Here are questions you've sent us about method books we publish followed by our answers. We only use names if you give up permission to do so, otherwise, we identify questioners by their instrument.
To post questions, send an email to us and we’ll put them up here as soon as we possibly can. Remember, your question (no matter how “small”) and its answer could be helpful for many others, so please don’t hesitate; ask away!
Trumpet players can visit TrumpetHerald.com and trombone players can visit TromboneForum.org for questions, answers from Reinhardt students, and general discussion about The Reinhardt Routines—a total embouchure development plan. These took place long before this FAQ page was conceived.
Click here to download a PDF of FocalPoint (for trumpet) Possible Daily Workout Plans
Question (from a trumpet player): I have been using the C2 studies for less than a week. I have been going up to Eflat on the technical studies. How do and when do I transition to E2? The book is really great! My chops feel so good. I know I don't want to overdo it and suffer a setback. Also, just to test myself I played Finlandia up to E3. I was able to do it. Maybe that is overdoing it a bit for me as I can't say there was not strain involved.
Answer: May I suggest that getting better slower is better when it comes to things like being able to play well with endurance and control in the upper register? I wouldn't be in too big a hurry to play the drills that spend a lot of time up there if it's somewhat new for you.
In fact, the first place I would recommend "pushing it" a little is in the compression section (Section 6). Numbers 1-8 (pg.44) are just tiny little squeaks, teensy little anorexic pin-point no-real-sound responses. They are not notes, and they are not anything to be proud of, just evidence that you lips are able to vibrate at those higher frequencies. 1/16th of a breath MAYBE, no volume whatsoever. But if you continually try to do those a little higher than you think you can, you may be pleasantly surprised.
And, once or twice a week, instead of using #'s 1-8 on page 44, try the buzzing drill on page 45.
Also see page 58 if you have trouble getting started with compression drills.
By choosing C2 as your focal point, you have estimated that the center of your range is at (or maybe below) that note, meaning that you can go down to low F# and up to high F# (3 leger lines and a space above the trumpet staff). If you are being honest with yourself, then until you always can play all of those notes consistently, you will do more good than harm by staying with C2 as your focal point.
Question (from a trumpet player): What if my focal point is somewhere between G2 and C2? For example, I can reach Bb3 and on good days B3 but am having little luck with C3. Where do I start? Do I start with the G2 exercises or C2 exercises?
Answer: I think it's possible you've got "hub" and "focal point" confused. Your hub is the center of your usable range. Your focal point is the first note you play every time you pick up the horn.
If your hub is between G2 and C2, then you really could make C2 your focal point. Just play your C2 drill until it's too high and call it a day for that one. On the drills other than the embouchure stabilizers, end on a lower starting note; the way the Spiderweb works, if one suddenly seems too high, the next one is low, so end after the lower notes.
In other words, you're doing 1b. on page four, and you make it up to Bb3 (meas.77-78) but you realize you need to stop. Before you do your low chromatics and rest, do the next notes, starting on D1 (meas.81-82).
Or 2b. on page seven, you make it up to Bb3 (meas.37) and realize you need to stop, go ahead and do meas.39 before stopping. Make sense?
Bottom line is that you're making your focal point higher than your hub in an effort to raise your hub.
When slurring those wide intervals, make sure you keep the "weight" on your lower lip.
Question (from a trumpet player): I've been using C2 as my focal point for four days in a row, now, following your directions, and I haven't been able to finish the first five sections of your book in a single day yet. Even though I have pretty good range and usually very good endurance, these drills make me feel like I'm not up to it. Am I doing something wrong?
Answer: You might want to try what Reinhardt called the Touch Upon Procedure where you do some of everything every day rather than trying to do all of everything every day. That way you can keep several points "alive" without completely overlooking any one area.
For example, let's say you're using 1b. on page 4 as your Section 1 warm-up. You're feeling pretty good by the time you get to measures 53-54, so you do measures 57-58, play some low chromatics and rest a bit.
Then move on to Section 2, say 2b. on page 17. You go ahead and use the optional repeats, but you stop at measure 8 or measure 9, play some low chromatics and rest for a moment. Then you do 3b. on page 18 but stop before you get to measure 9, play some low chromatics and rest for a bit.
Now you move on to Section 3, doing an abbreviated 1b. and stop after you've played the first 15 notes of the Spiderweb (after the F1), play some low chromatics and rest some.
Then move on to Section 4, play the first two or three transpositions of 1a. on page 28, do your low chromatics and rest. See how we're doing this?
Now, when you move on to Section 5, you've done something out of the first five sections, and you can do the same here. Maybe do the first full page of one of the Technical studies as written, and call it a day for those (low chromatics). Rest for a respectable amount of time and touch upon Section 6.
As you do these drills over a longer period of time, you will adjust to working out all these areas daily, and you ought to be able to play through all 6 sections more thoroughly, but give yourself some time for your chops to get used to doing this kind of work. We are working out all the brass playing basics in these 6 sections, so your chops may not be used to such thorough workouts.
Question (from a trumpet player): I don't get Section 5. If I start at C2 and do a full Spiderweb, wouldn't that require that I play up to the double Ab? Do I play C2 everywhere else and then drop to G2 for this?
Answer: The order of starting notes in Section 5 is actually not all that well designed, in retrospect. I went by the starting note of each technical study, rather than thinking of the center point of each one. I think about that every time I practice out of it, which is almost daily.
I think for that section the best thing to do is "listen" to your chops, and make a decision based on how much of a workout you've had up to that point. Usually I just work out of that section pretty much in the order it's written (because I so desperately need to work on my technique). Some days I skip the "easy" ones and do the ones that are the most demanding on my fingers, but still pretty much do them in the Spiderweb order in which they're presented.
And if you consider the overall focus of the book, if you never even practiced out of Section 5, you'd still be covering all the aspects that the book intends to cover, and those are the old "something high, something low, something loud, something soft, something tongued, something slurred, something sustained, some multiple tonguing and some compression" categories of brass playing.
Question (from a trumpet player): On the compression studies, do I try to play a whole line on a 1/8 breath? On my first attempt here I didn't really get much of a squeak beyond E3 or F3 and I really couldn't control the pitch at all. Do I need to start with the added page at the back?
Answer: As far as your compression concerns, don't be too impatient. On trombone I have excellent compression, but on trumpet it sucks, so I'm still at Square Two or so. Sure, go ahead and do what's in the Addenda . . . try doing them so puny that you still blow out air after starting with 1/8th of a breath.
Question (from a trumpet player): How often should I try the buzzing exercise?
Answer: Some people get a lot out of that particular buzzing drill. It hasn't always been greatly effective for me; I might only do it once or twice a week, even less at times. But it's right out of Reinhardt's Encyclopedia, and like I said, some people claim great results from it and do it daily.
