Help with endurance/range

[iwannamarchcorps]

so i herd some thnigs about how to play hiyer from my peeps at school

r they true

1 if u have on ice befor sleping u can play hiyer in teh morning???

2 i have a frend who says he drinks alot of cofee and it maeks him play hiyer true or no?

3 my directer sayd to me that i half to work on my umbershur (dont kno if i spelled that rite lol) wat does he mean?

thx for youre help i am new lol

this is all for now but there maybe more

4 amolst forgot when we tune in band and i push in my slide i play hiyer a litel bit is tehre a horn were i can keep doing this until i am plaing super hi liek a BD soloest???

[Shadow_7]

Camphor breaks down muscle which you'll need for brass playing.

I didn't know that. Although I tend to avoid the dentist as I fear that the anesthesia used does something similar.

Vitamin E is a sun magnet, you should not put on E then spend the day in the sun. Noting that Medex has vitamin E. And DCT doesn't (as far as I can recall). There was a rare oddity called Aloe Kote(made in Texas) that I used back in the day since it was aloe based and not petrolium based. Petrolium actually dries out your lips, before it seals in the moisture. Other than that, stay out of the sun as exposure causes your skin to shrink. At least when it comes to lips. Other myths include sucking on lemons, and sucking on ice. Ice has some merit as it limits swelling and helps to restore circulation at least when used in moderation. Lemons just cause you to salvate before going out on the field with dry mouth.

As far as range, some go the resistence route, small bore horn, small piece, tight backbore. This allows you to shift the range muscles from the lips to the abs. Although I knew at least one guy in college who burst a blood vessel in his head because of too much resistence and effort in playing louder, higher, faster. Some play in equipment can help develope those weaker muscles until you gain enough strength to handle it with more suitable equipment that doesn't limit your tone, volume, low end, etc... Just my opinion based on my perceptions.

[Jeff]

There is much good advice in this thread, but none of it is as valuable as having a competent teacher giving you direct and immediate feedback. Your relative youth and level of experience would benefit from a teacher to speed up your learning curve. While practice is preached by many posters, "practicing your mistakes" is an old quote from the past which sadly is often true. Even a once a month lesson would be very beneficial. Talk to your brass staff at Citations and see if they might help you find a teacher or even give you a private lesson.

As far as range building exercises, Advanced Lip Flexibilities by Charles Colin is one of the better books on the market. It takes range up to A above High C in a progressive and logical manner.

My two favorite mouthpieces are a Curry 5C and an old Jet Tone Doc Severinsen personal model that are both based on the Bach Mount Vernon 5C. The Bach 5C is a very solid all around mouthpiece.

Good luck with your range and endurance pursuits!

Jeff

Thanks everyone for the advice. Next time I take out my trumpet, prolly Moday, I'll bring up these posts and try out a few things.. see what works, etc. I really didn't think that this many people would respond. :)

I suppose it would have been a good idea to tell a little more information.

I've been playing trumpet since 7th grade. (I'm in 10th grade now.) I've done every season of everything since then. My rookie year of drum corps was in '04, and I've done marching band, concert band, jazz band, then back to drum corps and the cycle continues to this day.

I play on a gold Bach 5C. I liked the 5C and the gold was softer on my lips than the silver one. (I don't know if theres an actual difference between the two, but to me it seems so.) My trumpet is a Kanstul Custom Class. I bought it a few years ago from the Blue Coats.

I have a good tone, and I do lip slurs well, seeing as I do them like crazy. The sight reading is all right, could be better, but I have improved a lot.

I've wanted to take private lessons, but I haven't had time between my job (which is currently non-exsistant at this moment) , school, band, and winterguard. When I get my license and when things slow down, I'm pretty sure I'm going to find a teacher to help me, probably next year.

Hope this helps for any more advice.

Edited February 5, 2007 by Jeff

[CloudHype]

I'm going to add something.

Yes practice but practice wisely. Do not force yourself to play past what your body is telling you to do. Chops burn = stop... and by stop I mean put the horn in the case. People have different opinions on this but IMO do not play pedals to put blood back in the lips in order to extend practice. This only removes the acid from your chops that causes the burn. The burn is your bodies way of telling you to stop. Doing more is damage.

Now you might think I'm making this up but I'm old and don't say this to impress. At my peek as a player (I don't play much anymore) I had an F above double C, that meens I played a F major scale 4 octaves (never ever had to play that high though)! I practiced wisely and stoped when my body said so. There was only one time in my life I didn't do this, Drum Corps. Iceing the chops is common play and every summer I lost endurance and range.

Another way to think of it is this... You are developing muscles. Body builders do the same and ANY body builder will tell you to rest more then you work out. If you don't rest, you will have no growth. You don't rest, your chops will not develop, they will be in a constant state of damage.

[dctrumpetgrlie04]

When I practice at my house, I spent a lot of time warming up. (actually thats the most I do.) Then after that I look around in my Arban's book for things I want to work on. And when my lips start to hurt, I play a few low notes then put my trumpet away.

Unfortunately though, when I'm in school (I take band as a class), I can't just decide to put my trumpet away when my lips start to hurt. Because most of the songs we play kill my lips entirely especially if there are limited rests in the song, and I can't play at all by the end.

And I know this is bad, but theres nothing I can do about it. And I trust my teacher to know what she's doing, but I feel like I am doing something wrong, or maybe not.

[Martybucs]

When I practice at my house, I spent a lot of time warming up. (actually thats the most I do.) Then after that I look around in my Arban's book for things I want to work on. And when my lips start to hurt, I play a few low notes then put my trumpet away.

Unfortunately though, when I'm in school (I take band as a class), I can't just decide to put my trumpet away when my lips start to hurt. Because most of the songs we play kill my lips entirely especially if there are limited rests in the song, and I can't play at all by the end.

And I know this is bad, but theres nothing I can do about it. And I trust my teacher to know what she's doing, but I feel like I am doing something wrong, or maybe not.

Impossible to say with that info. I would say perhaps it would be a good idea to take some trumpet lessons with this problem being the focus of the lessons. Don't just go to the local music store for lessons. Check around for a good teacher. (edit: I say not just the local music store because you may end up with someone that can start a trumpet player on their way, but actually their main instrument is clarinet or something. Not ideal for diagnosing playing problems)

If you play a lot, whatever your skill level, eventually your lips, (chops) will get a little sore. If it's painful, then something else is going on. IMO

Edited February 10, 2007 by Martybucs

[idontwan2know]

Take lessons.

Odds are good that there is an embochure issue here and that cannot be diagnosed over the internet.

Even 1 or 2 lessons with a good teacher can be of immense value.

[Einstein On The Beach]

When I practice at my house, I spent a lot of time warming up. (actually thats the most I do.) Then after that I look around in my Arban's book for things I want to work on. And when my lips start to hurt, I play a few low notes then put my trumpet away.

That's probably why you're endurance isn't very good. Practicing smart and efficiently is what builds up the muscles. That, and the Arban isn't exactly great...

[CloudHype]

When I practice at my house, I spent a lot of time warming up. (actually thats the most I do.) Then after that I look around in my Arban's book for things I want to work on. And when my lips start to hurt, I play a few low notes then put my trumpet away.

Unfortunately though, when I'm in school (I take band as a class), I can't just decide to put my trumpet away when my lips start to hurt. Because most of the songs we play kill my lips entirely especially if there are limited rests in the song, and I can't play at all by the end.

And I know this is bad, but theres nothing I can do about it. And I trust my teacher to know what she's doing, but I feel like I am doing something wrong, or maybe not.

How long of a warmup? I warmed up in about 10-15 minutes, no lip slurs, just some leadpipe buzzing and moving long tones (Clarke #2). Then I was ready to play. Everything else is exercises and music, did some slurs towards the end.

Thing you want to do is a routine, that has things from day to day that vary and to do that you MUST find a good teacher.

So I agree with Einstein in his diagonositics and the solution is finding a teacher. Take a break over the weekend if you can and I bet you'll play lights out on Monday.

[dctrumpetgrlie04]

If I lived in my perfect world I'd have about an hour to warmup, like at drumcorps. Like including breathing, etc. But by myself I probably take about 20-25 minutes. And shorter if I don't have time.. prolly 5ish would at least get my chops going.

But yeah, I am hopefully going to be getting lessons from a staff member from Citations (Chris McGann) a few times a month. Hopefully that'll work out. *crosses fingers*