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CJceltics33
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Joined: 24 Aug 2017
Posts: 475
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 Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2017 4:22 pm Post subject: Wetting your mouthpiece/Lips |
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Yeah...weird question. So I played a bunch today and noticed my lips were starting to get chapped. I often have very dry lips, so it has become a habit to lick my mouthpiece, then lick my lips each time I touch the horn to my face. I was wondering how you guys went about it. Do you lick your mouthpiece and lips before you play? Is it unnecessary if you don't have dry lips? How do you keep your lips from getting chapped? Any response from stories, what you do personally, to advice is great. Thanks  |
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Lionel
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Joined: 25 Jul 2016
Posts: 783
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| Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2017 2:58 am Post subject: Re: Wetting your mouthpiece/Lips |
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| CJceltics33 wrote: | | Yeah...weird question. So I played a bunch today and noticed my lips were starting to get chapped. I often have very dry lips, so it has become a habit to lick my mouthpiece, then lick my lips each time I touch the horn to my face. I was wondering how you guys went about it. Do you lick your mouthpiece and lips before you play? Is it unnecessary if you don't have dry lips? How do you keep your lips from getting chapped? Any response from stories, what you do personally, to advice is great. Thanks |
Most trumpet players wet their lips. Yet the decision is personal. I had played for almost ten years before discovering that some trumpet players blow the horn wet. In fact some outstanding jazz players like Louis Armstrong and Maynard Ferguson.
But again its a personal matter. Some trumpet players can not play dry. Others like myself can kinda play dry but its not as easy and offers me no benefit.
Conversely some trumpet players, perhaps just fortunate few get a huge advantage in upper register performance by setting and playing dry. Still others learn high notes dry but as they get the hang of it switch to a wet setting. This was true for Roy Roman. An amazing player.
A dry lip setting can be difficult to maintain. Satchmo always carried the white hankerchief in order to wet his chops. Similarly we can often observe Maynard drying his chops on his sleeve in concert. Most noticeably in his performance of "La Pagiacci" at thle Knotts Berry Farm concert circa 1982 or so.
Another fine fine upper register trumpet player is Mark Zauss. Whom we can observe drying his chops out on his uniform while performing with "Future Corps" at Disneyworld.
Ive spent much time in analysis of dry lip players. And while my reasoning for why they get such an amazing advantage in the upper register may not be the best explanation it has been useful for me. As by understanding why dry lips work so well in the upper register for some players it has helped me design a way for a wet lip player like myself to rig my chops and get a similar advantage as the dry setters.
It took me a couple years but by learning to exercise my facial muscles and developing them to the extreme I have now gained about as much range and endurance/power as some of the good dry lip players. I have largely mitigated the common range deficiency found in lots of wet setting trumpet players.
Dry lip players are well known for getting severe chop injuries due to the abrasiveness of the set. Especially those with a twist and a windup prior to playing.
Both wet and dry lips get chapped. My "solution" to chapped lips back in the day was to blow four sets on stage five nights/week. Plys daily rehearsals. With the kind of chops sych a professional eventually develops?
You can kiss a chunk of dry ice and not get hurt. I know! Was back during some of those brutal New England winters in the mid 1970's. I had been on the road two years. 45 weeks/year, four sets/night.
So during one really cold COLD snap in New Hampshire the bass and guitar players came down with badly chapped lips. Lacking money for chapstick they reasoned that they could borrow mine. We were always near broke back in those days. To their surprise I didnt own any chapstick. Didnt need it. Two years of constant trumpet playing had turned my chops to steel. Used to brag that I could "kiss a car bumper at 20° below zero and not lose my lip. The guys didnt believe me until one REALLY COLD COLD December morning in Davenport Iowa. The thermometer showed nearly minus 30°F.
And I showed them! I bent over and touched my chops to the old Ford bumper! At 30° below!!! Nothing happened. As I had a plethora of calloused lip flesh from years of constant playing.
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Don Herman rev2
'Chicago School' Forum Moderator
Joined: 03 May 2005
Posts: 8951
Location: Monument, CO
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| Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2017 7:13 am Post subject: |
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I use Chapstick in the blue stick (with sunscreen and Aloe Vera). Apply then wipe off with a finger so only a very thin layer remains. Too much and it's hard to play, too little and no protection. I have been doing it for ages so don't even think about it any more. And other folk have their own favorite lip balm, natch. I used Neutrogena for a while but it is harder to find and more expensive, ChopStick is great but pricey, Carmex dries my lips out, Burts Beeswax seems too thick, etc. I've been stuck on Chapstick Blue for many years now, hope they don't drop it from the line!
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Ed Hernandez
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Joined: 02 Dec 2010
Posts: 335
Location: Central Texas
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| Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2017 12:35 pm Post subject: |
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Must admit... I'm addicted to Chapstick. Even keep an extra one in my bag just in case. 
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