spcbrass Posted March 5, 2004 Share Posted March 5, 2004 having enough physical strength for the horn will help IMMENSELY.your entire upper body strength is paramount to how well you will do...but if you wanted to focus on only a couple of muscle groups, go to your gym and focus on triceps, biceps, and shoulders. Big Time!!!! Triceps and Shoulders are what primarily keep your horn in playing position. Biceps are obvioulsy for holding the beast in carry. Once the weight of the horn is no longer a factor, you're mind is free to focus on your marching and playing instead of thinking about how much your body hurts to hold the stupid thing. Good Luck! Don't discount ab workouts and back workouts either. After a coupl emonths on tour your back gets a bit lopsided. You contra side will become very strong while the other side satys fairly normal. What happens is your back compensates for this and put extra pressure on you spine from the left side. This can lead to pinched nerves, and even more serious back problems down the road. The kay to staying away from those problems is good posture. The key to good posture is a strong mid section and back, as well as a strong upper body. You don't have to go hit a gym to get the muscles in shape. Doing crunches with proper form will cover most of it. There are a couple other excercises that help for your middle and lower back also. You can find a lot of that stuff in a book about working out your abs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hman178 Posted March 5, 2004 Share Posted March 5, 2004 Im not discounting ab/back workouts. Just mentioning that even if you have a strong back and stomach, it wont do you much good if you can barely hold the horn with your arms. Its all good, man. I march The Line also! B) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swtrojan Posted March 5, 2004 Author Share Posted March 5, 2004 (edited) Well I guessed i lucked out the contra I play for the Canos is a convertable concert tuba so its problay not as heavy lucky for me i play almost the same tuba at school,so they weigh the same the only difference is mines gold and has four valves, but its not convertable. as you can see in the picture<<< its totaly different! But Thanx for all the advice i will defently use it! Edited March 5, 2004 by swtrojan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captainwelch Posted March 8, 2004 Share Posted March 8, 2004 at least you're playing a smaller yamaha horn. try a 5/4 G Contra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MelloHorn13 Posted March 8, 2004 Share Posted March 8, 2004 AIR.... and I agree.... Bb horns are features compared to G horns.... esp those old chrome plater contras that been converted from piston to three valve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spcbrass Posted March 8, 2004 Share Posted March 8, 2004 Im not discounting ab/back workouts. Just mentioning that even if you have a strong back and stomach, it wont do you much good if you can barely hold the horn with your arms.Its all good, man. I march The Line also! B) Sall good man! I guess I preach the importance of a strong mid section and back because I have seen so many injuries that could have been prevented. Rediculous stuff like pinched nerves and everything else, I even went through it myself for a week on tour and that stuff is no fun. The hardest part for us (The Line) is that we support the entire weight of the horn with our left arm. It nearly killed me my first year out, but you get used to it after a while. My biggest problem was compensating by pushing my hips to either the left or the right. Once I got stronger in my mid section that no longer became an issue. In reality there are a lot more parts of the system now that I think about it. Including your Hamstrings and Quads. Those are two very important muscles as well that will keep you from hurting your back. They brought in a physical therapist for a day in 99 and worked with the contra line because of so many people having back problems. We found that by really stretching the Hamstrings and Quads that it took a lot more pressure off the back and that really helped us out in the long run. Still though you have the occasional heavy horn day, where it feels like the horn weighs 14,000 pounds! BTW - You guys still singing to all the colorguard girls on retreat? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
l2elic Posted March 10, 2004 Share Posted March 10, 2004 this is my first year on contra and im having trouble playing up in the higher register. any suggestions on embeschure positions and what not? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBcontra Posted March 10, 2004 Share Posted March 10, 2004 this is my first year on contra and im having trouble playing up in the higher register. any suggestions on embeschure positions and what not? Put more of your lip into the mouth peice. try it. I think the most important thing when hold a Contra is to keep your back stright. don't need an "s" for a spince. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BossHogg Posted March 10, 2004 Share Posted March 10, 2004 this is my first year on contra and im having trouble playing up in the higher register. any suggestions on embeschure positions and what not? Here's a couple of quick suggestions: Use more air to support the pitch and do lots of lip slurs....don't play louder as you ascend, just use more air. As far embouchure...just keep your corners firm (so there is absolutely no air leakage) and make sure the cup of the mouthpiece is centered on your mouth/lips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
contrasteve2001 Posted March 10, 2004 Share Posted March 10, 2004 this is my first year on contra and im having trouble playing up in the higher register. any suggestions on embeschure positions and what not? look for a mouthpiece with a shallower cup ,24 aw or something like that ...what horn are you playing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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