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Can you play more than one brass instrument?

5/31/2011

2 Comments

 
I'd like to congratulate the organizers of the Singapore Brass Explosion this weekend. I had the chance to give master classes and perform along with some of the world's finest brass players. It was an uplifting experience and a lot of fun!

We had the privilege to hear the fantastic James Morrisson who plays trumpet, trombone, euphonium, saxophone, piano and god knows what and is absolutely amazing at everything! If you don't know him, go on youtube. There's got to be a bunch of videos of him.

It reminds me that when I was in school, we were told not to play on other instruments than our own because it would apparently ruin our embouchure if we did. After hearing James Morrisson, I'm not so sure anymore! Maybe he's just one of his kind but I guess if he can do it, it's possible. 

Fooling around with a different instrument (we all did it anyway!) might disturb your chops for a few minutes when you go back to your own horn but I doubt it would ruin them! And for what I've seen this weekend, it is possible to become a virtuoso on all instruments if you're willing to practice all of them! I just don't know many people with the talent, time and resources to achieve that! 

2 Comments
Khloe
6/21/2011 12:20:29 am

I play the French Horn, and I know that if you also play the trumpet ( which many do for things such as jazz ect) It DOES affect your embouchure creating a tone on the horn that sounds to 'trumpety' and the trumpet will not be as clear as it should be. It takes a lot of time and practice to evenly manage two brass instruments...

Reply
Marc-antoine
6/21/2011 10:22:26 am

Hi Khloe,
You are absolutely right that playing the trumpet will affect a horn player's sound. You really need to work on it a lot to sound great at both instruments.I guess if you do it all the time, your chops could get used to switch from one instrument to another and you embouchure would become very flexible. You probably need to have a special talent for that like James Morrisson to do it!
If you just fool around a bit with a trumpet for fun, I think it'll bug your chops a bit but it's not the end of the world.

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    Marc-Antoine Robillard

    I am associate principal horn of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and the author of the progressive methods. I'm happy to share my experience as a horn player and teacher with you.

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  • Home
  • about the author
  • French horn method
  • Brass playing tips blog
  • Cadenzas for Mozart concertos
  • contact
  • Links
  • French horn lessons in Singapore