Maurice André
M. A.: In this business, which is physically and psychologically so difficult to master, you have to stay healthy, sleep well and avoid too much alcohol, etc. Personally I have two important places of refuge which help me to stay on an even keel: my family and my manual work (wood-carving¹ and DIY). This enables me to get down to my instrumental work with all the seriousness and concentration necessary.
I easily practise up to five hours a day, especially coming up to a programme like the Grand Echiquier. I reckon I ought to be able to play my whole programme three or four times a day to be absolutely sure of it in performance. Sometimes, knowing how hot it can be on the concert platform or in the studio, I practise in my sauna with the temperature at 35°C [Ed: 95°F!].
Maurice André’s daily warm-up
Morning (approx. 1 hr.)
(The older you get, the longer it takes)
- I waken up the muscles and the lips with buzzing exercises and with the mouthpiece alone, taking care to use no pressure on the lips (I don’t worry about the sound at all!).
- I move on to the instrument with scale and arpeggio exercises, still very lightly, without pressing and still without worrying about the sound.
- I start chord arpeggios over again, but this time looking for good sound. I insist on flexibility, working as slowly as possible. Next I go on to wider and wider intervals (fourths, fifths, single, double and triple octaves), still very slow and pressing as little as possible.
- I do no. 3) again staccato.
When that’s done, I can go on (for however long it takes) to my concert programme. I also practise changing instruments and mouthpieces.
Every night, before going to bed, I conscientiously massage my lip muscles with butter, which is rich in vitamin E.
For me the main things in trumpet playing are looking for the right sound and a precise attack.
Maurice André’s mouthpiece has been modified (2 mm wider where it rests on the upper lip)
Special changes
In the course of his career Maurice André has changed two basic things about his embouchure:
1) The mouthpiece
As most of the pressure is on his upper lip, he has widened the upper part of his mouthpiece rim by 2 mm.
2) Progressive splaying of the incisors
As the years have passed, the splaying of the central incisors has increased to the point where it has caused problems. He therefore approached a dentist (a highly qualified one, no doubt) to have him plug completely, from in front and behind, the spaces between the two middle upper incisors and their neighbour to the left, with a special ceramic compound. “It’s not beautiful, but it works like magic. My sound production has considerably improved since”, he says with a mischievous smile.
How many people hear Maurice André in a year?
Maurice André gives about a hundred concerts a year to audiences averaging 2,000 people — about 200,000 people a year.
The first Grand Echiquier programme was watched by more than 15 million viewers and had a spectacular effect on sales of his records and on audience figures at his concerts.
It is a remarkable indication of the esteem not only for him but also for the trumpet and for brass instruments in general.