DCI messes up embouchre?

[JGuy1288]

I encountered a problem after marching. At the very beginning of the season, my range (on baritone) was reduced by almost an octave. When I returned home, I didn't have much trouble getting a lot of it back, but then a "cap," of sorts, appeared on the top of my range, preventing me from playing anything above a high B natural. I have been working on this problem for the last six months, and have just started to make some headway and improvement.

However, I will not stop marching. I have two years left, and I intend to march them. Now that I know what damage can be done, I'm going to be much more careful in my approach to playing a bell front baritone.

[Kamarag]

Drum corps messed up my emboucher two different seasons. But both times were because I wasn't paying attention to how I made the sound, or would just do stupid things and play in the worst possible ways to put out more sound.

So basically, drum corps didn't mess up your embouchure, you messed up your embouchure.

[Martybucs]

There are many pro's that use small mouthpieces. Go tell Roger Ingram, Bobby Shew, Allen Vizzutti that their pieces are to small. Many players with efficent, closed apps play on small equipment. I'm not one of them but to say that going to large equipment is the way to a better sound and playing on small equipment is cheating is hog wash. Bud Herseth played a 7B for many years till an injury then he went larger. I say his sound was huge.

Also the 3C seems to be the standard. Funny, the Bach 3C cup is shallower then the 5C or 7C. I would of been forced to switch because off a .005 difference in diameter despite the fact my cup is deeper, throat is larger and my backbore is huge. Besides I hate the 3C rim. At least there are good makers out there that will make your mouthpiece on a Bach blank for you and stamp a fake number on it. I know someone that did this and marched for 3 seasons on around a 7C with a different rim.

Very good points and Allen Vizzutti makes it a point of saying that the player on a small mouthpiece is not playing on a cheater. It is harder to perfect your playing on a smaller mouthpiece, either shallower, narrower, or both, while almost everyone can sound reasonably decent on a larger mouthpiece since they are easier to play.

A smaller mouthpiece can be played well and you can have good tone - it doesn't come free. It will take extra practice working on those aspects of your playing, but you will be rewarded with some extra endurance and more solid register, (not necessarily more register).

Check out this player, if you've never heard of him, I'm sure there are Youtube videos of him.Tomofei dokshizer He played a Benge trumpet and a Bach 7E mouthpiece for all his playing. You don't get much smaller than that!! Tell me if he has flawed tone or technique.

[kickhaltsforlife]

A lot depends on how you are being taught. Some corps are not taught very well how to play with a good quality sound. Especially at high volumes.. some very bad habits are taught. I do know that that is the minority of world class corps though.

I played euphonium this past summer, didn't play anything above the staff, and played on a mouthpiece a little larger than my 51D. I came back and played on a 12C. I played lead in marching band, on a POS intermediate level horn. I then switch back and forth constantly from 12c to 51D until the end of the marching season. I was not effected at all. Actually right after the summer my range was so huge I didn't know what to do with it. I could hit the triple Bb (no practical use at all) and I could hit the F pedal with my trigger. And my sound overall was extremely improved.

From mello to horn. I have no clue.. i would say bring your horn piece with you on tour and buzz everyday or most days with the correct embouchure. It's not a big deal for me cause the embouchure is exactly the same... which i'm fighting with my prof right now about it... he says it's too high... i agree it's higher than a normal placement (my mouthpiece basically touches my nose) but it's not causing any issues... and he agrees... he jsut doesn't like the look of it, and has never seen it before, well he has seen it, but it doesn't work.. so he is just confused.. anyway i'm just rambling and thats besides the point.

[DrinkinOuttaCups]

Just wanted to pop in here again. I mentioned in my earlier post that while I came back a slightly stronger player on horn, I was lacking in the endurance department. Well, I would just now like to say that both my horn and mellophone chops are now the strongest they've ever been. I've been applying a lot of what I learned from drum corps (breathing, using air instead of pressure to hit high notes, proper warm-ups and warm-downs), and it's been helping in every single way. Like I said before, I did bring my horn mouthpiece with me on tour last summer, but I didn't buzz on it very often. This next summer, I'm debating between just doing that again and buzzing once a day, or just bringing my entire horn if I have the space for it.

[It's Godzilla!]

So basically, drum corps didn't mess up your embouchure, you messed up your embouchure.

I'd say that's accurate.

But the moral of the story is that the environment of drum corps' always-play-louder philosophy is that often times people make sacrifices to their technique to achieve more power. The majority of the people in this thread seem to have more insight and instruction than the average kid that picks up a horn a joins a corp (assuming we're not talking about a corps that has recently won or been close to winning a title), and it's probable I'm not the only one that's been through this.

[G-horns]

So, it appears that the consensus is that if you know how to play properly before doing a drum corps tour, you'll not have much problem after the tour.

Proper basic training wins again.

[Martybucs]

I actually saw a recent video of a top corps' hornline in a semi circle playing softly, then blasting, then softly, then blasting...etc.

I know, DCI hornlines don't blast - they play quadruple f, nah, they were blasting. If you were ever going to injure your chops, outside of some outside trauma, this could do it.

The temptation to push beyond what you can comfortably do, no matter the endeavor, always carries the risk of injury and sometimes career ending injury.

I would caution any youngster to determine just how loud they can go without causing excessive strain to your chops.

These exercises have been around for decades. We did them in Bucs in the 70s. I can play plenty loud enough for drum corps, but I always laid out of that nonsense.

[MiniSopGuy]

At least there are good makers out there that will make your mouthpiece on a Bach blank for you and stamp a fake number on it. I know someone that did this and marched for 3 seasons on around a 7C with a different rim.

Classic!

Edited January 22, 2009 by MiniSopGuy

[kickhaltsforlife]

pretty much you have to make sure you have great people in charge of the brass section at your corps. If i didn't have great people at my corps, i would not be there right now, because I care a lot about my chops. Heck we warmed down after a parade as a section. I didn't see a single other corps warm down.