway, Texas: Wiff, 2012.

Youngs, Marisa B. The Language of Music: Linguistics in Trumpet Pedagogy. PhD diss., Uni-versity of Kentucky, 2018. 16.

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