Best Work-Out for a Bari/Euph player

[HylianHero]

So, I was just wondering what exercises do you guys do to hold up those rascally horns?

I pretty much do pushups, curls, and just randomly hold up the horn.

[Shadow_7]

There's no substitute for the real thing. Holding the horn up is more of an endurance conditioning than a strength issue. Although initially it is a strength issue. Plus you don't learn all of the cheater methods if you never touch the horn.

[Dave_G]

it's definitely more endurance then pure strength. But I will recomend these three areas to focus on when working out.

1) Shoulders, if you don't have shoulder strength then getting to the point where you can handle it will be all that much harder.

2) Triceps, support support support.

3) Lower Back, not quite as important with the horn as the other two, but believe me when I say holding one up with a bad lower back is a pain you absolutely want to avoid.

Edited January 27, 2006 by d_grey

[Feet Guru]

Hold up your horn with perfect posture, and as soon as it slips a millimeter, rest for a minute or two and repeat. Its not as "fun" as pushups or... (did I read you right?? curls??) but it has the advantage of actually being effective.

This type of endurace can develop fairly quickly... most people can get up to several minutes within a month or so of consistent (i.e. daily or near-daily) practice. But in my experience most people--particularly young males--like to do their pushups (or bench presses, or whatever) instead, and then wonder why their horn is so heavy when camp comes around.

FG

[bssop97]

Here is what I do to the High Schoolers I teach. Lie down on your back and hold the horn for a few (playing and attention). Stand up and make it feel the same (ie... perfect posture). I had a 5'2" girl hold one of those and made it look like she should of been in the Buick line at Regiment.

[jbabymusic]

Here is what I do to the High Schoolers I teach. Lie down on your back and hold the horn for a few (playing and attention). Stand up and make it feel the same (ie... perfect posture). I had a 5'2" girl hold one of those and made it look like she should of been in the Buick line at Regiment.

Man, I really like this idea. Going to try it myself.

The only things I'd add would be to do some sit ups. It's the stomach muscles that help hold your posture erect :sshh: . Also, we've had some guys in our line who'll put extra ankle weights out toward the end of the horn. Thought being that if you can do that, you're a d######, er, um, I mean it seems lighter when you take them off.

[Shadow_7]

Or you could just put a Yamaha Silent Brass practice mute in the horn and practice that way. That like doubles the horns weight, as well as making it really bell heavy. Unfortunately they don't to my knowledge make one for marching baritone, just concert Euph, which normally fits a marching Euph.

As far as posture, I've done similar stuff but against a wall or pole. Which are plentiful in Gyms, basketball courts, and the likes. It's actually more challenging for Euph since the center of gravity ends up being in front of the balls of your feet, unless you wear size 14's. But it gives a good feel for relative feet, butt, shoulder alignment.

Granted that in practice you'll keep the straightness, but have an ever so slightly lean backwards when the horn is up. Other wise you would be very slow and late in any marching transition from foward to backwards marching of any stride. It was actually an issue I had with marching Mellophone instead of Euph last season. Making the transition from backwards to forwards while playing mello was more difficult because I didn't have the forward center of gravity. Even with my belly.

Practicing the posture thing horizontally has disadvantages. It encourages the use of mouthpiece pressure and has condensation drainage issues. Although when sleeping in a gym I'll hold up my case and horn to help crack my back.

[CoHEuphman]

We always put ankle weights on the ends of our horns a minimum of 5 lbs....And in our free time we would challenge ourselves by competeing to see who could hold the horn up the longest with the correct posture while having 3-4 pairs of shoes on the end of the horns....

Also,we did alot of sit-ups/crunches every day and lots of pull ups....The most important thing is working out the shouldes as has already been said....It's more of a how much pain can you take thing though.....Most of it's in your head....If you think you can hold it then you will but if not you prolly won't be able to hold it....

[FrankA]

i knew a baritone player that put his shoes on his horn and played and he said it helped a lot

[mgailp]

As had been said, holding it is the best practice. The weights are helpful if only because it feels so much lighter w/o the 5 lbs when they're off. Another thing, but you have to be careful to not attempt it fast, just step slow & steady - stairs. March upstairs in poped (bell to the press box) back down in carry position. You are not just carrying the horn, you are continually lifting it higher. You do have to be aware of your heart rate, though, as it can get high fast soing this.