Mike_Bonfig Posted June 28, 2004 Share Posted June 28, 2004 Saw Tower Of Power in concert on Saturday night at Treasure Island Casino near Hastings, MN. Anyhow, they were pretty good. Seems like it would be a fun gig, though you'd really need to be a "pocket player". On trumpet they had Adolfo Acosta and Mike Bogart, both former members of Maynard Fergusons band. Mike was playing lead and at first, I wasn't too sure looking at his embochure that I liked what I saw. It didn't appear that he was playing flat on his face, but rather had a little more of the pressure on his bottom lip and head tilted back. However, maybe I wasn't seeing it right, and either way, he made it work for him like I champ. When he came out on stage he was carrying a valve trombone as well. I was intrigued by this, and he actually played a pretty tasty solo on it at one point. At several other points during the show he thickened up some chords with it. The most amazing thing to me was that there were a few places where he was wailing on some high notes on the trumpet and then while still holding the trumpet in one hand, he'd put the bone up and play something, and back and forth. In High School I remember being asked to play some valve bone in an ensemble for state S&E. I did it, but it seemed to take me about 5 minutes of warming up to adjust to playing the bone, and about 20-30 minutes afterward of flapping out my lips and getting back to playing trumpet. On the same token, I've never really been able to play tuba - just too much "lip flapping". I was wondering what any of your experiences were with switching back and forth. My HS band director always seemed to be able to hop around between instruments pretty easily too, though I would rate his sound on any of the instruments "average" unless he really warmed up on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bucspyke Posted June 28, 2004 Share Posted June 28, 2004 (edited) I bounced between instruments a lot in high school. I'd go from french horn to baritone in concert band. slide trombone, mellophone, or marching baritone for parades (sometimes we'd have 3 parades in one week and i'd be on something different for each one). i've always stuck to mello on the field though. never really had much trouble adjusting my embochure when switching though, i was told i have a really versitile lip, and have always gotten compliments on my tone. now if i could just get a little better at working the valves i might actually make a decent horn player . Edited June 28, 2004 by bucspyke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donny Drum Corps Posted June 29, 2004 Share Posted June 29, 2004 Roland Garceau...formerly of the BD, Brigs, and a present Renegade soloist plays a trombone mouthpiece all day sometimes to keep his chops loose. He seems to do alright with that set up!!!!!! Donny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brico15 Posted June 29, 2004 Share Posted June 29, 2004 when I have to switch instruments I take a drink of water and that seems to reset my lips and make them lose the feeling of my lips flaping when I switch from a low brass to a high brass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knightsbari Posted June 29, 2004 Share Posted June 29, 2004 I remember my first year of band in HS for once concert I was back and forth between tuba and tenor sax ... that was really odd but I managed to do well ... and now I go back and forth between contra ( for corps ) and oboe for a concert band ... going between a brass and a double reed is really tough because its totally differecnt embrocures. as for brass its nothing for me to be able to play a pedal Eb on a tuba and then a high C on a trumpet and pack to a pedal Eb on tuba. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike_Bonfig Posted June 30, 2004 Author Share Posted June 30, 2004 Roland Garceau...formerly of the BD, Brigs, and a present Renegade soloist plays a trombone mouthpiece all day sometimes to keep his chops loose. He seems to do alright with that set up!!!!!!Donny Trombone mouthpiece in a soprano? Or just plays a low brass instrument? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldschoolVK Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 Mike has visited the showroom at Kanstul, and I had the privilege of seeing him do that close up. He's amazing. He transitions between the trumpet and valve trombone naturally, making it look easy. This is really not too different than switching from Bb to C to Eb trumpets quickly (much more difficult than it sounds) though a bit more extreme. Remember that Mike is an advanced player, and at that level it's more mental than physical. Regards, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike_Bonfig Posted June 30, 2004 Author Share Posted June 30, 2004 I guess so. Personally, I don't have problems hopping between high brass instruments, at least as far as the feeling on the chops. For me it was just that when I played on a trombone mouthpiece (or even worse a tuba) it felt like I was playing into an ice cream pail, and when I would get done, the set of my chops was no good for high brass. And this was even at a time when I considered my chops to be the best they've ever been. But then again, I was definitely nowhere near a professional level... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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