Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Davies, John Booth
• Kenny, Patrick
• Barbenel, Joe

Titel

A Psychological Investigation of the Role of Mouthpiece Force in Trumpet Performance

Ist Teil von

• Psychology of music, 1989-04, Vol.17 (1), p.48-62

Ort / Verlag

Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications

Erscheinungsjahr

1989

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Amongst beginning trumpet players, signs of physical stress are frequently observed especially when the player attempts to explore the higher register of the instrument. Preliminary interviews with teachers of trumpet revealed a general concern about development of an easy and relaxed playing style, and with the reduction of mouthpiece-to-lip forces to a low or minimal level. An apocryphal story amongst many trumpet players concerns individuals who can, reputedly, produce double-high Cs on an instrument merely suspended by a couple of strings. The present research programme investigated the physical, psychological and psychophysical manifestations of mouthpiece force amongst groups of trumpet players of different degrees of skill. Our results in fact differ rather sharply from the introspections of trumpet pedagogues. All players, skilled and less skilled, used varying but substantial amounts of force; less-skilled players could not be differentiated from skilled performers in terms of forces used; and skilled players were no better than less skilled (or in some cases unskilled) subjects at the task of judging how much force was being used (a) by themselves, and (b) by other players, all judgements being prone to considerable error.