Saturday, June 19 - 9:00 am
Clinic: Phil Norris, "A Musical Approach to Tone Production"
Hamilton Recital Hall
Kari Brooks, Reporter
Have you ever listened to a recording of your own voice and thought, “There’s no way that’s me!?” The same concept can be applied to playing the trumpet. Phil Norris explained (after Arnold Jacobs) that the human brain has two kinds of nerves – motor and sensory. The sensory nerves touch on the process and technical aspects of trumpet playing. The motor nerves are responsible for the song, the product, and the inspiration aspects of playing. Norris states that 80-90% of what we think when we are playing should be focused towards our motor (action) skills, and only 10-20% should be toward our sensory (feedback) skills. He pointed out that when the tone sounds good to the listener, the tone is clear, ringing or vibrant to the player. When the tone is dark or “beautiful” to the player, the listener hears a thin, bright and tight sound.
I’m sure by now you’re thinking, “What! Is he telling me to think less about technique and more about sound?” The answer is YES! Next, Norris asked for volunteers from the audience. One by one, people came up and played approximately one minute of music. Norris then asked them to play again, but this time to focus on making the tone brighter and clearer than they thought beautiful. The difference was remarkable! Norris stated that players have a “perceptual distortion” when it comes to sound. If they try to imitate the sound of another fine musician, the sound that they think they make and the sound that the audience actually hears will be two different things. He also quoted Arnold Jacobs by saying, “You need simple controls for complex machines.” To achieve good results, the player needs to produce a clear, ringing tone while expressing the music. Occasionally process/technical concerns, the 10-20%, must be addressed, but as soon as possible, the focus should go on the clear, ringing product which often motivates the correct technique to happen. Using words like “vibrant” and “clear,” you create a mental image of what is expected without making things complicated. The most important thing to remember is that when you play, you should focus on expressing the music using a clear, ringing sound.
Have you ever listened to a recording of your own voice and thought, “There’s no way that’s me!?” The same concept can be applied to playing the trumpet. Phil Norris explained (after Arnold Jacobs) that the human brain has two kinds of nerves – motor and sensory. The sensory nerves touch on the process and technical aspects of trumpet playing. The motor nerves are responsible for the song, the product, and the inspiration aspects of playing. Norris states that 80-90% of what we think when we are playing should be focused towards our motor (action) skills, and only 10-20% should be toward our sensory (feedback) skills. He pointed out that when the tone sounds good to the listener, the tone is clear, ringing or vibrant to the player. When the tone is dark or “beautiful” to the player, the listener hears a thin, bright and tight sound.
I’m sure by now you’re thinking, “What! Is he telling me to think less about technique and more about sound?” The answer is YES! Next, Norris asked for volunteers from the audience. One by one, people came up and played approximately one minute of music. Norris then asked them to play again, but this time to focus on making the tone brighter and clearer than they thought beautiful. The difference was remarkable! Norris stated that players have a “perceptual distortion” when it comes to sound. If they try to imitate the sound of another fine musician, the sound that they think they make and the sound that the audience actually hears will be two different things. He also quoted Arnold Jacobs by saying, “You need simple controls for complex machines.” To achieve good results, the player needs to produce a clear, ringing tone while expressing the 
music. Occasionally process/technical concerns, the 10-20%, must be addressed, but as soon as possible, the focus should go on the clear, ringing product which often motivates the correct technique to happen. Using words like “vibrant” and “clear,” you create a mental image of what is expected without making things complicated. The most important thing to remember is that when you play, you should focus on expressing the music using a clear, ringing sound.