trumpet520

for that past 4 days my tone sounds really crappy! me and my teacher cant figure it out. i had a really projecting clear sound before and now it just sounds fuzzy and puny. what should i try to do to get it back?
is there some kind of sound checklist?\


thanks in advance

__________________
Sam...

wilcox96

hoo boy... you sure don't give us much to go on.

Had a heavy playing schedule prior to these past 4 days? (then rest or work on light playing)

Got an illness (ie: cold/flu/?)...(get well).

Clean your horn lately? Something stuck in leadpipe/crook/etc? (clean it!!)

Clean your mpc lately? ditto...

Based on the little you said...I'd guess the last two are the culprit.

__________________
Brad Wilcox
NYTC Endorsing Artist
Stage 1 California Light w/Rose Brass Bell
Bach Strad Flugelhorn
GR Mouthpieces
http://www.newyorktrumpetcompany.com...rad-wilcox.htm

http://trumpetland.ning.com/profile/BradWilcox

rowuk

No offense, but I get the impression the kazillion posts just like this one do not get read very carefully.................................. This is almost getting to be like the flu!

If something in your playing changes drastically, barring an accident, stop whatever you are doing and get back to the basics.
Breathing: inhale deeply through the nose then immediately exhale without holding your air in. Keep the lips close to each other but do not force them shut. practice that until the transition from inhale to exhale is smooth with NO TRACE OF TENSION in your throat. Then replace exhale with play - being careful to keep that tension at bay-ABSOLUTELY NO TONGUING YET! Do this several times a day! Once this starts to work, you should have your tone back. Long tones, slurs, even tunes-NO TONGUING! If you kick in the tongue too early, you could destroy the relaxed situation. Once you are happy with your sound, keep doing the no tongue thing for a couple of days. Then slowly start adding tongued things always making sure that your sound does not suffer. After a couple of weeks, everything should be back to normal.

There are tons of reasons why we start doing unhealthy things when playing. Most of them have something to do with impatience or imprudence...............

__________________
Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

Vulgano Brother

[quote=wilcox96;297591]Clean your horn lately? Something stuck in leadpipe/crook/etc? (clean it!!)
Clean your mpc lately? ditto...
quote]

In addition to these, check your spit valve corks. Any small objects in your case that you haven't seen lately, like a pencil?

Good hunting!

__________________
www.letsbuildhope.org

trumpetera

Try resting!

__________________
Co-principal trumpet Gothenburg Opera Orchestra
Principal trumpet Stockholm Baroque orchestra

www.opera.se
www.stockholmsbarockorkester.nu

Manny Laureano

Rowuk,

Yours should be the default answer for the "Which tie should I wear today to match these shoes?" posts.

ML

wilcox96

Assuming you were referring to me...no offense taken. Your posts are always insightful and logical. However...

I read the OP's post. They stated that this anomoly mysteriously happened in the last 4 days. As a first response, do we "really" assume there is something wrong in our playing approach (air/breathing/tonguing/tension) all of a sudden? Hey...this certainly "could" be their problem...but I would guess that most (yes, most..not all) problems of this nature don't typically happen immediately unless there is trauma of some sort.

I recently spoke with a friend who complained to me of this very thing. A very fine player. He told me of basically the same symptoms as our OP. What did it turn out to be? Something stuck in the backbore of the mpc. Voila... magically back to themselves.

First place to start...clean your horn and mpc. Then... do what Rowuk says.

__________________
Brad Wilcox
NYTC Endorsing Artist
Stage 1 California Light w/Rose Brass Bell
Bach Strad Flugelhorn
GR Mouthpieces
http://www.newyorktrumpetcompany.com...rad-wilcox.htm

http://trumpetland.ning.com/profile/BradWilcox

trumpetera

This actually reminds me of when my sailboats engine stopped on open sea once. I imideately thought it had completely broken down, and paniced ( a little!)

It turned out (after beeing towed ashore) to be dirt in the carburator!! :)

__________________
Co-principal trumpet Gothenburg Opera Orchestra
Principal trumpet Stockholm Baroque orchestra

www.opera.se
www.stockholmsbarockorkester.nu

rowuk

Hi Wilcox!
I didn't actually refer to anybody in particular! Sorry if it was too "pointed"!

IF we pay attention to the basics ALWAYS and in times of TROUBLE even more, we will have less times of being in the dark!
One night of beating your chops up can cause a week of aggrevation. If you are in tune with yourself, many things become apparent. The cure too!

These posts about personal catastophes seem to come in waves (like the flu). One person posts about some problem, and many more jump on the bandwagon afterwards. Because solid advice is everywhere, I often get the impression that we have a race for the forte club and not a genuine search for help.

The questions that the helpers ask are almost always the same and I do not understand why if someone is interested in help, they do not do a minimal amount of research before posting something as "nebulous" as in this example!

As far as picking a tie, I have only one rule - don't pick the one that you wore last time that you played with that group!

__________________
Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

wilcox96

It is tough to know the intentions from these forums, sometimes. Obviously, I did not know yours...honorable as it was. I did not consider your comments targeted towards me....really, just kind of furthering the debate. Anyway, thanks for the clarification. Points well taken. Like I alluded to, yours are some of the most interesting and thoughtful posts on here. (rowuk).

(okay...to self: take tie..wrap around neck...pull vigorously...

__________________
Brad Wilcox
NYTC Endorsing Artist
Stage 1 California Light w/Rose Brass Bell
Bach Strad Flugelhorn
GR Mouthpieces
http://www.newyorktrumpetcompany.com...rad-wilcox.htm

http://trumpetland.ning.com/profile/BradWilcox