Muscle stress

[graceffi]

Hi, everybody
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Did anyone have some kind of muscle stress because of caruso? I'm feeling a little pain on the lip corners and I'm very concerned about having muscle stress...

[bigpatg]

Dont worry this is normal just take it easy for a few days the corners will adapt as well as all the muscles involved will adjust in a short period of time.
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[PH]

Be sure not to ovedo the amount of Caruso you practice...especially at first. Once a day is probably plenty. See the Getting Started threads.
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[graceffi]

Thank you so much. My real concern is about feeling like a sharp pain and after that my endurance is not so well in the days after. Then I get recovered. But I don't want to have a real muscle trouble...

[graceffi]

Just in case: it usually happens on the left side, never both sides.

[rosin]

left side burns me more also wiht caruso

[graceffi]

This week I've figured out maybe we have to focus the study: if the left side burns more, maybe it's getting overloaded and we should focus the strenght on right side to get balance...

[PH]

Don't overthink on this stuff. You don't know what the exercises will do. Let them do what they do and do not analyze what is happening or what you think should be happening.

If the left side hurts a bit it might be because that side is weaker. Who knows? You don't. I don't.

Just do it! Quit analyzing.

If you experience genuine sharp pain, skip CC for a day.
_________________
Bach trumpet artist-clinician
Professor of Jazz Studies, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music
Faculty Jamey Aebersold Jazz Workshops since 1976

[mateo]

I noticed this too when I first started Caruso like two years ago- what I learned to do was to alternate days that I actually did Caruso and other long tone (calisthenic) studies. I really like the Remington studies or doing bending exercises on the days off. The reason that my chops were so sensitive to these studies was because I did an emboucher change so my muscles were not very strong and my breathing was quite frankly, weak. Make sure that you get loose after these studies if you are going to continue. On the note after the 2nds study it says to not continue the studies if your lips become swollen or stiff; do as it says. Rest and the next day do an easier routine that will get you warmed up so that you can tackle other parts of your study like technical studies, flexability, tonguing etc. Hope this helps!
Mateo

[PH]

Also, do not neglect the low F# exercise. This is the one exercise in the routine that you can not do too frequently.
_________________
Bach trumpet artist-clinician
Professor of Jazz Studies, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music
Faculty Jamey Aebersold Jazz Workshops since 1976

[ajr51]

What is the F# exercise? Where is it in the book?
Joe

[PH]

It isn't in the book, but it was the one exercise he gave everybody.

The low F# is a "recovery exercise" when your chops are feeling kind of beat up. I use it frequently between the drills in my CC routine. It is very simple.

Breath attack a low F# at a ppp dynamic and hold it as long as you can. Try to hold it for 30 seconds or longer. Absolutely as soft as you can play...so soft that you think you are going to lose the note. If the note sputters or wobbles or stops sounding keep on blowing just as if the sound is coming out beautifully until you are completely out of air. Repeat the low F# as many times as needed until the chops feel refreshed and the accumulated tension is relieved (I usually do it 3 or 4 times).
_________________
Bach trumpet artist-clinician
Professor of Jazz Studies, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music
Faculty Jamey Aebersold Jazz Workshops since 1976

[ajr51]

Thanks- good to know!
Joe

[mateo]

just another $0.02 of my philosophy- you should try to do caruso as a way to get into your playing for the day, by letting everything fall into place with these studies you are naturally developing efficient playing. Because of the physical nature of these studies you should also be aware of the fatigue that your face is experiencing. For this reason, I like to do the Caruso studies in the morning almost by themselves and then rest a few hours before my first rehearsal or gig. I usually do Caruso stuff after some buzzing and as soon as I am done I do some tone bending and pedal note studies or the low F# study PH was talking about. In short, you should not overdo these or any other studies to the point of exhaustion.

[trumpetdiva1]

I know exactly what Pat is talking about when he mentioned the low F#’s. That is what Laurie Frink prescribed to me when I studied with her. She would include the Recovery (low F#) after the interval exercise in my Caruso routine, which she specifically designed for me. As a former lead trumpet player, I would insert those low F#’s in whenever I felt like I needed it and especially after a gig or if I ever felt lip fatigue at anytime. Again, like Pat said, you can never play this exercise too many times.

Laurie Frink also designed a routine specifically for me to be played before a rehearsal or a performance. What would happen for me is that I would go through all of my Caruso routine right before a big band rehearsal where I mostly played lead and it was difficult on my lips. So, she designed a routine for me to play on heavy playing days that was similar to and like an abbreviated version of my regular Caruso routine.

Here is what she gave to me for those days:
• 6 Notes
• Clarke Technical Studies - Second Study - Circle of Fourths
• Harmonics
• Bending Pedals
• Chromatic Scale

Janell
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Jim Snidero's Jazz Conception: Autumn (Track 15), recorded around 2003-2004 - http://static4.mathcs.wilkes.edu/Gems/trumpet/01Autumn.mp3
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