Endurance and Elasticity

Subtitled “The Art of Slotting” this wonderful book by Charles Colin takes a step beyond Clarke's method and bridges the gap between brother breath technique and slotting perfectly on the trumpet. “The basic principles of elongated deep breathing are well laid out in Volume 2 of Herbert L. Clarke's method.” Says Colin, “they are the foundation skills that allow articulations to begin with a pp whisper and build to any described dynamic level. It is here that the synchronizing of the breath with the movement of the valves is best developed. A very necessary complementary skill for brass usicians is the development of the lip trill. Never forced, it can lead to one octave arpeggios and then on to a series in a range of two octaves.”

The talent for slotting intervals rests firmly on the ability to lip trill. The best trilling is founded, essentially, on the rapid movement from the center of one tone to the center of another while retaining the definition of both. This is best done by first finding the center, i.e., the slot, of the first tone and then replicating the achievement in the second. Beginning with minor seconds, this can be extended to thirds, fourths, etc. on up to entire arpeggios over two octaves.

Slotting is also one very good technique devised for the testing of trumpet tone focus. Because one of the distinctive features of trumpets of a better quality is their ability to lock into the center of a pitch, and thereby help the musician in his production of pitch and tone, the musician's ability to slot effectively provides him with a test with which he can further evaluate an instrument.