Super Chops

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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



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



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.





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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Super Chops

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