Endurance is the ability to play comfortably until then end of the engagement or session. The key word is comfort. The trumpet is not meant to be an instrument of torture, it should be an instrument of pleasure and creativity.
I have played for many hours and enjoyed every moment, on other occasions I have been in pain from the first note, and petered out from there.
I'd like to say there is one way to solve the problem of deterioration of the embouchure, but the fact is that there are hundreds.
Here is a basic primer on maintaining your sense of well-being and comfort while playing:
1. Know your limits and know your horn. 2. When you practice - play and rest in equal proportions - never wear yourself down in practice. 3. Get plenty of rest and maintain your physical machine. 4. Embouchure awareness: This is tough to explain but perhaps in these paragraphs the concept will get through in one form or another.
H.L. Clarke used to warm up, practice, rest and play engagements without tiring. He was very disciplined (You might like reading his biography) He was the eternal student and learned the minute details of playing the cornet.
When he was young, he developed the ability to move the mouthpiece across his lips from center to left to right and back, enabling himself to stay on fresh chops all day. He also used very little left arm pressure.
That was a different day and time. The concert band and the theater orchestras of the day demanded virtuosity but also provided music that was written sensibly and was linear for the most part.
There were often more than one person on a part, and tag team playing often saved chops.
The entire palette of dynamics was employed and delicate playing was featured. Often the cornets played the "violin" part of the band music, and the sections divided into: Solo and repiano cornet, first cornet, second cornet, flugel horn, and Eb soprano cornet.
In today's economy, one player may be called on to fill all of these rolls. Doubling makes us more money, but demands more investment in instruments, mouthpieces, and practice. To jump from Piccolo trumpet to flugel horn in 2 measures rest requires confidence, experience, and a secure embouchure. You cannot guess where the notes are when you pick up your D trumpet after 30 minutes of low register flugel horn; you have to know instinctively where they are. You need to perform kinetically - automatically. The motor muscle reflexes properly engaged as the product of a confidence in your embouchure honed by years of proper practice.
I grew up in the Salvation Army banding era and experienced the joys of playing orchestral arrangements of symphonies requiring finesse and flexibility.
The cornet is a facile instrument with a conical bore and is shorter than a trumpet in length but is the same overall length. The funnel like nature of the mouthpiece, combined with the conical bore, and the closeness of the sound from the bell to your ear, all make the cornet a pleasure to play.
It is much more suited to virtuosity of technique and requires less air pressure and quantity, thus making endurance easier to attain.
I never played a trumpet until I was 19 years old. My first experience at it was awful. A long blow down a long pipe for a sound that seemed devoid of midrange mellowness, and the slots were so far apart.
I was thrust into a big band situation requiring me to swing the notes (a concept as foreign as Pluto) and to play far louder than ever before. Overcoming the drummer behind me enough to hear myself became my quest.
Immediately I learned that lips do indeed swell when abused. They stay swollen into the next day and the mouthpiece feels smaller as the days go by. I eventually grew into a Schilke 24 mouthpiece and was ready to have him make me a 27!!!
Fortunately, my 7 years on the road and 500 concerts a year ended, and I discovered that by taking a week off, my Schilke 24 was a "bathtub" Over the next year or so I worked my way down to a Bach 1!/2 c.
I was playing the circus when my RS #2 arrived in the mail. I took it down to Ringling Bros. and a new career began for me. I started the show on my 11/2c and at intermission, I switched to the RS #2.
Now if you are not familiar with the Roy Stevens pieces - they are designed by Roy, and made by Jet Tone. Big fat juicy rims - the single contour cups, the under bite at the rim and a choice of 3 backbores. Tight, tighter, and tightest. 3-2-1
My choice of the #2 was wise. I played it for the next 25 years.
The RS 2 made me relax, open my teeth, keep my jaw forward, and it actually held my lips in a gentle MMM formation. The mouthpiece was tiny compared to the 11/2 c Bach - but it played bigger, and fuller instantly. If I puckered at all it closed off, if I relaxed and let the notes happen it played beautifully.
In those 1.5 hours of the last half of the circus, I fell in love with playing for the first time since the cornet days. The pain was gone, the swelling was gone, the endurance lasted forever, and my range went from an F to a Bb -then C - and on one recording a Double D that I held for 12 seconds.
Now how could changing a mouthpiece solve the endurance problem?
It did not.
What it did do was show me what I had been doing wrong for so many years:
o Blowing to hard o Blowing through open lips o Buzzing the sound o Setting my lips for each note I played o Arching my tongue at the back of my throat as I ascended o Pushing out and down with my stomach muscles o Pointing my chin down and tight o Thinning my lips o Saying eeeee for high and oooo for low o Pivoting my horn for low to high notes ( down for high, up for low) using left arm force against my top lip o Presetting my lip tension before hitting a high note cold.
And more...
The light dawned instantly and leads me to the pursuit of not only better performance, but also of better ways to physically play the horn.
After 25 years on the Stevens I left professional playing and changed careers to media - broadcast, recording, video etc. I gave my horns away and learned the new trades.
After 3 years I had the desire to play for relaxation, and recreation. I found a horn, then another, eventually leading me back to my beloved Schilke horns. I have a B4 converted to a B6 from the mid 1970's.
I read about Rick Baptist as he was the sound that dominated so many great movie scores (along with Malcomb MacNab)
He plays a B5 and I noticed in photos that his teeth and lips were similar to mine - not a pretty sight!
My friend Andy Hagan once told me I reminded him of Rick and that he thought I would have done well in Vegas. With memory and these new pictures, I wanted to learn what Rick was really playing.
Parke made me a Baptist top and as they didn't make the bottom for him, they estimated it was like the Henley bottom.
This was a great combo, but not the sound I was hearing from Rick. I discovered Warburton had made Rick's bottom and it was the #5. I ordered one and loved the sound.
As an older casual player the Warburton system of backbores works well. I play the #5 in practice, and then, depending on the performance I choose from a 5, 4, or the new Q.
My practice is 3 to 4 hours a day. In my living room, watching TV. I cover all the bases and play along with the Sci-Fi channel music.
Perhaps the most valuable thing to do to extend endurance is to warm up regularly and softly. I know it's a temptation to blow a few notes and launch right in. Be a professional and prepare to play. Most gigs allow you to pace yourself and build up - don't be a hero - don't overblow. More about this in the "Learn to play" pages.
With this combination of rim, cup, backbore, and trumpet - I can now do what I only dreamed of 20 years ago.
Why did I tell all of this?
To let you know that you should never stop experimenting, practicing, and looking for the mouthpiece top and bottom and most importantly the rim that fits your lips and teeth.
Yes I had a successful playing career, but imagine what I could have done if I had ventured from my RS 2 and continued the search for perfection.
There is no reason you cannot play with a full, vibrant sound in all registers. Have complete flexibility, range and endurance, and do it all day with ease. The only thing stopping you is a plan, and a will.
ENDURANCE