Welcome to Lesson 2.

STEP 2 - Body Training

Now that the architect for your skyscraper, your brain, is in training, it is time for the builder to be taught the most efficient and productive way to carry out the architects demands.

There are many ways to improve on the trumpet, just as there are many ways to build a skyscraper. You want the strongest, tallest building, not one that will collapse, so you better develop great skills before trying to build. If the body is the builder, then train it. Leave the trumpet alone for a while and learn what the body has to do. We will incorporate the instrument or start building the structure once the training is done.

Exercie 1 from the previous lesson is the best way to improve your skill level. You are reprogramming your belief of how sound is made, therefore training the brain what messages it should be sending the body. Be sure to do exercise 1 many times every single day.

Exercise 2. For the best results, get yourself a mouthpiece rim or visualiser. This is an essential tool!

You will discover why very soon. Visualisers are mostly used incorrectly if at all. For your convenience, visualisers are available at this web site at a better price than you will find elsewhere. We make the visualisers available to you because they are so important to your reprogramming.

You are now going to learn how to incorporate the instrument to the body while maintaining the same feeling of relaxation while exhaling. This process although physically easy is a real challenge to the belief system because it is remarkably easier to do than your regular forced blow. You may not even recognise that your blow is forced when playing so you have to ask yourself if playing feels the same as Exercise 1. This takes a bit of self awareness.

If you do not wish to use a visualiser or rim of any kind (not recommended) then you can use your fingers in a "V" for "Victory" shape with a gap the same as the inner rim of your mouthpiece.

Suck air past the visualiser (or between your fingers) in exactly the same way you did with your finger in Exercise 1. Enough repetition of this exercise at this stage will create a new habit. Your brain is being programmed to breath correctly every time you place a finger, rim or mouthpiece on your lips.

Notice that when you open a door and walk through the doorway, you never have to think about reaching out to grab the door handle; you do it without thinking about it. Deep breathing must become a subconscious response -

just as a back swing is for a golfer about to hit a ball. A golfer would never neglect the correct backswing. The backswing provides the potential energy, just as a correct breath provides natural power for the trumpet. Now what you have to do is deliver the enegy without forcing it.

Keep the lips relaxed and allow the aperture to open up. Use the hand that is not holding the visualiser to feel the airstream. Place the hand directly in front of the face and make the required adjustments to get the air flowing straight out horizontally.

Caution! There is a danger that you will roll in your lips or try to position your lips in a familiar way when you place the visualiser on your lips. This must be stopped. Repeat Exercise 1 many times then merely place the rim over the airstream. There should be a feeling of openness in the aperture. Use a mirror and look for the opening of the aperture. Do not blow hard or allow the lips to close. Merely let the power of the air flow through the visualiser that is lightly placed on your lips.

This process will challenge your belief system. In fact it will probably completely bombard it! As you work through the next few Free Lessons, you will begin to understand why this step is so important. Observe the thoughts that you are having or the questions you may have and write them down. The answers are coming. Your belief system is probably telling you that you cannot possibly play the instrument with this open feeling because it is not the way the instrument works or the way you play. Fine! Let the reprogramming continue. The more you tell yourself that this is the way to play, the sooner your brain will accept it and send the body the correct instructions.

Interesting Fact: The first 5 minutes of your trumpet practise routine is the most important and you have will have not actually played a note on the instrument. At this stage, reprogramming and visualising the concepts is far more important than playing notes the way you always have.