“Correct” range to play in at church

[BrassSection]

On a weekly basis I’m the only brass instrument playing with the band in our church, primarily contemporary Christian with an occasional hymn thrown in. No sheet music, just a chord chart for a baseline starting point. Several years ago it was suggested by a professional musician not to go above a high G on trumpet or high F on trombone or euph in a church setting. Occasionally I would stray up to an F# or rarely an A (talking all horns, assuming a true pitch on trumpet). That sort of went out the window as occasionally I have a professional trumpet player friend join me, he is always on trumpet or flugal, and depending on the song I may be on trumpet, trombone, or euph. He nailed some pretty high notes the first time he was there, nothing but positive feedback.

Since then I’ve ventured into an occasional high note, like the high C on the trombone today. My question is, has anybody else heard of the F/G upper limit in a church recommendation? Told the leader I was gonna try bumping the “big part” of the song up an octave today, he was all for it.

As a side note, any actual scored music for a brass ensemble I’ve played in at the church for Christmas, Easter, or patriotic music has not had any trumpet note above a G, or bass clef above an F….

I’m no pro, so any input is welcome.

[Mr412]

There's a Sammy Nestico Christmas song book that has an A above the staff on one tune in the trombone part. I've seen and played a "high" Bb in a solo on another church arrangement we had one summer for a "jazz" performance. I think it depends upon the player. As long as the notes are clear and not over-blown; IOW's - no louder than lovely, then why not. Some can play a very high note and yet it doesn't sound especially high because it's so lush.

[timothy42b]

IMO.

If the congregation sings, limit yourself to the vocal range. Depending on the congregation, that's probably a written middle C to the D an octave up - women singing as written and men an octave down. On trombone I'd likely play the male range.

If they don't sing, and with praise music often being too soloistic for the congregation to sing, play whatever you want.

The high F is basically a hymnal limit, and with aging congregations you'll find most drop out at D.

[hyperbolica]

I would limit yourself to where you're confident, sound good and can play in tune. I've performed a high F (top of treble staff) in the Lord's Prayer played as a solo because it was secure and added to the drama of that moment in the tune. If you're playing with a group, I'd probably limit it, depending on the other instruments. With instruments like trumpets or Fhorns, there's no need to go where they go.

It also depends on the style and the atmosphere of the church. Context is important, and it's hard to write a rule for that.

[BrassSection]

Group usually consists of 2 electric guitars, 1 acoustic guitar, a bass guitar, drums, and often a keyboard. As noted, occasionally an additional trumpet. Often the electric guitars are wailing higher than I’m playing. Normally I’m not playing melody but fills, accents, counter melody, etc. sometimes taking the 4 valve euph low or even my tenor trombone down into the pedals. Most of the time G/F is normal, but then again I’ve never been accused of being normal. We do have a practice before the service, that’s when I work out what I’m playing, so no surprises to anybody in the group during the actual service. One keyboard player leaves out one in ear monitor to hear the brass better.

[Doug Elliott]

Make it sound good. And appropriate volume.

I played alto and tenor at Easter, covering a bassoon part on tenor and a trumpet part on alto - but down an octave. I probably could have played the trumpet part pretty well where it was written, but it would have sounded stupid.

One time I was hired to play solo with organ, sightreading a vocal line in treble clef. The range was reasonable for a while... Then it started going higher, and one melodic line got up to high G, which I played... because I can, and still make it sound good.

[imsevimse]

On a weekly basis I’m the only brass instrument playing with the band in our church, primarily contemporary Christian with an occasional hymn thrown in. No sheet music, just a chord chart for a baseline starting point. Several years ago it was suggested by a professional musician not to go above a high G on trumpet or high F on trombone or euph in a church setting. Occasionally I would stray up to an F# or rarely an A (talking all horns, assuming a true pitch on trumpet). That sort of went out the window as occasionally I have a professional trumpet player friend join me, he is always on trumpet or flugal, and depending on the song I may be on trumpet, trombone, or euph. He nailed some pretty high notes the first time he was there, nothing but positive feedback.

Since then I’ve ventured into an occasional high note, like the high C on the trombone today. My question is, has anybody else heard of the F/G upper limit in a church recommendation? Told the leader I was gonna try bumping the “big part” of the song up an octave today, he was all for it.

As a side note, any actual scored music for a brass ensemble I’ve played in at the church for Christmas, Easter, or patriotic music has not had any trumpet note above a G, or bass clef above an F….

I’m no pro, so any input is welcome.

I don't think he meant that limit to exist just because it is a church gig but rather to fit the musiscians who regularly do these church gigs. If the musiscian is a professional musician then you can not rely on the parts to have limits other than what can be found in books about arranging. To play above or below the recommended registers isn't that common, but can happen. If it happens there is sometimes an alternate pattern you can play if you can not play that high or low.

I think the recommendation to limit the writing to F/G is based on a lot of experience and is meant as help to the arranger. Maybe the arrangements will be used next year and then the tromboneplayer gets substituted to someone who can not play a high C. Its easier to set limits lower so all potential players can play the parts, it saves people from headache and cracked notes.

/Tom

[Matt K]

There's some really wacky contemporary Christian stuff out there. Trombone parts often fall into some weird buckets like doubling the trumpet (same octave sometimes) or doubling the bass (same octave sometimes... nothing like reading 6 ledger lines at 8AM). There is some really decent writing out there, though. But if you are playing something that isn't written particularly well, take what's written with a grain of salt.

I see no reason to limit yourself to F as long as it sounds good. However, some lines are written really thin. If the trombone part is just trumpet part with a bass clef in front of it... it might sound better to drop higher notes down an octave depending on the instrumentation and how well it's orchestrated. It's almost certainly better to play an instrument that has a part that isn't covered instead of essentially doubling another instrument that is. If in your example, the song was in the key of C and there weren't many instruments on stage... I'd say there's a 60+% that there isn't enough of the 3rd being played, and so in rehearsal I might just drop to an E on a cadence point like that and see if it hurt anyone's feelings... and if not pencil that in.

[BrassSection]

There is no orchestration, only get a chord sheet that the guitars and keyboard use. I use it simply as a starting point for my horns, then play what fits in. Not competing for anybody's part, just trying to fill voids or add some color. Depending on the song, I’ll play trumpet, trombone, euph, or French horn, so I have about every style/mood covered. Some days it’s all trumpet, some all trombone, and have used all 4 horns in 1 service. Chord sheet is an advancement from years past; Started with just a song list, then eventually a notation of what key, then finally the chord chart. Need to be up on keys, get just about everything there is, and the strange one is one week a song will be F#, two weeks later same song turns up Gb. And if a singer can’t sing in the key assigned, expect a key change before the service starts. Oh well, it keeps me on my toes!

[Matt K]

The key change of F# to Gb was probably at the vocalists request

[BrassSection]

Actually, I think it was the drummer!

[BrassSection]

I appreciate all the responses, main reason I’m here is to keep learning.

[BrassSection]

Interesting key observation from today: Notation on one song was “Original key F#”… we had today’s chord sheet that was transposed to Gb! Took the guitar players a minute to figure which fret to put their capo on. Do I ever make fun of them for using a capo for a key change…maybe. One song in D this morning, in the the Mixolydian mode. Seemingly endless ways to make the brass work with that.