Excellent endurance: Earned or Learned?

[the chief]

When you think of having enough endurance to get you through any type of playing situation for any amount of time, do you think that it's:

A. Earned, where you excersice your body and chops like a boxer builds his ability to train fast-paced for 8 hours a day....

or,

B. Learned, where once you learn this 'technique', you'll be able to play hard, loud, and high for as long as you desire....like a superb archer would hit the bullseye every single time.

[fuzzyjon79]

I think it may be a little bit of both... at least for me... for example.. I know what to do to pace myself through a set... (learned) such as using air, not chops, not over blowing, resting every opportunity I get... but on the flip side.. I have done things to strengthen and condition my chops such as Caruso studies, lip slurs, Stamp Exercises, etc, etc... so I think for me.. it is a little of both. I think even if you work your chops out and train them you can still blow yourself out mid way through a gig if you're "hot doggin'" everything. (Unless you're Wayne Bergeron... then you can do pretty much anything and still sound great)
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J. Fowler
"It takes a big ole' sack of flour, to make a big ole' pan of biscuits!"

[robert_white]

I think it can be learned. Natural chops are certainly a blessing, but there are a lot of great players out there who confess to times in their career when they couldn't play "long blows" without folding.

[trumpetmike]

For me, stamina is mainly something that one acquires over time.

There are certainly those people who find it easier to acquire than others - I was one of these when I was younger. It just seemed to come naturally to me. I was playing in loads of groups and found that my chops didn't really tend to suffer. Due to the number of groups I was playing with, I just about made certain of playing every day - this could be a reason why it worked for me?

In my teaching I so sometimes see those students who have few problems with endurance, but they tend to be the ones who are practising regularly and playing in lots of groups. They play a lot more than the ones whose instruments stay in their cases. Could it possibly be that they are able to play more, because they play more?

There are those who play in a large number of groups (and who practice diligently) who have problems with endurance, so it isn't purely that the ones with endurance are playing a lot. I think there is a bit of natural endurance involved, but if it was purely a natural thing I would find myself teaching absolute beginners who are able to keep going for long periods of time - hasn't happened yet. By the end of their lessons (usually half hour for beginners), most beginners are starting to sound tired.

When teaching those who do find endurance a problem I use a lot of long note exercises, flexibility, breathing exercises and scales, alongside everything that trumpeters normally play (tunes and studies etc). These exercises seem to help a great deal.

[_dcstep]

Both; however, the more you "know" the longer you can play.
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[Billy B]

I find my endurance is directly related to my ability to concentrate.

[Pat]

And then, there are the small, but very important, suggestions like Stamp's saying that you must learn to alleviate mouthpiece pressure when you re-breathe and be careful not to reapply pressure until the lips are back in thier puckered position. Poper indicates Stamp thought this was critical for good endurance. Bilger and Baldwin have expressed similar thoughts.

[robert_white]

That concept is certainly valid, Pat. However, my own biggest increases in endurance came when I learned to stop thinking about my chops and start singing through the horn. Like Billy B says, if my head is on straight, everything goes just fine. It wasn't always this way, I can tell you!

Bob

[Young Man with a Horn]

Here is an answer to an endurance question from Simon Lenton, trumpet player with Fine Arts Brass Ensemble, one of the best quintets in the UK:

http://www.fineartsbrass.co.uk/cgi-bin/fabebbshow.cgi?n=8

Simple but effective.