Results 1 to 6 of 6

Thread: Overplaying

  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Oklahoma City
    Posts
    263

    Overplaying

    Recently I have been playing past my usual amounts of practice (3ish hours) and have been getting to the almost 5 hour point, and stopping normally around the time when either:

    A.) my face feels to tense or pained
    B.) the upper notes stop "speaking"

    And normally when I'm done I do a nice easy "warm down" of Bb long tones decending chromatically into the pedal range. The next day I have found, it requires a longer more quality warm up to get back to the tone quality of the previous day.

    I had the random thought that this might be hurting my embusher in its development, so I have come to the question that will over practicing effect my embusher?
    Last edited by Msan1313; 01-13-2015 at 09:32 PM.

  2. If you are over-stressing your embouchure and forcing it to play when it is fatigued, then you will probably be damaging it. One teacher at my university said that he used to play so much every day that he felt like he was hurting himself. He gave a lecture about over practicing and how he takes a day off usually once a week. I would recommend you maybe not play for a day and see if your embouchure feels any better and if you can get that tone quality you aim for.
    Willson 2960TA
    Denis Wick Heritage 4AL

  3. Think of practicing in a similar manner as you would working out at the gym. After all in both cases you are dealing with sets of muscles and their limitations. Most body builders will alternate exercises from day to day and work on different parts of the body. Abs one day, shoulders and back another, legs yet on another day. In brass playing we tend to use the same muscles all the time. It would be hard to just isolate muscle groups and then do a day of abdominal exercises, or say a day on just the embouchure. The recovery process pretty much does require a day or two off the whole works.

    On the day after very long and rigorous practice it does seem like it takes forever to get past the stiffness in the chops.
    You are not alone in that department. I find that even the chest and fingers are tight. I recall playing circuses with 2 or 3 shows a day for 2 weeks straight. It's referred to as "Circus Chops" - they were stiff and sore and it seemed the only thing they would respond to were the charts in "the book."

    In my younger days, I worked for about 6 months on the Claude Gordon "Systematic Approach to Daily Practice" and was coached by a Gordon disciple. Pretty much the regime was to practice for 10 minutes and then take 10 minutes off the mouthpiece. Then at the end of that hour, take an hour off. Recovery time is strongly advocated.

    There are many other things to be practicing that do not require "chops on the MP." One is solfegio. That is learning to sing the etudes etc, with syllables and accurately on pitch. Another is breathing exercises, rhythmic drills a la "Hindemith Studies," listening to recordings of repertoire and practicing fingerings of scales and other interval patterns. I try to mix things up both to keep the drill interesting and also to provide relief for the embouchure and other muscles.

    Once a friend and very fine player suggested to me that I spend more time on the golf course and not be so "obsessed" with practicing. Quality of patient practicing with daily review and a disciplined attention to details will definitely yield results. An obsessive approach does not usually end in 'confidence' with one's self, but rather a 'worried concern' that there was not enough effort placed in practice.

    A wise approach is to practice with goals toward achieving skill sets that can me measured and chart your progress and "be confident" that you are improving and will continue to do so. Reward yourself when you do make the mark.

    But I do know that on a good day, I really do not want to put down the horn and frequently play well past muscle failure and into exhaustion. But when you are on a roll it is almost impossible to put the horn down for the day and say "That's it for now"

    Good luck. You will not ruin yourself, but it will take a little recovery. But so what.

    FWIW

    Paul
    Last edited by paulmaybery; 01-20-2015 at 06:25 PM.
    BMB F tuba 445s
    BMB CC (BAT) 865s
    Mack Euphonium 1150s
    Wessex F Cimbasso

  4. First of all, congratulations on expanding your practice time, I'm sure you will soon begin to reap the benefits.

    One thing that might help you avoid unnecessary fatigue would be to dedicate the first hour or so of your playing day to a consistent daily routine, not just a warm-up (if you don't already do so). I have a routine that doesn't just get me warm, but it also covers low range, finger technique, pronunciation, flexibilities, high range, etc. etc.

    The more you can "average out" your practice, the less fatigue you'll probably experience. For example, two hours for five days in a row is better than four days with one hour of practice with six hours of practice on the fifth day.

    I wouldn't worry too much about "strengthening the embouchure". Make sure that you're playing with your best sound and a pure airstream always, and the tiny muscles will take care of themselves.
    JACE VICKERS, DMA
    Assistant Director of Bands
    Assistant Professor of Low Brass
    East Central University

  5. #5
    Maybe I should mention that a LOT of euphonium players I hear do not use the written dynamics in music, but rather choose to play in a more "convenient" volume. I infer that their practice may be at fault, in that they may not be practicing at all different dynamics.

    So for that reason, and also for giving your chops better dynamic flexibility, I would urge you to use varying dynamics in your practice. If you're practicing scales for a while, for example, play some at ff and some at pp along with the other middle dynamics. This will give you better musical tools and actually may help your technique as well. AND it varies the muscle use in your chops, which may help you through intense practice.
    Dave Werden (ASCAP)
    Euphonium Soloist, U.S. Coast Guard Band, retired
    Adams Artist (Adams E3)
    Alliance Mouthpiece (DC3)
    YouTube: dwerden
    Facebook: davewerden
    Twitter: davewerden
    Instagram: davewerdeneuphonium

  6. Last evening I was surfing through the web looking for material on embouchure fatigue and also the dreaded subject of Focal Dystonia. The following link sheds some light on FD and encouragement to those who suffer from it or similar fatigue issues:

    http://www.jongorrie.com/focal-dysto...-back-on-track

    As I am not a "spring chicken" anymore, I find that my musical/intellectual curiosity often runs wild and way ahead of my stamina. In such cases and on those days I often can not seem to put the horn down and rest. Way too much enthusiasm. The result is that on the next day, not only are the chops exhausted, they actually behave with spasms, tremors, an often do absolutely nothing or behave erratically.

    It can be very frustrating. At first I thought this might be focal dystonia in the embouchure, which up until now is not really a curable dysfunction. Thankfully, it is not.

    The presenter, Jon Gorrie, offers a great deal of insight into this serious problem for musicians. He feels he was able to cure is own personal bout with it, and offers help to others facing similar problems.

    Several points that he makes to help with it are:
    1. Body mechanics - that being posture, good breathing habits, proper functioning embouchure. (eliminate physical stress from ones playing - spinal alignment etc)
    2. Re-association - that is going back to simple exercises etc, and playing them without effort to reacquaint the nervous system to the tasks required. In many cases the neuro pathways that have been developed over years have been damaged and need remedial work to get them back on track and functioning as they should.

    Joh has several posts on the web and youtube. They are rather informal, but I found enormously helpful.


    Jon explains FD fairly well, and the psychology required to retrain the mind and body.

    This will likely not help with Essential Tremor or Parkinson's issues which are in the advanced stages.

    One other youtube post I found to be helpful with regard to the above issue was by David Wilken.
    "Brass Embouchre: A Guide for Teachers and Players"
    Once we each identify and understand our embouchure type, we can begin to realize what we struggle with and then begin to make some adjustments.

    I found that I had a tiny malfunctioning issue, which for 50 years went undetected. Certain elements of my playing were much more difficult than they should have been. I would frustratedly over practice to smooth it out and eventually wear my chops out physically and my self out psychologically.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyxXOcHhYV4

    I was able to couple the principles in both of these presentations and come up with a remedial plan to get things back on track.

    For those of us who have these little quirks in our playing and are not "perfect" this may be very helpful.

    Sometimes we practice and practice and wonder why we do not get the results we think we should. There is usually a reason and it can be rather elusive.

    I sincerely hope this may offer some help and encouragement to others who struggle as I have.

    Paul
    Last edited by paulmaybery; 04-06-2015 at 08:37 PM.
    BMB F tuba 445s
    BMB CC (BAT) 865s
    Mack Euphonium 1150s
    Wessex F Cimbasso

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •