talcito

Hi Wilmer:

This weekend I had four grueling "salsa" gigs in NYC(the bands were so loud you may have heard the gigs at your home in Brooklyn ). I made it thru these gigs without any problems.

However for the last two days I sound just terrible. I have all this "dirt" in my sound---Its as though someone put peanut butter in my leadpipe. If I had any gigs today or recordings I would be in deep trouble.

I have two questions for you. First, what is the quikest way to recover from these type of "heavy blowing" gigs and secondly how do I avoid "blowin out" my chops in the first place.

Thank you!

trickg

Great questions! I find myself in this predicament from time to time too playing in a rock and roll party band. Some of that stuff from the Disco era is ROUGH, especially when the band leader aranges the violin parts for trumpet! I had two gigs back to back this last weekend, and while I have been in worse shape after a weekend of gigging, I still took a day off to give my chops a chance to heal a bit.

I'm looking forward to reading what Wilmer has to say about it.

Jarrett

I have a big problem with this because sometimes I don't remember to alter my practice schedule to fit my gig schedule. For instance, if I have a 3 hour Earth Wind and Fire gig on friday night, I'd still practice 3 or 4 hours in the morning... Also, I always have to take days off to help heal after a particularly grueling gig. Most of the time in my case however I keep playing and playing and after a couple weeks I come close to hurting myself before I learn to take a few days off. Glad you brought this up, I look forward to a Manny or Wilmer response.
-J

talcito

Hi Jarret:

Being able to take a couple of days off or being able to "baby" your chops back into shape is a priviledge that guys who are real busy recording and playing probably do not have. Thats why I am interested in Wilmers or Mannys response--Being able to develop consistancy no matter what you are facing on a daily basis(Hey that sounds like a good book )

TrentAustin

I know from personal experience that I really only truly tire when I'm not taking care of myself physically or am being too casual with my breathing. That being stated I know how it feels to have "dead chops"... I recently just did an eleven hour recording session for a blues band. It was incredibly taxing (constant High G's and A's) ... but paid EXTREMELY well The next day I had a 5 hour "disco band" gig where I basically play as loud as I can all night.

I made sure I took my L-Lysine (an amino acid that supposedly helps in tissue health around the lips), put Arnica cream (recommended to me via Wynton as something that soothes sore muscles) on my lips, and drank a ton of water.

The next night before every phrase I thought about taking relaxed inhalations as well as letting my air do the work. It did work as my playing felt effortless, even with "dead" chops.

I experience this all the time, playing hard shows after another... but if I truly think about what really drives the trumpet (AIR and proper velocity) I can play so much easier.

Hope this helps!

Best,

Trent

PS: I should print this out and put it on my music stand every night!

Bear

Yeah, yeah, I'm just a kid but when I have really hard gig's, especially those back to back, and my chops ain't feeling too hot I just play a lot of soft, long, low notes and drink cold water (shock therapy? lol). It helps if you think of the air speed instead of the chops. I find when I focus on chops I get tired faster. When I think of proper fast air, I tend to last longer. my 2 cents.

wiseone2

I wish I could offer an elixir to instantly give you an extra octave or lots more dbs of volume, but I can't.
That Clint Eastwood line about knowing your own limitations comes into play.

I worked with "Old Man" Lamar Wright in a show band in Atlantic City. We played three shows a night and on Saturday, four shows. The fourth show started at 7 am Sunday morning. Each show was preceded by a dance set. Lamar was as strong at 7 am as he was at 10 pm earlier that evening. Oh, and Lamar was in his mid sixties. I was a teen aged kid.
I watched him like a hawk. How could he be so fresh......and so old? I was playing a Bach 1. That was mistake number one. I was playing everything too loudly,I was a very macho kid. Lamar reminded me that I had Con Edison on my side and to use my head.
Cat Anderson was working on the same gig. Cat was playing with an organ group in the front bar of the club.
When our show finished, the patrons were funneled into the room that Cat's band was playing. Lamar was playing so hot that Cat refused to start until we had left the bandstand.
Lamar showed me by example that efficiency and intelligence is the answer to all endurance questions.
I changed to a Bach 3C. I started shaping phrases. I listened to the lead, and tried to compliment his playing rather than bury it. I played smarter.

That is my answer............You MUST always think before you play.

Wilmer

trickg

Wilmer - as always, sound advice and a great post.

Lately in the rock band, I have been trying the "smarter, not harder" approach. Sometimes I get carried away and I find myself playing much more loudly than I need, and I have been trying to cut back on this. I'm miked and amplified for goodness sake! It isn't like blowing harder is going to help that much. I have also started looking at the parts a little more closely and in some cases, I modify them on the fly. In one tune in particular, the Donna Summer tune "Last Dance", a lot of the lines that I have written are violin lines in the original recording. On top of that, there is a lot of built in "brightness" in the backing tracks/sequences so there are places where I just fade out so that I can play the necessary hits. On a lot of the tunes that I play, there weren't any horn parts, but they are there in my part nonetheless.

It was being smart about what and how I was playing that led to my still having chops left over at the end of the second gig.

Great post. Thanks!

Anonymous

Wow great post! I love this line..... Thanks Wilmer!

Dan Gosling

I agree, playing smart is the key. But these are the kinds of emergency situations for which ChopSaver (www.chopsaver.com) was designed. I invite you to check it out!