I`ve been playing the trumpet since about 7th grade. Mostly I`ve used Arbans, but I`ve also been introduced to Mayo and a bit of Sandoval.
My question is how do I raise my register and withouth smashing my lips. Should I try bunching them up. ??

Corners and air are the key my friend. Use you corners and dont squeeze the trumpet to your lips. Just use you corners. scales help. Thats what i do and i can hit the high e above the staff.

and the velocity of air

then how do you keep the air from escaping out the sides when the air`s going so fast?

Thats all part of corners. Practice scales take it up one note per when you feel good with the previous one.

Like dan said on his first message -- squeeze the corners of your mouth.

Try not to apply too much pressure onto the mouthpiece, the sound will be weak if you do that, and your lips won`t be as flexible either (this would become a problem especially when you`re playing fast passages.)

Hope this helps!

I had a problem with high notes. I practiced but i had nearly no result of it. So I Asked my conductor what wrong was. He explained me: the air don`t go straight throu the opening with me. So I have to change my embouchure. I`m practicing now: buzzing without a mouthpiece and holding my hand for my mouth so that i can feel the air, then i feel that i buzz right. Then i try it with my mouthpiece.

Lobke

Aye Caramba!! another high note problem!

Yes, the corners DO play a role in producing notes on the trumpet, especially high notes. However, I wouldn`t recommend that you go in the practice room and think about flexing the corners or any other lip muscle. You definitely don`t want to think about your muscles when playing in the high register. When you do, the tendency is to overtighten the lips. Think more about your air. Air is everything, and when it`s flowing right, the muscles will follow. When everything is working correctly (Breathing, posture, embouchure, etc.), then the high notes will come. That`s where a good teacher comes in handy to check if everything is working right. Then it`s just a matter of smart daily practice and patience to build the upper register. Please reply if you want me to elaborate more on the practice session.

That`s what Dan and I said, air and the speed of air are the importance. And how to prevent air from coming of the corners of your mouth is to tighten it. This would also mean having the right embouchure.
To further amplify Lobke`s point -- check in the mirror to see if your mouthpiece is placed in the center of your mouth. You can also find out by seeing the marks on your lips that the mouthpiece has left after playing, whether your mouthpiece was placed in the middle.

If range is your issue then just tightening up your lips and using more air isnt going to solve your problem. You need first to build lip strength and I would suggest overtones: such as, sluring middle g to high g and so on down the chromatic scale, middle a to high a and so forth. Also another great range building exercies is pedal notes. The more pedal note exercises you do the more range you`ll get. Why? Because high notes and pedal notes require the same amount of air and the same ombscure(hope I spelled that right) In no time you`ll be hitting that high range like a charm, but you have to practice these exercises daily or your out of luck.

I agree with the low pedal tones. They help high range a lot and generally loosen up the lips. Being flexible also helps a lot. I know that the corners of the mouth was already mentioned, but it just seemed like a quick fix sort of thing. If you flex this muscle then POOF you`ll get high notes. I don`t want anybody to get this impression that high notes can be reached overnight. That`s why it`s more important to focus on air rather than the muscles.

Did anybody hear about this book called "Double high C in 72 weeks" (or something like that)? Well, it`s idea was to train a trumpet player like an athelete (ex. weightlifter). It had progressively longer exercises and it got progressively higher. It also had a program of practicing every other day. One was only to play these exercises and nothing else for a period of 72 weeks.

I looked at this book looking for a quick fix to my range and I followed it for about a couple weeks. Well, I didn`t follow the every other day thing, but it didn`t matter because it didn`t give me answers to my range. I DON`T recommend it, and I don`t think it works. During the 72 weeks, one will have no practice in musical phrasing or whatever makes a great trumpet player (except for range).

However, I did get something out of it. The majority of the exercises were slurring up and down overtones, which I think really helps the high register. It had exercises that went to the extreme high register as well as the extreme low register (more than an 8ve below the staff). Also, the fact that it recommended to take the horn off the face after each 4 (or so) measure exercise. Taking the horn off the face lets blood flow back into the lips and muscles to replenish them. Just 10 to 20 seconds will help. So, yeah, I don`t recommend the book, but it does have some good ideas for range.

I can go on and on with this stuf. Ask me more questions about trumpet playing `cause I`ll be more than happy to answer them.

thanks, it really helps to think about the air.
Should I grit my stomach when I`m going for the high or just use lots of air?

Yeah Dr roy has the right idea, slurring up and down through high and low register really helps. I use charles collins exercises these slur progressivly higher im up to e above staff when i used to be scared of Bb under it but now it feels comfortable. Make sure your throat stays open and relxed, your whole body should be relaxed through any register, as soon as tension comes into it the air supply will suffer and you will get a pinched tone. I try to think of my throat being open enough to swallow an orange (practice yawning) In term of lips they shouldnt be stretched back like a smile thats bad, the middle of the lip should be flexible not rigid while the corners need to be firm , but not squashed. You really need to try different things and have different ideas about how it feels like the orange swallowing one. I always aim to feel comfortable and if you work at that you will slowly and correctly improve your technique.

I had alot of problems with high notes until I found out how to use the air "properly", alot of tension is not the same as blowing some serious air. I`ve used a stage 3 breathing tube from "Bell`s Super Lube" for about 6 months now and I do it before I have a rather loud or high gig. That might help, plus make sure you have decent valve oil. www.bellssuperlube.com is the address if anyone is interested.