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Brad361
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 07, 2019 6:36 am    Post subject: Well duh! Reply with quote

You would think that after fifty plus years playing that I would have figured this out by now, but......🙄

A few weeks ago during a gig I experienced a fairly extreme swelling of my bottom lip, much more than what can normally happen during playing hard, so bad it made the rest of the gig really difficult to finish. A few days of rest and everything seemed fine, but I didn’t have another full gig with the same band until last night. So I started out very cautiously regarding volume, trying to avoid a recurrence of the problem. What happened? I ended up playing better than usual, range and volume were fine, and I didn’t feel at all beaten up at the end of the gig. I have a similar gig tonight, and instead of feeling tired, I feel fresh.

I’m posting this not just to talk about myself, but as a possible reminder for anyone (like ME!) who might be experiencing high levels of fatigue during and after playing. Pacing yourself, remembering that upper register notes will tend to project better in part because of their higher frequency, proper breath support, making good use of a mike (when applicable) and playing SMARTER yields better results.

Again, all common sense stuff here, but sometimes we (me anyway) need to be reminded of what should be obvious.

Brad
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Turkle
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 07, 2019 7:42 am    Post subject: Re: Well duh! Reply with quote

Amen.

It's long been my opinion that the vast majority of performance problems could be solved by backing off on volume. Make 75% your new 100% and watch your accuracy, intonation, endurance, and the rest magically improve.
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Last edited by Turkle on Sat Sep 07, 2019 7:57 am; edited 1 time in total
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Pete
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 07, 2019 7:48 am    Post subject: Re: Well duh! Reply with quote

Turkle wrote:
Brad361 wrote:
You would think that after fifty plus years playing that I would have figured this out by now, but......🙄

A few weeks ago during a gig I experienced a fairly extreme swelling of my bottom lip, much more than what can normally happen during playing hard, so bad it made the rest of the gig really difficult to finish. A few days of rest and everything seemed fine, but I didn’t have another full gig with the same band until last night. So I started out very cautiously regarding volume, trying to avoid a recurrence of the problem. What happened? I ended up playing better than usual, range and volume were fine, and I didn’t feel at all beaten up at the end of the gig. I have a similar gig tonight, and instead of feeling tired, I feel fresh.

I’m posting this not just to talk about myself, but as a possible reminder for anyone (like ME!) who might be experiencing high levels of fatigue during and after playing. Pacing yourself, remembering that upper register notes will tend to project better in part because of their higher frequency, proper breath support, making good use of a mike (when applicable) and playing SMARTER yields better results.

Again, all common sense stuff here, but sometimes we (me anyway) need to be reminded of what should be obvious.

Brad


Amen.

It's long been my opinion that the vast majority of performance problems could be solved by backing off on volume. Make 75% your new 100% and watch your accuracy, intonation, endurance, and the rest magically improve.


Oh,yes! Over-blowing is a killer.

Pete
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 07, 2019 12:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Tpt_Guy
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 07, 2019 1:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Alex Brain wrote:
Hi,

Good ideas.

My opinion is that the solution is to learn how to play loudly but efficiently (ie. without overblowing); so you're able to play at 95-100% with a degree of comfort and control.

Playing at 75% of the dynamic all the time is probably not going to be acceptable in a lot of playing situations, especially if you're sat alongside or in a powerful section.

I have been incredibly privileged to learn from and sit alongside some extraordinary players, and I would say fairly confidently that none of them play within 75%.

Equally, everyone is entitled to an opinion and if something works for you and does the job well then no one can criticise it.

Thanks


I don't think Turkle meant to only play 75% of the written dynamic. I understood it as 75% of what would be your full effort.

If you achieve a high capability of playing very loudly without overblowing, perhaps playing fortissimo at a gig will be 75% of your capability. Someone trying to play blastissimo is NOT playing efficiently. Someone playing at 75% but with great efficiency producing a resonant tone can carry over inefficient players at practically any dynamic.

Limits should be pushed in the practice room, not on gigs.
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Brad361
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Joined: 16 Dec 2007
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 07, 2019 1:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Tpt_Guy wrote:
Alex Brain wrote:
Hi,

Good ideas.

My opinion is that the solution is to learn how to play loudly but efficiently (ie. without overblowing); so you're able to play at 95-100% with a degree of comfort and control.

Playing at 75% of the dynamic all the time is probably not going to be acceptable in a lot of playing situations, especially if you're sat alongside or in a powerful section.

I have been incredibly privileged to learn from and sit alongside some extraordinary players, and I would say fairly confidently that none of them play within 75%.

Equally, everyone is entitled to an opinion and if something works for you and does the job well then no one can criticise it.

Thanks


I don't think Turkle meant to only play 75% of the written dynamic. I understood it as 75% of what would be your full effort.

If you achieve a high capability of playing very loudly without overblowing, perhaps playing fortissimo at a gig will be 75% of your capability. Someone trying to play blastissimo is NOT playing efficiently. Someone playing at 75% but with great efficiency producing a resonant tone can carry over inefficient players at practically any dynamic.

Limits should be pushed in the practice room, not on gigs.


I think the above is correct, or at least it’s what I think I was closer to doing last night. To be clear, I hope that I’ve never played “blastissimo”, but I think I had fallen into the trap of not pacing myself. At any rate, last night I believe my balance was fine out front (confirmed by someone who I trust who was there), I’m going to try to repeat this tonight. And today is the first time in a long time that the Saturday of a Friday-Saturday gig schedule feels pretty decent.

Brad
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 07, 2019 11:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Brad361
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 08, 2019 7:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Maybe we are getting into semantics or personal definitions of terms, but I have found, this weekend, that I was simply overblowing at times in the past. Certainly not what most would consider “blasting”, which to me is not really playing, it’s what a kid might do to annoy the family dog.

For me, maybe the terms “pacing myself “ are more accurate, but by doing that, I played two gigs in the last two days with better control and intonation, my parts definitely were balanced and were not buried in the rest of the ensemble, (which can easily happen when playing with an amplified band), upper register was solid and my chops feel better this morning than most times after two back to back gigs. BTW, this particular group is a 13 piece funk/r&b/rock band, so I’m not talking about a brass quintet or other “legit” ensemble where volume levels would probably be a bit more moderate.

Whatever we call all of this, what I did this weekend worked MUCH better overall for me.

Brad
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"I always try, but not always, because the horn is merciless, unpredictable and traitorous." - Arturo Sandoval
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