- it's that magical time of year whereby I neither have to spend money on heat nor air-conditioning for my tubas to warm up quite quickly so as to play easily in tune during practice sessions...
- I did a pretty good job earning my money this morning (mostly, the huge M-W euphonium with a contrabass trombone mouthpiece...again: the *"French tuba" effect).
- My son bought some ribs, and is smoking them as I type.
- The huge old mower is - for now - running quite well (I didn't mow once, last summer...6 weeks of solid rain...XXXX lbs. mower would have gotten stuck out there and made horrible ruts, and - 2nd half of summer - too many repair deadlines...so it's GOOD that the huge mower is making though several acres of an entire summer's worth of - albeit all dried up - crazy-tall grass...as if a meadow. Just as with our nefarious rulers, I've always felt completely at the mercy of that mower's whims.
- I used my compact Holton tuba (the one I so-to-speak "built") on the tuba stuff on today's services, and was reminded of how much fun it is to play. (I tend to use that tuba when things are at close quarters, and there's a real risk of others bumping into my instrument, stepping on the bell rim, etc.)
=======================================================
playing advice:
I rarely give it (ok...I'll talk about playing issues, but try to not lecture...I'm just a blue-collar player, don't teach, and don't like to teach (other than listening to someone before an audition - etc. - and offering impressions.)
Additionally, people (online) don't particularly like advice, because it's difficult for it to be delivered other than "who does THAT guy think THEY are?"
...but - yet - this...
TOPIC:
lip injury/too much practice/too much playing/too much crazy-loud playing resulting in lack of response/double-buzzes/loss of range/etc.
In the past - when students et al would ask about these things online, some people (who do teach some students, and tuba salesmen who like to chat people up with playing tips, etc.) have typically offered "things to do" to address these sorts of problems...resulting in profuse thanking by anxious students.
Typically the contrarian, I would often post once suggesting "Lay off for a couple off weeks - particularly when no scheduled engagements - and get other stuff done (during otherwise practice time) that has needed to be done, but procrastination has occurred (term papers, cleaning/repairing things such as bedroom, car, help out Mom, etc., etc., etc...)
Over the last couple of years, I've asked a whole bunch of people (making a point to ask people who play particularly well) what they do when they encounter such problems...Nearly all of them told me that do as I always suggest: Lay off for a while...so there it is.
Over the past couple of weeks, I've been hired to play a good bit of euphonium. The parts have not been anything that I can't play, so I really haven't been (even) practicing the euphonium very much...but (today) I picked up the great big tuba again, and (yup) with (I don't mind saying it) excellent results...some minor bad habits are gone, stress is gone, playing is smoother, the sound is nice, and I'm (even) sight-reading just a bit better.
I really haven't had any problems lately, yet stuff is all (well) better...
...so (when there are problems) try (??) stepping back for a bit, rather than fretting and "working through it". I wonder if (school and pro) coaches tell their starting athletes to "walk it off" because (more than trying to help their starting athletes) those coaches want them back in (today's) game, regardless of future cost (??)
______________________________________
* This example is - pretty much - right in the (sonority) pocket:
- Even the F tuba would have sounded a bit "hooty" (though "ok")
- bass trombone (for which the part was written) wouldn't offer enough "bass" for the "I really like tuba" organist/choirmaster who hired me
- a huge euphonium (with a huge mouthpiece) does that "thing" about which @UncleBeer promotes/enjoys/demonstrates: a "tuba-like" sound, yet with some extra immediacy/punch/bass/width-breadth/etc...oh yeah, and loudness.
