Trumpet Mouthpiece Placement Exercise by Eddie Lewis

The Mouthpiece Placement Exercise is an exercise from three of Eddie Lewis' books, the Physical Trumpet Pyramid, Daily Routines for Trumpet and Chops Express for Trumpet. This video explains why it's important and how to do it.

[@MichaelBarkleyMusic]

This is very similar to the Reinhardt "walking in" exercise - a powerful tool for establishing and correcting an embouchure. Nice one, Eddie!

[@eltigredo]

Michael Barkley thanks! Yeah, I’ve been told that my routine has a lot of Reinhardt qualities. I find that very legitimizing.

[@gtromble]

Thanks Eddie.

[@eltigredo]

Thank you, Galen. Great to hear from you.

[@dantro78]

Hi Eddie,
I've learned from and enjoyed watching your videos, and I don't even play the trumpet (I play string instruments). I don't know if you have addressed this in other videos, but I had a question about the short trumpet ensemble pieces heard as intros to your lessons: Are these excerpts from music you have written and/or performed?
Thanks for sharing your experience and wisdom!

[@eltigredo]

Hello dantro78! I'm glad you are enjoying the videos, even though you are a string player. I'm sure some of the general stuff carries over.
To answer your question, yes, the bumper music is one of my original compositions. I call it The Good Shepherd Shuffle. :-) It's scored for four trumpets and to flugelhorns. Here's a link to a score video of the piece:
th-cam.com/video/kme_blQ_q1A/w-d-xo.html

[@timwolf5497]

Hi Eddie, I have difficulty doing this exercise. I can easily lip buzz, but as soon as I put the mouthpiece on my lips, the buzz stops. The opposite also happens; when I'm sustaining a mouthpiece buzz, as soon as I take the mouthpiece off my lips, the buzz stops. Suggestions?

[@eltigredo]

This is not a huge problem. Just keep trying. If after a long time nothing improves, then just stop doing the exercise. It's not a prerequisite.

[@matthewmunroe6192]

I have an off center lip placement that puts my mouthpiece slightly to the left. I tried to play centered but my tone was thin and my range was cut from low c-double e to low c to high g. What do I do?

[@eltigredo]

I also have a mouthpiece placement that is off to the left. I made a video about this that you can watch here: th-cam.com/video/Sfdl3rsk5Tg/w-d-xo.html