qazaq

Hello everybody...

I'm a senior in high school...I've been successful enough at playing the trumpet to make me like playing it.

But I got a little problem...and it has to do with my endurance.

Only problem is, I am pretty sure my endurance is great.

Except when I play with my high school band. An everyday occurance. You see, I have a 55 minutes class period in band, where we play less-than-challenging music.

I recently made 2nd chair in the smaller school state competitions in jazz. I practiced for 8 hours a day, for 3 days in a row, and I played a duet and an improv decently during the concert, with no endurance problems whatsoever, any day.

I practiced for 8 hours with the regional concert band, then played two concert in a row (one was concert and the other was jazz).

Never had a problem with endurance.

So WHY do I have problems for 55 minutes at school??

There are lower notes, I don't have to try every second to sound that great (no one else really does..), I have to play a little louder, but not that much, and not as much as in the Jazz bands...

A friend (a music educator at a different school: a spectacular trumpet player, directed the Army Corps band (I think)) told me that the tuning in my band was probably bad, and that playing in the better, more in-tune bands made my lips work less hard to try and match all the different pitches. This makes sense, as none of my band is very well in tune...

But if that were not the problem, what is? And how can I fix it?

I have tried to relax and let the pitch be natural, but it doesn't really help.

This problem takes away from my practicing at home, as well as at school...as my lips are shot for the rest of the day after each practice....

Sorry about the length...I just want to be clear.

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