Thank you Josh. Exactly what I needed today. I searched "Tired Trumpet Lips" and your video appeared. I am a strong believer in it being all about the air, and how your chops feel does not really matter. I have been practicing a lot for a tough gig coming up. Today I could hardly play. I got away from the basics, and was panicked. I started working my chops harder than usual. I even started the mouthpiece changing game (stupid!). I'll be at it again tomorrow with a gentle warm-up, and only worrying if my air flow is on or off.
Great advice Josh. I’ve found something that works for me if I’m feeling a bit beat up is doing the Spider routine expanding up and down from middle C but doing this with breath attacks and as long tones so you are focusing on maintaining steady air and keeping the volume down. It’s about 20-30 minutes if you take it slow and sometimes I can’t complete the whole set but I find it really helps me on bad days. Oh and yes Robinsons is great too!
Thanks! That's a great tip - I do a similar exercise sometimes with Clark #2 working outwards ... very quiet and with a cup mute. Slurred and then articulated. The mute helps with a little more resistance helping you dial in the articulation while super soft. I learned that from Roy Poper when I was at Oberlin.
Josh your episodes are great and I am not even a trumpeter or a musician! I enjoy watching your content because they are so interesting! I love cocktails and jazz music, so I think there is a connection. Keep up what you are doing, because you are doing it great!
I often rely too much on how my embouchure feels and it makes me less confident sometimes. Focusing on the air is definitely what we should all be doing since it's what we have the most control over.
3 years into playing every Friday and Saturday now (Thank goodness). I lost my air attack and was less meditative 2 months ago. Cold sores, over compensation, sore muscles, damaged skin and reduced range by the end of gig. I was gassed. Thank-you for the tips. I have added Robinson's, increased my water intake and getting back to being conscious of my air flow to do the work, not my lips. Looking forward to gettng back into shape! Love your vids @joshrzepka
I had the experience last year of having the opportunity to play a solo in our Jazz band but my chops were so tired from playing all week. I was disappointed with the result. I will try and use your suggestions in future.
Let me know if they help! That sounds like you also could dial in your pacing ... don't over work your chops prior to the the performance. Generally speaking, if you dial things back about 10% in rehearsal, it won't always make much difference on the other end of the bell, but it will make a big difference with your chops throughout the rehearsal week. Just another thing to think about.
EXCELLENT points!!! Another point of support is that concentrating on breath attacks and air really helps intonation. I play French Horn and was finding certain notes on the Bb side very flat and blamed the horn. :) until I zoned in on air and realized, sorry horn, my fault, carry on.
Thanks, Carl! Yes, focusing on the air and breath attacks definitely helps with intonation, and sound overall. It's sooo easy to be a little complacent with things we know ... and then we look to blame something else because we just assume we're doing what we think we're doing. But that little extra focus to stay on top of things ... that's where the real progress comes from.
@@JoshRzepkaMusic Yes yes for sure!! Excellent video for brass players btw. What really helps us brass players by using air properly is we have enhanced stamina.
@@JoshRzepkaMusic BTW, this is a very personal thing depending on one's mechanics but what's your stance on jutting or maintaining the jaw forward while ascending?
Thank you for the video, very helpful tips, not just for worn out lips, too! Something I've personally found very helpful is to play flexibility exercises, like colin 3: not focusing mainly on precision but just moving quickly through the harmonics
Thanks, very glad you enjoyed my video!! Nice, that can definitely work ... I've got some other exercises that are good ... maybe it's time for a 2nd video on this topic??
For me, there's a sweet spot of my chops feeling just slightly fatigued. When I reach that point (this only happens with several consecutive days of playing), they're more responsive.
One of the things I do is change mouthpieces reactively. If my chops are feeling worn out ill switch to a plastic and/or lead trumpet piece. It makes it so I can play more of my register with less effort and more comfort.
Wish I could do that. But I only have one mouthpiece atm. And it’s the same one I’ve had for years. And it’s kinda old. And I’m always over practicing.
Arnica cream.... Breath attacks is good advice. Pedals too, I'd say. Also, don't be afraid to change up your mouthpiece. If your lip is swollen rather than damaged, then a slightly wider cup may help.
Yes, that does work well for some people. I know a few people that occasionally use a larger mouthpiece for that purpose. I've never tried it out, but maybe I'll give it a shot sometime! Maybe I need to find a 1C to try that with ... I've heard of people using a trombone mouthpiece for that too.
Is it weird I find playing with a practice mute semi-restorative when chops are tired? Perhaps it's the extra resistance that allows me to ease up.. Anyone else notice that? Thanks for the video!
Nice, that makes sense. Back when I was at Oberlin, my teacher Roy Poper had a great exercise as a cool-down that involved playing Clarke 2 with a cup mute. That extra resistance can definitely help if you're response isn't 100%.
Using the mute can also help prevent us from trying to play too loudly. This works especially well in a dead or dull sounding room where we often work far too hard to get a nice resonant sound that we hear in a nice acoustic.
Yup, it’s called: Breath attacks and articulation. I may need to do another as a follow up, I’ll watch it again and see if I was going to add anything to it.
Nice video! I can can usually play a comfortable c above the staff but in the mornings I would be lucky to even get a sound out. Could that be because of tired chops?
@@JoshRzepkaMusic I usually try to start on middle g softly until my chops respond, then I play some long tones going down chromatically. I also need to do a better job of resting more as I’m practicing, I think that makes my chops a bit stiff in the mornings.
@@pizzaman7713 try starting by blowing with the middle G with no tongue...use the air attack instead of the tongue attack to at least get your lips warming up
Whichever feels comfortable for you and get's you a full open sound. That's a great starting point - then you can refine your technique and work from there.
There is no one magic mouthpiece. There are ones that will make different things more or less comfortable, but don't expect a mouthpiece to give you any extra abilities
Oh, that's Robinson's Remedies. It's a product that helps your lips recover from tough playing. It was designed by a trumpet player, and it's terrific.
My lips get tired and weaker over time when I play many high notes. It's so hard to keep my lips from not getting weak. I have to play high notes in so many parts of my music and I don't know how to it because by the end I'm worn out.
It's difficult to give any specific advice without a little more information, like how much you're practicing, if you're taking breaks, what you're working on, etc. Can you give some more details and context? One thing I always think of if I feel my chops starting to get tired, or if I can feel like I'm having to "use my chops" ... focus on the air! Any time I start to get tired early it's an immediate red flag that I may be working too hard and not relying enough on my air.
For many players - yes. Ideally we don't allow ourselves to get to that point, but it's bound to happen from time to time. What have you found to be helpful?
@@JoshRzepkaMusic well I am about to throw in the towel. I had a day where I rested and only played for 10 minutes or so, and the next day that lump on the middle of the upper lip, was really hard, almost like rubber, and wouldn't vibrate. so I guess unless it goes away in a couple days Ill have to quit. I don't really have a way to deal with it. thanks for responding.
Hmm ... sounds frustrating. Send me an email or DM me on Instagram, happy to chat a min to see if I can give you another suggestion or two that might help you out!
I think I worn out my chops so much that on the inside of my lip. It has a sore that hurts, especially when I’m practicing. And I don’t know where it came from, but it might be because I’m working my range on scales and I am playing high notes. Plus some harder stuff. Plus I am not the best at practicing individually cause I tend to over practice or go to fast and try to play something farther than what I can do cause my expectations are high. Since I’m considered a really good player for my age. And I feel I don’t meet up to that expectation sometimes if I don’t do harder stuff, and that overly high expectations start to get me over practicing. And I’ve been practicing more lately. So Maybe my chops have been injured or worn out but I’m not too sure. I just know that my inside of my lip hurts and feels not right.
Sounds like you need a bit more rest interspersed with your practice, and maybe try taking it a little more easy on the demanding stuff. You might really like the robinson's remedies, if you haven't checked yet checked it out. Message me on IG, might have some more ideas for you.
@@JoshRzepkaMusic yeah. Told my director about it today and she said to take it easy and recommended just doing air and fingers instead if my chops don’t feel up to par to go hardcore mode on a practice session. But it’s hard not to over practice for some reason 😭🤚. Probably cause I can’t tell my limits at times, especially if I’m getting into the groove of things in practicing a piece and just forget about everything else.
I think some people might say so, I primarily think of "chops" as the lips and immediate area surrounding the mouthpiece (to what most refer to as the "corners").
Love your videos, but you are so redundant. You say the same things over and over. You stretch a short video into a long one. Once again, I love what you have to say, but you loose me by repeating yourself so many times in different ways. I’ll keep watching. Thanks.
Thanks for tuning in, glad you found this helpful! Yeah, some of my videos are a bit verbose (especially my older ones) ... I've since improved with my filming and editing ... but it's always a work in progress. That being said, I occasionally say the same thing in a few different ways as I've found from years of teaching that different people respond to/learn in different ways - so I'm casting a wide net to try and be extra thorough to help as many people as possible. When I overexplain/repeat I occasionally get comments about the length (which is totally valid and fine, haha) ... but I almost never get comments about someone not understanding the main ideas/concepts - which is my main goal. Thanks for stopping by and commenting - I do appreciate all the feedback.
😳😳 - I'd start with some time off the horn, and then try and evaluate what's causing the dental pain. Possibly consult a dentist too to make sure that there aren't any underlying issues in the gums/bone such as an infection or abcesses. Which teeth in specific? The ones directly under the mouthpiece, or ones that are adjacent? I'd also ask my dentist to check my last few dental x-rays to see if they notice any shifting of the teeth or inflammation.
If there isn't anything wrong from a dental/health perspective, then I'd start to evaluate what I was doing that was contributing to the excess pressure on the teeth with a focus on posture, using the bare minimum effort, and keeping a very detailed practice log with durations of time played, rest, etc. and then how my teeth and chops felt after each session so that I could start to understand what actions are exacerbating the situation, and what actions are allowing me to progress without a negative effect.
Thank you Josh. Exactly what I needed today. I searched "Tired Trumpet Lips" and your video appeared. I am a strong believer in it being all about the air, and how your chops feel does not really matter. I have been practicing a lot for a tough gig coming up. Today I could hardly play. I got away from the basics, and was panicked. I started working my chops harder than usual. I even started the mouthpiece changing game (stupid!). I'll be at it again tomorrow with a gentle warm-up, and only worrying if my air flow is on or off.
Thanks for the note - glad you found this video. Let me know how things go with your next practice session!
This guy deserves way more subscribers! His videos are so well made!
Many thanks, I appreciate the kind words!!
The focus in the air trick makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the tips
Great advice Josh. I’ve found something that works for me if I’m feeling a bit beat up is doing the Spider routine expanding up and down from middle C but doing this with breath attacks and as long tones so you are focusing on maintaining steady air and keeping the volume down. It’s about 20-30 minutes if you take it slow and sometimes I can’t complete the whole set but I find it really helps me on bad days. Oh and yes Robinsons is great too!
Thanks! That's a great tip - I do a similar exercise sometimes with Clark #2 working outwards ... very quiet and with a cup mute. Slurred and then articulated. The mute helps with a little more resistance helping you dial in the articulation while super soft. I learned that from Roy Poper when I was at Oberlin.
Josh your episodes are great and I am not even a trumpeter or a musician! I enjoy watching your content because they are so interesting! I love cocktails and jazz music, so I think there is a connection. Keep up what you are doing, because you are doing it great!
Thank you, Kevin!! Yes, cocktails and jazz ... a great combo. Much appreciated - ditto!
I often rely too much on how my embouchure feels and it makes me less confident sometimes. Focusing on the air is definitely what we should all be doing since it's what we have the most control over.
Yes!! I was exactly the same for a long time ... once you can trust your air then everything becomes immediately better.
3 years into playing every Friday and Saturday now (Thank goodness). I lost my air attack and was less meditative 2 months ago. Cold sores, over compensation, sore muscles, damaged skin and reduced range by the end of gig. I was gassed. Thank-you for the tips. I have added Robinson's, increased my water intake and getting back to being conscious of my air flow to do the work, not my lips. Looking forward to gettng back into shape! Love your vids @joshrzepka
So glad you're enjoying my videos and that you are finding them to be helpful!! Keep me posted with how things are going!
I had the experience last year of having the opportunity to play a solo in our Jazz band but my chops were so tired from playing all week. I was disappointed with the result. I will try and use your suggestions in future.
Let me know if they help! That sounds like you also could dial in your pacing ... don't over work your chops prior to the the performance. Generally speaking, if you dial things back about 10% in rehearsal, it won't always make much difference on the other end of the bell, but it will make a big difference with your chops throughout the rehearsal week. Just another thing to think about.
@@JoshRzepkaMusic Thanks for that. Probably be a while since everything has stopped during the lockdown here. Just practising at home.
Great tips, Josh. A breath of fresh air. I can recommend my students to your channel feeling like they're going to get good information.
Thanks, Marcus!! 🙏🙏
Spot on! Thank you Josh!
Thanks!!
EXCELLENT points!!! Another point of support is that concentrating on breath attacks and air really helps intonation. I play French Horn and was finding certain notes on the Bb side very flat and blamed the horn. :) until I zoned in on air and realized, sorry horn, my fault, carry on.
Thanks, Carl! Yes, focusing on the air and breath attacks definitely helps with intonation, and sound overall. It's sooo easy to be a little complacent with things we know ... and then we look to blame something else because we just assume we're doing what we think we're doing. But that little extra focus to stay on top of things ... that's where the real progress comes from.
@@JoshRzepkaMusic Yes yes for sure!! Excellent video for brass players btw. What really helps us brass players by using air properly is we have enhanced stamina.
@@JoshRzepkaMusic BTW, this is a very personal thing depending on one's mechanics but what's your stance on jutting or maintaining the jaw forward while ascending?
Thank you for the video, very helpful tips, not just for worn out lips, too! Something I've personally found very helpful is to play flexibility exercises, like colin 3: not focusing mainly on precision but just moving quickly through the harmonics
Thanks, very glad you enjoyed my video!! Nice, that can definitely work ... I've got some other exercises that are good ... maybe it's time for a 2nd video on this topic??
For me, there's a sweet spot of my chops feeling just slightly fatigued. When I reach that point (this only happens with several consecutive days of playing), they're more responsive.
Great video Josh! All great ideas. Couldn't agree more.
Thanks, John!! Hope all is well with you, I appreciate you checking out my video! 🙏🙏
One of the things I do is change mouthpieces reactively. If my chops are feeling worn out ill switch to a plastic and/or lead trumpet piece. It makes it so I can play more of my register with less effort and more comfort.
Nice! I never really tried that, but glad you've got something that works!
Wish I could do that. But I only have one mouthpiece atm. And it’s the same one I’ve had for years. And it’s kinda old. And I’m always over practicing.
Practice mutes are an amazing tool
Arnica cream.... Breath attacks is good advice. Pedals too, I'd say. Also, don't be afraid to change up your mouthpiece. If your lip is swollen rather than damaged, then a slightly wider cup may help.
Yes, that does work well for some people. I know a few people that occasionally use a larger mouthpiece for that purpose. I've never tried it out, but maybe I'll give it a shot sometime! Maybe I need to find a 1C to try that with ...
I've heard of people using a trombone mouthpiece for that too.
Great advice. I would add, make sure you are hydrated too........
This was verry helpfull! Thanky you very much!
You're welcome!! Glad you found it helpful!
Is it weird I find playing with a practice mute semi-restorative when chops are tired? Perhaps it's the extra resistance that allows me to ease up.. Anyone else notice that? Thanks for the video!
Nice, that makes sense. Back when I was at Oberlin, my teacher Roy Poper had a great exercise as a cool-down that involved playing Clarke 2 with a cup mute. That extra resistance can definitely help if you're response isn't 100%.
Using the mute can also help prevent us from trying to play too loudly. This works especially well in a dead or dull sounding room where we often work far too hard to get a nice resonant sound that we hear in a nice acoustic.
Subscribed, thanks alot man
Awesome, thank you!
Thanks for the tips! :)
Thanks for stopping by, glad you found them helpful!
Intrigued by this idea of breath attacks...
Did you ever make a video on this?
Yup, it’s called: Breath attacks and articulation.
I may need to do another as a follow up, I’ll watch it again and see if I was going to add anything to it.
@@JoshRzepkaMusic thank you sir! Will watch that next .Just subscribed, after seeing your link on the trumpeter's FB group.
Thank you for the content!
Quick tip from personal experience, anything cold on your lips helps a lot, ice cold water ect.
Nice video! I can can usually play a comfortable c above the staff but in the mornings I would be lucky to even get a sound out. Could that be because of tired chops?
some people’s chops respond differently at different times of the day. Do you have a warm-up routine you use?
@@JoshRzepkaMusic I usually try to start on middle g softly until my chops respond, then I play some long tones going down chromatically. I also need to do a better job of resting more as I’m practicing, I think that makes my chops a bit stiff in the mornings.
@@pizzaman7713 try starting by blowing with the middle G with no tongue...use the air attack instead of the tongue attack to at least get your lips warming up
I’m 68 and starting back up 40 years later. What’s the magic mouthpiece?
Whichever feels comfortable for you and get's you a full open sound. That's a great starting point - then you can refine your technique and work from there.
There is no one magic mouthpiece. There are ones that will make different things more or less comfortable, but don't expect a mouthpiece to give you any extra abilities
I am sorry I didn't get it..what is that little bottle you showed towards the end of the video? It's for the lips?
Oh, that's Robinson's Remedies. It's a product that helps your lips recover from tough playing. It was designed by a trumpet player, and it's terrific.
Looking forward to the breath attacks video.
I'll make it for the week after next.
My lips get tired and weaker over time when I play many high notes. It's so hard to keep my lips from not getting weak. I have to play high notes in so many parts of my music and I don't know how to it because by the end I'm worn out.
It's difficult to give any specific advice without a little more information, like how much you're practicing, if you're taking breaks, what you're working on, etc. Can you give some more details and context?
One thing I always think of if I feel my chops starting to get tired, or if I can feel like I'm having to "use my chops" ... focus on the air!
Any time I start to get tired early it's an immediate red flag that I may be working too hard and not relying enough on my air.
worn out for me = lip swelling is this normal ?
For many players - yes. Ideally we don't allow ourselves to get to that point, but it's bound to happen from time to time. What have you found to be helpful?
@@JoshRzepkaMusic well I am about to throw in the towel. I had a day where I rested and only played for 10 minutes or so, and the next day that lump on the middle of the upper lip, was really hard, almost like rubber, and wouldn't vibrate. so I guess unless it goes away in a couple days Ill have to quit. I don't really have a way to deal with it. thanks for responding.
Hmm ... sounds frustrating. Send me an email or DM me on Instagram, happy to chat a min to see if I can give you another suggestion or two that might help you out!
@@JoshRzepkaMusic hey, thanks!!. will do. lol my insta is suspended apparently for adding so many trumpet players🤷♂. but Ill send you an email.
I think I worn out my chops so much that on the inside of my lip. It has a sore that hurts, especially when I’m practicing. And I don’t know where it came from, but it might be because I’m working my range on scales and I am playing high notes. Plus some harder stuff. Plus I am not the best at practicing individually cause I tend to over practice or go to fast and try to play something farther than what I can do cause my expectations are high. Since I’m considered a really good player for my age. And I feel I don’t meet up to that expectation sometimes if I don’t do harder stuff, and that overly high expectations start to get me over practicing. And I’ve been practicing more lately. So Maybe my chops have been injured or worn out but I’m not too sure. I just know that my inside of my lip hurts and feels not right.
Sounds like you need a bit more rest interspersed with your practice, and maybe try taking it a little more easy on the demanding stuff. You might really like the robinson's remedies, if you haven't checked yet checked it out. Message me on IG, might have some more ideas for you.
@@JoshRzepkaMusic yeah. Told my director about it today and she said to take it easy and recommended just doing air and fingers instead if my chops don’t feel up to par to go hardcore mode on a practice session. But it’s hard not to over practice for some reason 😭🤚. Probably cause I can’t tell my limits at times, especially if I’m getting into the groove of things in practicing a piece and just forget about everything else.
are chops cheeks?
I think some people might say so, I primarily think of "chops" as the lips and immediate area surrounding the mouthpiece (to what most refer to as the "corners").
Love your videos, but you are so redundant.
You say the same things over and over.
You stretch a short video into a long one.
Once again, I love what you have to say, but you loose me by repeating yourself so many times in different ways.
I’ll keep watching.
Thanks.
Thanks for tuning in, glad you found this helpful! Yeah, some of my videos are a bit verbose (especially my older ones) ... I've since improved with my filming and editing ... but it's always a work in progress.
That being said, I occasionally say the same thing in a few different ways as I've found from years of teaching that different people respond to/learn in different ways - so I'm casting a wide net to try and be extra thorough to help as many people as possible.
When I overexplain/repeat I occasionally get comments about the length (which is totally valid and fine, haha) ... but I almost never get comments about someone not understanding the main ideas/concepts - which is my main goal.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting - I do appreciate all the feedback.
How about worn out to the point that your teeth hurt.
😳😳 - I'd start with some time off the horn, and then try and evaluate what's causing the dental pain. Possibly consult a dentist too to make sure that there aren't any underlying issues in the gums/bone such as an infection or abcesses. Which teeth in specific? The ones directly under the mouthpiece, or ones that are adjacent? I'd also ask my dentist to check my last few dental x-rays to see if they notice any shifting of the teeth or inflammation.
If there isn't anything wrong from a dental/health perspective, then I'd start to evaluate what I was doing that was contributing to the excess pressure on the teeth with a focus on posture, using the bare minimum effort, and keeping a very detailed practice log with durations of time played, rest, etc. and then how my teeth and chops felt after each session so that I could start to understand what actions are exacerbating the situation, and what actions are allowing me to progress without a negative effect.