Best posts made by Dr GO

@oldpete said in Triple by-pass reocvery:

...I came home last week [post CABG] and have already been told twice I was pushing it too hard. Slow for me, henceforth! I only play for self-satisfaction nowadays..

So there are many studies reported in the literature as to the best timing of Stage 1 Cardiac rehabilitation. The range is from 11 days to 4 weeks. What I found on reviewing the literature was an interesting Evidence-based randomized study that demonstrated that beginning a respiratory enhanced program to a routine Cardiac rehabilitation actually ENHANCES rehab and outcomes in participants:

So my interpretation of this (even though trumpet playing was not the respiratory intervention chosen) is that any activity that will improve respiratory muscle function, will improve oxygen flow to a newly re-vascularized heart, which in this study was found to increase the exercise capacity by an additional 35% in the respiratory enhanced intervention group compared to the standardized cardiac rehab group.

I would think that these studies would support trumpet playing as soon as 2 weeks post surgery and that trumpet playing may in fact enhance the 12 week post CABG rehab programs that are typically recommended. My only caution is to avoid any valsalva maneuver (grunting down to hit high notes) which may trigger a reflex cardiac arrhythmia. If any palpitations (racing or funny heart beats) or fatigue that is noted while playing, I would then recommend contacting the cardiologist to report these sensations to get direct feedback as to when playing can resume.

@newell-post said in This is strange.:

...at my Mom's house in Kansas City for the holidays. (She's 99.) I leave my old Getzen Severinsen here at Mom's house and use it for practice when I am here. Bach Strad is my daily driver, but every time I come to Mom's and play the old Severinsen for a few days, I remember how good those Getzen valves are and how facile that old thing feels.

Getzen valves are the best!

@neal085 said in TM Refugee - Late to the Party.:
Is double high C the one below the staff?

I will disagree with tmd in the answer to this one.
No, it is One Part Double High-C; below Two Parts Gin.
Cheers!

@Dr-Mark said in DUH!! I finally figured it out, after all these years! (playing with minimal pressure):

@ButchA
You have good reason to be excited! Keep up the great work. Always inhale like a yawn and exhale normally. We never force the wind. Also, I like that you didn't blast. Playing soft and relaxed is another way you are reducing mouthpiece pressure. Very smart!

Oh, but Dr. Mark, you can play loud and clean (NOT BLAST) with the vertical smile as well as control with amazing accuracy a high soft tone lead range with the "vertical smile". Give it a try. Let me know what you find.

@dale-proctor said in King Silver Flair - Buying Advice:

@richard-iii said in King Silver Flair - Buying Advice:

Why wouldn't you put the horn back in the case when you are done playing?

He doesn’t want to put it back in the case, so he’s building a case to put it in...lol

...just incase.

You know, I am a general internist and pediatrician, and practice what I preach to my own patients into my own personal health care. When I turned 40, I started taking aspirin, 325 mg once daily even though at that time there was no evidence that taking it as a preventative was indicated. But when you get the disease, it is just about the most powerful oral medical for coronary artery disease that we have. So why not prevention. Years later we are learning now of the preventative advantages to aspirin. Glad I didn't wait 20 years to find this out!

Then after I had a near death experience about 5 years ago (from a lung attack) I realized I was overweight and heading into my 60's with those odds against me. I began practicing what I preached and started a regimented routine EVERY MORNING that includes an hour of weight lifting that focuses on chest and abdominal muscles, and 40 minutes of an elliptical work out (to Latin Jazz no less), and have lost 30 lb, managed to keep it off for 5 years now, AND am doing well into my 60's. What is even more amazing is the abdominal and chest work out routine I designed has REALLY improved my trumpet playing dynamics as well!

So YES. Exercise has been very very good to me.

Personally, I am no spring chicken, and after over 60 years of playing, I have never had an issue with springs or valve actions in any of my 10 trumpets. They can all keep up with my be bop lines, and that is all that matters.

How do you catch a buffalo?

First dig a large pit.

Then fill the bottom of the pit with burn remains off firewood.

Next take multiple cans of peas and line the complete rim of the pit with the peas.

The trap is ready such as when the buffalo comes by to take a pea, you kick him in the ash hole!

@Kehaulani said in DUH!! I finally figured it out, after all these years! (playing with minimal pressure):

Wait until you're on the fifth set in a three-horn section playing Earth, Wind and Fire tunes.

Been there. Done that. Wish I had the vertical smile in those days!

@_mark_ said in My low notes sound like a gibbering Dalek:

@j-jericho Thanks. I don't think it's excessive. I can practice for an hour a couple times a day and not feel any pain. I was warned about that from the start and I try to be careful. Not to mention having seen the scars on the lips of all of my 'heroes', like Satchmo, Miles, Chet Baker ...

Yes, even the best are not immune to doing damage. Freddie Hubbard was out for a bit after splitting his lip.

As for me, I prefer to call my "scars" "wear patterns". I have never injured my lips, but have developed a nice ring callus much like a guitarist develops calluses on their fingers. I have "worn" this much of my life, and it has remained fairly stable for decades.

@Kehaulani said in Laughter is the Best Medicine:

@administrator
...Also, employment, or lack thereof, does not imply competency.

Which is why I relate to my patients that are on my critical care service: "I know CPR and 23 other letters of the alphabet".

@trumpetb said in Valve Springs:

Ok

First point,

springs are made of spring metal that upon deformation will return to its original position or length.

In the case of a coil spring, the spring will return to its original length if the spring when deflected has remained within its elastic limit.

If however the spring is extended beyond its elastic limit it enters its plastic phase and will no longer return to its original length.

The spring having deformed to a new length will then have a new and greater elastic range.

The result is the spring behaves as it did when it was its original length and can be expected to give a normal life but with different characteristics.

Of course stretching a spring manually is a somewhat hit and miss process and is subject as you say to variance on a case by case basis.

The principle of deformation in the plastic range producing a permanent change in the length however holds true.

But also the change in K holds true. In this situation, K wins. Rowuk is spot on with his assessment.

However, there is a solution. Buy a new spring and do keep it intact this time. This will make things O"K" again.

@Vulgano-Brother said in countries / states represented here?:

Feel at home where I am. I'm from Pirate stock.

Aye aye matie. I Love your hometown. Very beautiful region and had an amazing time visiting you. We must do it again sometime!

@Kehaulani said in DUH!! I finally figured it out, after all these years! (playing with minimal pressure):

Wouldn't a "vertical smile" put a toothy crease right in the middle of your face?

No. Actually the stress is projected laterally (at the coroner of the smile) not over the middle, which would more like put a crease in the nose if that happened.

@georgeb said in My low notes sound like a gibbering Dalek:

@rowuk said [ If things get congested (tonguing, breathing, chops, brain), it is amazing how much a sip of water helps. ]

That is so true. I get up, sip some water, walk up and down the hall, then go back and face the music and things start working again.

AND I bet you can whistle better as well.

People always underestimate the healing power of water.

So How Does This Translate to Musicians:

The smooth, coordinated fine motor movements required to play a musical instrument have been demonstrated to predict academic success beyond the instrumental performance domain, but also including reading and math readiness, and verbal abilities. The motor skills that overlap with those required to play a musical instrument (e.g., sequential finger movements) markedly improve (get faster) over a night of sleep, but NOT after a day spent awake.

A study was performed on individuals who play musical instruments that require fine finger motor skill to see if they are better able to learn and consolidate motor skills compared to those who do not play an instrument AND whether sleep-specific motor skill benefits interact with those resulting by musical experience by using typing performance as a common motor response between musicians and non-musicians.

Musicians were faster than non-musicians throughout the learning session, typing more correct sequences per 30-sec trials. In the 12 hours that followed learning BOTH sleep and musical experience led to greater improvement in performance.

Surprisingly, musicians retested after a day of wake performed slightly better than non-musicians who had slept between training and retest, suggesting that musicians have the capacity to consolidate a motor skill across waking hours, while non-musicians appear to lack this capacity. These findings suggest that the musically trained brain is optimized for motor skill consolidation across both wake and sleep, and that sleep may simply promote a more effective use of this machinery; and the closer musicians were tested to the time of awakening, the better the performance.

Published in PLoS One. 2016 Jul 29;11(7):e0159608. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0159608. eCollection 2016.

I had Jason Harrelson send 4 valve caps just last week for my out of production flugelhorn that had no parts listed on an internet search. Contacted Jason and he had the parts he made personally. The question is how expensive is too expensive? Jason charged $137 for 4 silver valve caps. I know he makes copper tops as well. So if you strike out finding on line, send a message to Jason on the Harrelson web site.

@Dr-Mark said in A little humour:

@Niner
Here's one that will bring a global groan.
Why do people say "if you want to get warm, go stand in a corner"?
Because corners are always 90 degrees.

Ah... you can get skewed on some New York City street corners, while others in the Big Apple are just down right obtuse.

Please refer to post 11 under: Problems with Air and Nose https://www.trumpetboards.com/topic/398/problems-with-air-and-nose/17 to find my description, diagrams and video of me playing with the vertical smile. Make sure you focus on my cheeks to see the effect of the muscles I use.

@_mark_ said in My low notes sound like a gibbering Dalek:

...Recordings just cannot convey the physicality, the powerful acoustic resonance, of being in the room with the instruments, right up there near them....

I have a Hammond B3 with a Leslie Speaker only a keyboards distance away... gotta agree with you on that when I put the peddle to the metal!

AND with my Moog synthesizer at the right settings patched in through a high end bass amp I use connected to my keyboard system... it can actually clean out the sinuses!