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7/21/2019 Super Chops
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UPER
TheV I R T U O S O
E M B OC HU RE M E T H O D
F O R T RU M PE T AN D B RA SS
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About the Author
Jerome Callet, for the first twenty five years of his life, was a
frustrated embouchure failure. The more avidly he sought to develop his
embouchure, using the best teachers and most accepted methods of the
time, the worse he performed.
In utter frustration, he decided to devote his life to finding out why no
one could teach him how to develop a good embouchure, and indeed,
whether it is even possible to develop a good embouchure. Perhaps he
thought one has a good embouchure asa result of natural capability, body
development etc.
His first assault on the problem was to study the chops of great players
in photos of these artists while they wereperforming. Henoticed that most
of the great players were positioning their chops on the mouthpiece in
direct contradiction to all the accepted embouchure methods!
More amazing, he found out that none of the world's greatest trumpet
players could teach their children to play!! The reason for this is that while
they believed what was being taught to beginners was correct, they
themselves played differently. As a result, none of these artists, probably
because they could not describe the "feel" that a proper embou<;huregives, ever had a child who amounted to anything as a performer!
From this beginning and after 30 years of research, Jerome in Super-
chops, shares his findings with his fellow trumpet players in a wonderful
combination of book and video.
@Copyright 1992 by Jerome Callet 125 Lake Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10303
All Rights Reserved International Copyright Secured Printed in U.S.A.
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Super Chops A Modem Approach to Total Improvement
of Brass Embouchure Performance
Iwould like to introduce my new method
which I call Super Chops. This method is the
culmination of more than thirty years of studying
and teaching brass embouchure. I know from myown results and from the results of hundreds of
my students that it works for all. Forget your old
beliefs that great players are freaks or super-
natural strongmen! Thinking that way will make
you feel that it is useless to try to be another
Maurice Andre or a Harry James. All you need to
become a great player are average intelligence,
hard work and Super Chops.
After years of hard work. I have the confidence
in both my playing and teaching to improve any-
one's chops. None of the world's greatest players
could teach their own children how to play wellbecause they play by feel, and cannot show
others what and how they do it. They also are
unable to look at a student and evaluate and
change the student's incorrect chop setting to
match their own. To change over to the Super
Chops method demands of teacher and student
the greatest patience and perserverence. One
must learnto concentrate on the most important
parts of trumpet playing which are lip strength,
and correct tonal quality. Perfect intonation in
your scales will result in correct chops.
Many players, some good, some mediocre, say
"Ijust blo\v, I do not think of my chops. This is fine
if you are satisfied with average results. How-
ever,if you enjoy the challenge of being able to
play the world's most difficult brass music and
want to become a great player, you must correct
how your lip and facial muscles are used. This will
take time, patience and hard work. Notice that I
say nothing of musical ability,. and superior intel-
Iigence, because all I ever ask of a student is hard
work. and the ability to follow directions.
In developing Super Chops you must not thinkfirst of high note playing! You can only develop
new muscular chops by concentrating first in the
lowest register of your instrument. Forget that
you have played for years, or that you can play
high notes. Can you play every note with centered
tone and perfect pitch? Can you play stronger at
the end of a three hour rehearsal than at the
beginning? Can you play all the tones from the
lowest to the highest with the same quality of
tone? An added bonus of the Super Chops
method, will be the end of sore lips from mouth-
piece pressure.
Mymethod of practice demands strict attention
to how you play each tone. You must blow each
note with a full brilliant sound. Your tongue rests
behind the lower teeth, and for all attacks it st.
rikes the lips between the teeth. (Spitting action)
Youshould never use the arched tongue for range
or for lip slurs. No syllable playing aah -eeh be-
cause this will cause more strain and make higher
tones too thin. Both lips must be fully energized
by use of a full air stream striking your lips at the
point of vibration.
There should never be any obstruction or forc-ing of your throat in blowing the trumpet. I have
noticed that the greatest and strongest players all
play with an expanded neck. My own neck in-
creases from two to four inches as I blow harder
and higher. This shows an open throat without
obstruction and without the use of incorrect ar-
ching of the tongue.
Dow to Practice Super Chops Exercises
Itell all my students to play me one bar
with a rich, brilliant centered tone that is per-
fectly in tune. From this one bar start, we can and
will play the world's most difficult music. When I
was a young student we were taught to learn to
read much music and to learn speed playing. Go
from the front of the book to the back. as quickly
as possible. I have the greatest collection of
trumpet study books in the world (I love books). I
also have embouchure study books going back
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more than sixty five years. I study and play from
violin, sax, clarinet flute and oboe books. How-
ever, none of this will help in blowing the trumpet
correctly as much as my Super Chops method.
Go very slowly, try to develop this new feel in
your lips and facial muscles. The lower range
must be developed first. Attempt no high notes
until all your lower and middle register tones are
solid and your lips feel great! Lips and facial
muscles tire very quickly at first. Your lips must
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always be thick and pliable (flexible). You now will
be able to practice for longer periods without
suffering sore and bruised lips. The time element
and your progress is determined by your correct
use of the Super Chops method on your lips over
a period of weeks and months. You must be very
critical of yourself, constantly checking your
chops against the sketches in this book.
You will find yourself using much more air
(wind) power than ever before. The faster you run
out of air, the more correctly you are doing the
Super Chops method. The biggest and strongest
men who have become my students: all say they
never could use their full body strength in playing
before doing Super Chops. Almost all the strain of
blowing the trumpet goes to the body; not the
lips. Anyone can successfully perform Super
Chops from age eight to age eighty.
Setting the Lips and Facial Musclesfor Super Chops
First we must understand that there are only
three ways to set your lips in blowing the trumpet.
I. First the traditional "smile" or tightening of
the mouth comers. This includes smiling andpulling the mouth comers down in a frown. This
makes your lips under the mouthpiece thin and
weak. Press your index finger against your lips in
the center while using the smile or tight mouth.
You will feel your lips getting thin in the center,
and you can feel your teeth. What happens to your
lips when they are stretched is that they break
apart in the center of the mouthpiece cup. Once
the lips break apart excess mouthpiece pressure
must be used to try to keep vibration (tone) in lips.
Remember, that without the lips touching there
will be no friction and no sound, only air going
into the mouthpiece cup. Your tone gets thin,endurance is limited and your lips become sore.
Please note that in all incorrect lip settings, the
chin will be flattened down and to the sides unlike
Super Chops, whereby the correct lip set thickens
the chin which comes upward as you ascend eas-
ily into the upper register.
I I. The second method is called "lip pucker"
or the whistling embouchure. This produces
some thickness but the lips are flabby and cannot
properly resist the air pressure. The reason for this is that in order to get proper resistance in the
lips, we must fight the air by going back towards
the onrushing air, not in the same direction as the
air which is what the puckerer does. The puckerer
when going very high in range has to blow much
too hard (Overblowing), and uses excessive
mouthpiece pressure. This results in thin tone in
the high register, and lack of real carrying power.
Note that the chin is pulled downward as it is with
the "stretch" player.
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I I I . The third method is what I call Super
Chops. I am not the only one who plays this way;
but I am the only one that teaches and can des-
cribe how to do it. Going back to Del Staigers and
even before him, any player who developed un-
limited range, power, flexibility; endurance and
brilliant projecting sound was playing the Super
Chops way.
I will describe Super Chops briefly here, and in
greater detail later. Both lips are drawn inward
and thickened by the bunching upwards of the
chin and relaxing of the mouth comers. Both lips
touch each other all across the mouth. Solidness
is felt in the center of the lips. The jaw will relax
and you will be able to open your teeth more as
you begin to gain strength in your embouchure.
You should study as I did, every photo of Harry
James while he was actually blowing the trumpet.
You will see the very bunched up chin as he plays
high and loud. Look at the world's greatest play-
ers, not the microphone, or Sotto Voce weak
players but the ones whose tone rings out in the
largest orchestras. If the trumpet player uses only
a microphone and the sound is dull and limited
in projection, then the player does not have Super
Chops. ltain your ears to hear real trumpet tone,
not electronic gimmickry.
There are three ways to tell that you are playingthe Super Chops way: First you must have a very
brilliant full resonant tone. Second, you must use
much less mouthpiece pressure on your lips.
Third, you must develop the ability to use much
more wind power in playing. From now on, al-
most all the effort you will use in playing will be
felt in the inner body. Your increased energy out-
put will result in great improvement in all levels of
your trumpet playing.
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Now to Change Your Present Chops ~toSuper Chops
L o o k closely at the drawings, and follow
the arrows to properly move your lips in the rightdirection. You will eventually feel everything hap-
pen with an automatic response when you play. At
first, you must use all your powers of con-
centration to ensure correct development of all lip
and facial muscles.
The proper action of the lips is to resist the air
stream. The lips must be brought inward grad-
ually as you go higher and louder in volume. Your
teeth must be open to receive and resist the full
air column. Never try to guide the air by blowing
with an unnatural jaw position. Mylips set my jaw
position by properly gripping the teeth and eachother (top and bottom lip). Bottom lip grips
(presses) evenly the bottom of your top lip. This
grip or pressure is determined by what range you
are playing.
Now you must carefully study each of the facial
drawings. The most important part of Super
Chops is to be sure that your lips move exactly in
the directions that are shown. Corners of your
mouth should be relaxed. As you ascend in range
scales or chords, bring your bottom lip up and
over your top teeth. When I reach a double high
"C", the top of my bottom lip is up on the upper gum line, above the top teeth. Youmust feel your
lower lip moving up and in. The chin follows and
supports the lower lip. When I get to the top
notes, I bring the top lip down to grip the bottom
lip. This is where the real power to blow powerful
trumpet comes from. This inward lip resistance to
the air is the Isometric Exercise that builds
needed strength in the lip and facial muscles.
Lower lip on the inside presses firmer against
your top teeth all across the mouth as you go into
the very high register.
When descending from high to lower range, the
lips relax and the lower lip drops lower on the
upper teeth. From all notes low C,just below the
staff and up, lower lip has an inward curvature.
From low Bb downward, lower lip turns outward
away from your teeth, as in a pout. Bottom lip
loosens its grip on the cutting edge of top teeth.
This allows more and slower air to enter the
mouthpiece. This will give you great ease of play-
ing, and you will not have to over blow on difficult
passages.
A question most asked of me in teaching is
"How does the air get thru when the lower lip is
over the top teeth? Won't the aperture to allow air
to enter the mouthpiece cup be blocked off by
your top teeth? The air is being made to squeeze
around the teeth and lips! This is exactly what
gives you the greatest resistance to the air
column, eventually giving much greater results
than any other method of playing, even though
your mind says this is not logical. The reason my
Super Chops way works is that the air is very
powerful, and like flooding water, is most difficult
to hold back. Also, very little air enters the trum-
pet when you play loud double high C's. By re-
laxing this grip to go lower you gradually allowmore air to enter the trumpet.
When trying to play Super Chops you must go
slowly and be patient. If you are having a prob-
lem, check your lip and facial settings, and you
will find that your have reverted to old lip setting
habits. The stronger your lip resistance is in the
center of your lips, the less the mouth corners
need to tighten and lips stretch incorrectly. Your
use of the chin muscle is most important. The
chin bunches and pushes up the area just below
and across the entire lower lip. When doing this
you will get a more perfect seal across the lips.Note how may players leak too much air from the
sides of their lips because the seal is being
broken by air pressure. The area just below the
lower lip sometimes looks like it is full of air, but it
is muscular. Always blow harder the higher you
play. and resist the air. Do not allow it to enter the
mouthpiece cup.
Before placing the mouthpiece on your lips, set
up your Super Chops. Then put the mouthpiece
on lips. Do not put your mouthpiece on normal
nonplaying lips. The reason we bring our lips
together and inward on all notes above low C(below the staff) is to get and keep more lip in the
mouthpiece cup. If we place the mouthpiece on
lips, which are not cushioned, too much pressure
will be used and results will be limited. You must
only use the needed amount of lip set tension.
Once you get the proper knack, you can start on a
middle C or Double High "C", cold, just by using a
proper lip set and correct air pressure. I like to
think of doubling air pressure for each octave I
ascend.
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low register
SUPEKCUOPS
middle register high register
Lip setting and Position of 1eeth in Upper Registration
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Correct Resistance
Now to answer the obvious question! If
we do not use the tongue arch, where to we get
the resistance to slur higher in range? We get all
the correct resistance from the lips properly con-
tracting towards the center of the mouthpiece.
The lips act as a valve, controlling the air stream
and vibration, with regards to range and power
(volume).
What is not well known is that when you blow a
very loud double high "C", almost no air enters
your trumpet. The lips held in the Super Chops
system have almost completely closed the valve
(lips are compressed). Yet the feeling is -one of
very free blowing with a big fat vibrating sound.
Many teachers incorrectly advocate filling up
the horn. You must blow very hard up to the lips.
The lips then act as a closing valve, very gradually
from the lowest to the highest range. Players of-
ten ask me "Do you get back pressure in your
head, blowing so hard with closing lips? The
answer is never; because the lips are in perfect
control of my air power. This proper compression
of the lips produces a maximum volume of tone
in any range even above double high "C".
Tongue Placement
The tip of your tongue must strike the
inner part of your lips through your open teeth.
This action is exactly like spitting. I usually make
my students practice what I call a spit buzz. This is
done without the mouthpiece, it combines the
tongue striking the compressed lips, with full air;
creating an attack and a buzzing sound.
Never tongue behind your top teeth or higher
on your inside palate above the top of your teeth.
Tongueing behind your top teeth builds resist-
ance, and strains your throat area. Players who
use the "behind the top teeth" attack, tend to go
flat on each pitch after the attack sounds. When I
make a player who does this strike the lips with
the tip of the tongue, his intonation improves
instantly. Most of the world's greatest trumpet
soloists both Classical and Jazz tongue through
their teeth striking their lips.
After using the tongue to make an articulation it
must lie flat in the mouth to allow your full air to
reach your lips. (Neverarch your tongue)
When inhaling air to play a brass in-
strument, ,!o not raise your chest, shoulder or
arms. Do not overbreathe because you want to
playa high note. Most players inhale too much air
to properly play the trumpet. You must inhale the
breath allowing the air to expand the upper sto-
mach area which is from your belly button up to
the rib cage. The more relaxed you are, the easier it is to get the air into the right place. When
exhaling to blow your horn, simply draw your
upper stomach (solar plexis area) up and slightly
under your frontal rib cage. I like to always set my
upper stomach muscles inward and firm as I play
all of my tones (high, lo\v, loud or soft). This gives
me the advantage of more resonance in my
sound.
Breathing for Super Chops
slightly built person will never have the lung ca-
pacity of the larger individual. This makes the
player of small build, feel inferior. It is how you
use your wind power, not how much air capacity
you have. In Super Chops you build tremendous
wind power by blowing properly against the re-
sistance of compressed lips. Blowing up lung
bags or balloons, will not help you. Only playingagainst proper lip resistance with continually in-
creasing volume of sound, will give you the
breath support you need to play well on a brass
instrument. To prove my point listen to Charlie
Shavers and Louis Armstrong blow the trumpet.
Both are very small men, smaller than many big
men using these lung increasing devices. Some
of these young men have lungs with double the
amount of litres of air of a Shavers or Armstrong;
There is a large movement to increase lung why can't they blow their horns with the same
capacity and measure each player. This concept I power; range and sound as Louis and Charlie?
feel, is completely wrong. First the smaller more
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