Pedals tones can be grouped in mainly two groups :
Scale, three octaves below low C
When playing pedals for relaxation, the idea is not to tighten the embouchure. This
gives the embouchure and lips a nice massage, stimulating the blood flow. Care should be
taken, not blowing hard, as this can cause damage to the lips.
To get to those very deep pedal tones, the lower lip will have to be out of the way. With
the lower lip out of the mouthpiece, it is possible to play three octaves below low C!
Playing pedal tones for obtaining strength is another issue. Quite a few books discuss
this, but fail to communicate to the reader how this is done.
How is this done? Number one is to play with closed lips. This is a gradual process that
will take time to master. The way I do it is to start learning to play a low C with closed
lips. This is quite difficult, unless one has very soft lips. After mastering the low C,
next step is bending downwards, still with closed lips. This takes strength, and the
corners will start to burn. The lower one gets, the stronger one has to be. Pedal C is the
final frontier.
The nice thing about playing pedals this way, is that at the same time as it builds
strength, it massages the center. So one gets a combination of a relaxing and
strengthening effect. To make pedals with closed lips easier, I use a little more pucker.
Pedals for strength
After pedals with closed lips are mastered, playing those "pedal books" will
be no problem. I actually think playing from such books better not be done until pedal C
is mastered.
Some pedal methods : Maggio, Spaulding
and Gordon's Systematic Approach
Bill Carmichael demonstrates transitions from pedals to the normal register in his video.
Copyright (c) Rune Aleksandersen 1997 - 2002