UPDATE 1: My friend and first trumpet teacher, Roy Roman recently located the master of a recording with his big band and Roy Stevens singing, “You’ve Changed”. Below are Roman’s remembrance of the session:
This particular track can be considered a national treasure since it had been lost for years. And recently to my delight, I discovered the raw, unmixed track. In spite of the lack of sonic quality, to have Roy Stevens’ voice and horn on tape. . . frozen in time. . . is a piece of history. . . and to me, a treasure. Back in November 1979 I had been recording all week and had a day off, so I went to Roy Stevens for my weekly lesson. Somehow we got talking about the sessions I was recording. I casually said how great it would be to have him on the big band session the next day. Roy said he would love to do it. So, we picked a song, You’ve Changed, and a key and that night, thrilled and excited, I wrote a chart for the band to record. The next morning I ran through the arrangement a few times with the band and Roy showed up to the studio, he whipped out his horn and said, “Let’s go.” As a testament to his greatness, he ran it down in one take, just flawlessly. Later he was so gracious to all the players. Just a class act. HE WAS MY MENTOR, MY TEACHER, AND MY SURROGATE DAD. EVERY DAY HE IS A PART OF MY VERY BEING. Roy Roman, Aug 22, 2012
Roy Stevens You Changed
“You’ve Changed” Roy Stevens with the Roy Roman Big Band
UPDATE 2: Roy Roman recently recorded with London Philharmonic Symphony two moving pieces: “As A Deer” and “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” Below are two rough masters showing the expansive range from the Stevens-Costello embouchure technique , Oct 7, 2013
Roy-Roman-As-A-Deer
“As A Deer” Roy Roman with the London Philharmonic Orchestra
Great Is Thy Faithfulness
“Great Is Thy Faithfulness” Roy Roman with the London Philharmonic Orchestra
Roy Stevens Audio Tapes
Roy Stevens recorded a six tape audio series of Embouchure Self-Analysis. On Tapes 1 through 4, Roy is just reading from his book so I’m not including those audio tapes here. Tapes 5 and 6 take place on two different days. Roy intentionally doesn’t warm up and plays his first notes for the day at the beginning of each tape. He proceeds to explain and demonstrate the correct playing formation. Most difficult is when Roy plays things incorrectly and analyzes what is wrong and how to correct it. Roy’s analytical and scientific mind is apparent here as he discusses the correct muscle physiology in conjunction with the air column. I have edited tapes 5 and 6 and provided some descriptions with page references to Roy’s book, Embouchure Self-Analysis, 2nd edition published by Amazon’s publishing company, Create Space, Embouchure Self-Analysis book, 2nd ed
Roy explaining the proper embouchure settiing. Discusses the pencil exercise and playing statics on the palm, pp 39 – 40. Refer to Roy Roman’s demonstration at the Video menu.
Roy changing the volume with embouchure aperture and air compression (muscular force). Playing full middle and low tones, using the same embouchure setting for the double high C
Roy discusses use of mouthpiece pressure relative to the air column with the correct embouchure setting. Here Roy clarifies the biggest misnomer of the Stevens-Costello system and demonstrates that it is clearly not a non-pressure system.
Roy discusses analysis of various embouchure set-up scenarios. Incorrect tone production and weight distribution with correction of jaw position and weight are discussed
Roy plays a series of tones on the palm position, including octaves. He discusses the mouthpiece weight in conjunction with the muscular contraction and air pressure in giving you the note, p 50
Roy plays the harmonic series arpeggios with false fingerings. He intentionally plays incorrectly, analyzes the mistakes and makes the correction and adjustments. Roy references the #9 muscle which you can view the chart on the Writings page You’ll also notice Roy is warmed up now and his both his sound and range is opening up
Roy discusses the position for tonguing along with the legato tonguing technique
Next day for the next audio tape, Roy plays the first notes of the day beginning with a series of climbs on the palm. He proceeds to play correctly and incorrectly with analysis of the factors and causes
Roy demonstrates the glissandos in the fixed teeth aperture position ascending and descending with air column and relative mouthpiece weight, pp 51 – 54. On the incorrect glissandos, Roy explains the reasons
Roy discusses the various muscles involved in the playing formation pp 5 – 8, referencing the facial muscle chart on p 7. He proceeds with playing scales with false fingerings using only the air and embouchure setting
Roy demonstrates dynamics with moderate to loud tones in relation to the embouchure setting
Roy demonstrates the tongue stop concept and the playing of octaves by doubling the force into a fixed teeth aperture position. He analyzes the faulty octaves and their causes, p 50
Roy plays a climb with a receding jaw position and analyzes these condition in relation to sound and range, pp 19 – 21
Roy plays a series of arpeggios with correct position and analysis as a warm up process
Roy plays series of arpeggios with raised and lower tongue position showing the difference in the sound, pp 15 – 17. He also demonstrates tonguing (check audio)
Roy plays climbs and analyzes bad notes and tones. He discusses the causes and the corrections to make. He references the facial muscles to use and not to use, pp 5 – 8. Roy discusses the process of establishing correct setting through experimentation and self-analysis
Roy discusses and demonstrates the ‘k’ tonguing and doubling tonguing. Explains how to practice tonguing without the instrument. He explains how the ‘k’ tonguing improves the single tonguing
Roy discusses low tones. Explains how to play low C to the relative C# and D with correct intonation and its relationship to the proper playing formation.