BRUCE'S SCREAMER CLUB EXERCISES

DISCLAIMER--The effectiveness of these exercises is lost if your tone production

technique is flawed. Generally, your chops must be close and relaxed while pla
ying, you must use proper air volume and velocity, etc. I am not addressing the
se issues, and if this does not sound like what you are doing, get a teacher to
correct these problems. I'm also not addressing "fingers" or overall musical ex
pertise, which are both prerequisite to any true progress.
EXERCISE 1--THE GOOD OLD PENCIL THING
Get an unsharpened wood pencil. Close your teeth, and place the unsharpened end
against them. Wrap your lips around the pencil, and let go, holding the pencil
straight out in front of your face with only the muscles in the lips and surrou
nding area. Continue holding it straight out until your muscles burn. Rest. R
epeat.
EXERCISE 2--PUCKER UP
Push your lips out as far as you can in an overly exaggerated pucker. Now focus
the energy even harder, as if you have to hold some tiny object "in" this pucke
r by drawing your lips into an exremely tight drawstring effect. Hold this posit
ion until the muscles burn. Rest. Repeat.
EXERCISE 3---PUCKER-SMILE
As in Exercise 2, push your lips into the most concentrated pucker possible. Now
reverse that facial expression and smile as widely as possible. Alternate betwe
en these two positions as fast as you can. Do this until the muscles burn. Res
t. Repeat.

This is a DAILY regimen. Alternate these exercises in each "session" and keep i
t up for a couple of months MINIMUM. You will see results much sooner than tha
t, but what you are trying to do is build the muscle in your face to extreme lev
els of size and strength. After a couple of months, every other day will mainta
in your progress. As with any physical conditioning, progress will come in leap
s and plateaus. It's important to keep exercising through the plateaus to reach
the next leap. It is also VERY important to do each of these exercises until y
ou feel pain in the muscles being worked.
Unlike playing the horn until you feel discomfort, which is highly destructive,
the "pain" you feel in these exercises are the muscles telling the body and brai
n, "HEY, I need some help here, sign me up for some increased tissue." It's the
equivalent of sending your face to the gym for some serious buffing up.
THE THEORY
So many players with poor endurance will just slave away on the horn, building b
ad habits and damaging tissue as they go. This can easily make a player, especi
ally a young one, feel that progress will never come. And indeed it may not. T
rumpet playing is an incredibly physical activity, the forces required for exten
ded range being extreme.
Just as a football team begins spring training doing everything BUT playing foot
ball, a trumpet player needs to build an extraordinary facial muscle base before
reaching success. It can certainly be done on the horn, but this is the SLOW w
ay. I believe, and have ample evidence in my own playing that this series of ex
ercises WILL do the trick.
An added benefit...you will never need a facelift. <g> These exercises WILL cha
nge even the appearance of your face, greatly enlarging the ring of muscle aroun
d your mouth.
Best wishes to anyone who tries this method. I have used it in my own private a
nd class teaching over the years, and have passed this method on to many of my c
olleagues in the education biz. Nobody that has given it a serious application
has failed to reach the goal of greater endurance and extended range. It's just
common sense.
Subject: Re: Isometric Exercises
Folks:
A number of people have expressed an interest in the types of isometric
exercises that I recommend for use when you must be away from the horn....Here a
re a few ideas which I hope you'll find to be useful in maintaining and developi
ng your chops when you can't take the time to practice:
1. The first exercise consists of merely holding your lips closed, as i
n saying the *mmm* sound. When done correctly, this requires you to slightly ro
ll your lips nward... Hold this position for as long as possible(you'll eventual
ly be able to do it for hours at a time), until your muscles begin to burn, then
rest an equivalent amount of time before repeating.
2. The second exercise is like the first, except that this time, beside
s the *mmm* position, you should also draw the lip muscles in, toward the center
of your lips(avoid an obvious pursing, however). You should feel as though your
lip muscles are *hugging* against your teeth. It is also important to keep the
corners where they are when your mouth is relaxed while you are doing this(neit
her stretched outward into a *smile* nor drawn down as in a frown). Once again,
hold until the muscles develop the lactic acid *burn*, then release, rest, and r
epeat...
3. This one is best done before a mirror, at least the first few times
that you perform it, until you are sure that you are correctly performing the ex
ercise. While observing yourself in the mirror, complete the following movement
s:
a). Roll your bottom lip out as far as possible.(Try to touch your chin
with it). Be sure to keep the upper lip in contact with the inside of the bott
om lip as you are doing this. Hold in the extended postion for a count of ten,
then gradually roll the bottom lip back up, so that it is hugging the outside of
the upper lip. Rest. Repeat.
b). Purse your lips as far forward as possible. Hold for a count of te
n, then gradually relax them. Rest. Repeat.
c). Roll your lips inward, so that the red(membrane) of your lips disap
pears. Be sure that both lips are in front of the teeth as you do this. Hold f
or a count of ten. Rest. Repeat.
There are other exercises which are also beneficial, including that of b
ouncing a small paper tube between your lips(but, again, in front of your teeth-
-gripping the paper only between your lips)...With practice, you'll eventually b
e able to do this with a pencil or pen...
Finally, there is an exercise which I do all day long (when I'm not play
ing) which is difficult to describe with words, but creates a sort of a squawk w
hen done correctly....Roll your lips slightly inward, then use your tongue to fo
rce air through them, stopping the air by having your tongue close against the r
oof of your mouth....With practice, it's possible to play chromatic scales this
way, and it's a good way to prevent the dreaded *braccck* attacks, since your li
ps become more accustomed to placing pitches very accurately....