cunderwood

I play in a worship band on Sunday mornings. Although practices go well (at home and at rehearsal), come Sunday morning (sometimes as early as 8:30 AM), my chops seem like they're still asleep. I do warm up for about 10-15 minutes at home but when I play, I get a lot of air, missed notees, cracking etc.

It's very frustrating!!

Any advise?

Thanks.

GoodMusic@PA

That also happens to me mostly every Sunday. It just seems that even after a good warm-up, my lips feel stiff. The funny thing is, when I'm starting to feel good, because of battling the stiffness, I am tired....

Solar Bell

Get into a practice of playing early in the morning.

Practice an hour or so before you go to work in the morning.

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rowuk

It isn't your chops, it is the rest of you. If your body is half asleep, your metabolism down, none of the normal things work. You need to get up an hour earlier than normal and DO SOMETHING to get your body going. Once YOU are awake, life is much easier!

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Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

dhbailey

I have found that making sure to eat something for breakfast but not too much also helps for early morning musical success.

As trumpet players we tend to focus on only a limited part of our bodies when problems arise, such as our lips and our breathing muscles. But our brains have to be fully functioning in order to coordinate things and deal properly with the feedback the ears provide, our entire bodies, as Rowuk so wisely points out, need to be awake and aware and fully functioning.

As trumpet players, our instrument really begins down at our feet, is long enough to reach the top of our heads and extends out in front of us past the end of the bell. It's a complete unit, not just an extra thing we hold up to our lips.

Al Innella

What works for me is to get up extra early and drink plenty of liquids , while we are asleep are bodies dehydrate ,then after doing this I then start my warm up.

jdostie

That's good advise for lots of reasons.

rowuk

Massive hydration means that I usually have a very strong urge to pee in the middle of the service........ Those times, I stick with just getting up early......

__________________
Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

Al Innella

You should get that checked out by a doctor, you might have an enlarged prostate .

dhbailey

You're not serious -- anybody who drinks a lot of water usually needs to urinate a couple to three hours later, sometimes sooner. So drinking a lot of water around 8am means I would have to pee just about in the middle of the service, same as Rowuk. And I have had a thorough physical with no enlarged prostate.

You've been watching too many medical commercials, my friend.