Can't play when lips get wet

[AndrewS]

This issue has been haunting me for a couple of years now.
My lips depend on being dry so that the MP can hold them in place.
After playing a few lines, especially with lots of tonguing, the saliva breaks the seal between lips and MP and my lips become wet.
Once the lips are wet, I can hardly play in the staff, the tone becomes airy or lips just stop vibrating altogether.
I have to remove the trumpet from the lips, wipe them and then continue to play, which, as you can see, can get really annoying, also lips tend to lose their capacity to vibrate from being wiped again and again.

So, I can see two ways to resolve it (let me know if there is more):
1) Learn to play on wet lips (not sure where to start though yet)
2) Learn to keep lips dry, or at least increase that period of dryness.

So yeah, if you guys have any thoughts or suggestions please let me know!

[Bryant Jordan]

I don't know how effective this will be in your situation, but I know that players in the past have had rims specially made that provide extra grip and help keep the mouthpiece secure (different material or different finish other than polish plating). If that sounds like something you're interested in, I'd email Trent and Josh at Austin custom brass. They are my go to guys for any mouthpiece questions.

[Kumara999]

Andrew - due to allergies I have had to move to acrylic pieces. I use ACB’s acrylic line which are wonderful. One advantage is that they are more grippy than silver or gold plate. This may be a good option for you.

Heather.

[nieuwguyski]

I had a very rude awakening when I first started playing gigs in hot, sweaty bars and clubs. No amount of lip-wiping could keep my lips dry and "grippy" in those conditions, and I discovered I had depended on dry lips to play decently (as decently as I did in those days).

I didn't have the Internet community to ask back then, so I simply decided I had to get used to doing all my playing on wet chops -- regardless of the hit my playing took in the short term. Lots of saliva and lip-balm later, I had adapted to playing on wet chops. There was no particular method to how I adapted to a wet-chop setup, I just lubed up before every practice session and worked on my basics.
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J. Notso Nieuwguyski

[underdog]

Hi Andrew. I feel your pain. I have to play dry.. I'm 28 years into a playing career currently and I still struggle if my chops get wet like you're describing.
Acrylic pieces can help, but they haven't been a cure all for me.
Specifically, what happens to me, is that when my chops get wet, the mouthpiece actually slides subtly to a different place on my chops following the contour of my teeth. So for me, the issue is not only just being used to playing dry, but also that it moves to a spot on my chops without a "high point" that I have on my teeth.

I just try to wipe my chops quickly on a sleeve and reset as quickly as possible. I used to bother me a lot when I played at Disney when I was young, and I even used a wristband to be able to wipe it off quickly there.

I never asked Maynard about it when I was with him, but I had heard later that he played with a dry top lip and a wet lower lip. Not positive that that's accurate though.. Just know that you're not alone. Hopefully an acrylic top will work for you.
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[Dayton]

Ideally, you'd learn to be comfortable playing when your chops are wet. If you choose to do that, start with short, easy material well within your comfort zone. That could be Arban's First Studies, Clarke's Technical Studies, Goldman's Practical Studies, etc. Start in the middle register and tongue everything. Gradually increase duration and range (up/down), adding slurs in.

You don't need to get the point where you have replaced your dry embouchure; just where you are able to maintain decent sound and control when your lips are wet to play until a rest, when you can dry them off.

Good luck!

[underdog]

Dayton. Agreed, on the "ideally", but if his mouthpiece slips to a different spot on his teeth, then he's not playing on his high point. People with crooked teeth have this to deal with when playing when playing wet. To ask someone to take the mouthpiece off of their high point on their teeth is asking them to play incorrectly with the structure that they've been born with.
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[AndrewS]

I can't thank you guys enough for the awesome feedback that you gave me, I am so glad that we have this terrific community!

Great to know that I am not alone and I'll try to apply your suggestions like acrylic MP or even better learning how to play on wet lips (maybe the combination of the two will do the trick).
That's right, my teeth are also not even and on the wet lips the mp slides to a different place which aggravates the situation too.
I am just guessing, but maybe some lip buzzing might help keeping lips together so they don't just spread when wet.
I always felt jealous when I watched Arturo or James Morrison playing with faces covered in sweat and still nailing every single note

Thank you so much!

[HaveTrumpetWillTravel]

Read in the Reinhardt forum. They're really big on a wet embouchure. I found that once I tried it for a while I got used to it. I'd just keep it for a chunk of time every day.