|
WHO
SHOULD PLAY ASYMMETRICS?
While it's true that high range
isn't everything, it's also true that playing in the high
register is the single most difficult element of trumpet
playing. Endurance is also an important factor for the more
advanced player. A professional lead trumpet player today is
expected to have at least a strong G above high C and the
endurance to play it at the end of a four hour engagement.
And, it seems like high playing is universally admired and
sought after by both novice and
professional.
But
Asymmetrics aren’t just for professionals. They're for any
player who wants to extend his high register. I’d like to see
students started with them also. But whether you’re a student,
a weekender, a come-back player, or a full-time workhorse lead
player, using an Asymmetric mouthpiece can improve your
playing in the following several ways:
1. More High Range:
The Asymmetric will extend
your present high range by several semitones, essentially
because the cup design enables higher between-lip pressures (
and thereby higher notes) to be attained than when using a
conventional mouthpiece. You'll be able to play notes that
were previously unavailable to you.
2. Increased Endurance:
The Asymmetric will increase
your endurance significantly, basically because the rim design
has about 40 % more area in contact with your lips; this
causes the horizontal force (exerted by your left arm), to be
distributed over a larger area, thereby causing the average
pressure (defined as force divided by area) to decrease
accordingly. When pressure is decreased, wear and tear on the
lips decreases, and endurance increases.
3. Easier High Registers:
The high and altissimo
registers will become easier to play, because the horizontal
pressure (caused by the left arm) required for any note will
be reduced, and because the cup is designed to specifically
cause greater between-lip pressures; generally speaking, high
C or the D above high C, will feel, typically, about like G
just above the staff on a conventional
mouthpiece.
4. Bigger Sound:
The backbore design will give
you a bigger sound, than a typical shallow-cupped, tighter
backbored, conventional mouthpiece designed for high register
playing. The Asymmetric's backbore design reduces
backpressure, especially in the higher and altissimo register,
and tends to produce a freer blowing, more open
sound.
MORE
RANGE -- BIGGER SOUND -- EASIER HIGH
REGISTER -- MORE ENDURANCE -- Any one of
these qualities would be sufficient reason to choose an
Asymmetric over a conventional, radially symmetric mouthpiece.
But when we can use a mouthpiece that is advantageous in
all of these respects, the choice must clearly be the
Asymmetric. The relevant questions seem, to me, to be, "Do we
want these performance features? -- Do we want cutting edge
technology? -- Or do we want, for some nostalgic or other
reason, to stay locked into warmed over, 65 year old,
conventional thinking with no real analysis to support the
design?" The choice is, of course, yours. My own feeling,
however, is that when there is a mission to be accomplished,
the appropriate tool to use, is the one that makes the job
both possible and easier. And, if you're like most trumpet
players, you buy a particular mouthpiece to enable you to play
better. So, if you feel that you're ready for improvement,
let's let the old 1938 technology rest
in peace and play the trumpet the way it should be played!
With an Asymmetric, the first real
innovation in mouthpiece technology! |
