Posts made by Dr GO

@Tobylou8 said in Tom Green:

One of the best looking trumpets ever!!!

And the sound is even better. Not sure if anyone has ever played a Power Bore, but it has laser sharp accuracy. It was the PERFECT horn for 2nd Trumpet big band charts where the harmonies are so tight between the lead and 3rd part. You did not have to rely on your ear with this horn, you just aim the valves on the right note, and bull's eye, there it was.

The horn projects like no other traditional horn and I used it a lot as a lead horn as well until I got my Harrelson.

@Richard-III said in How many measures on a tank of air?:

Gimmick is right. Every time I see a player do that, I'm bored immediately if all they are doing is holding a note. In my view, at that moment, the music has stopped and the gimmick has begun. Time for me to move on to some other venue.

I must say, of all the techniques I use in a performance, this one gets the most response out of the audience. They are definitely not board if you incorporate the technique into the form. I do use it sparingly and only once a performance, but if you choose the right note through the right chord structure, that note really speaks out. It also helps to have a kick-ass rhythm section behind you to play around with that note as well. Definitely not boring if you place it into the right context.

I also use the circular breathing behind very soft harmony lines (playing complete phrases and not holding one note only) behind our sax soloist ("But Beautiful" is one of the songs I use for this accent). It really puts a smooth, uninterpreted line behind the lead part.

I must admit, I don't see many trumpet players use this, but when working trough my trumpet lessons with Claudio Roditi, I would transcribe sax solos for him in my lesson assignments, and that is where I perfected the circular breathing style. Claudio loved it, as he was working with me to develop my own solo voice, and he agreed, using sax phrasing in trumpet soloing really was a game changer.

@Doodlin said in No real gains on anything more than 40-45 minutes of practice.:

...My son wanted me to watch old school vs. new school muscle car 1/4 mile showdowns. He's gonna be a Ford guy, that's fine - put me on the list for a new Supra or Tesla...

In staying with the theme to the thread (and not to be charged with taking the thread off track) this is the CURRENT muscle development I use when not working on my lips:

AND my muscle development PRIOR to that one:

@Doodlin said in Unsafe Sax-To Circular Breath or Not:

...Another study may be in order!

Already done. In 2014 I had the misfortune of being in an ICU bed for 3 weeks with tubes coming out of many many parts of my body. I had my wife bring in my pocket trumpet with my Yamaha silent mute, and I played in my hospital bed for hours a day. I decided with all the monitoring devices to "study" the circular breathing effects on my lung and heart function. The results: My pulse oximeter reading should my oxygen saturation INCREASED on average by 6%. So pulmonary function increased. My pulse actually dropped by 10 beats per minute (relaxed cardiac function) and blood pressure remained in normal range. So, I personally feel pulmonary function is enhanced by circular breathing.

This actually reinforces the benefit of positive end expiratory pressure (PEEP) on increasing (not fibrosing or decreasing) alveolar function. This increases the volume of our end airway sacs and improves the surface area for oxygen absorption. This would counter any physiological argument for interstitial thickening (or fibrosis) as is suggested in that BMJ article.

The discussion of this article in the Editorial section by many actually suggest the author was a bit light hearted (joking) regarding his conclusions as to cause and effect for earlier mortality for sax players.

@Doodlin said in Unsafe Sax-To Circular Breath or Not:

...just keep in mind that Kenny G. will most likely be the outlier here. He can circular breath with the best of them....!

I believe Kenny G holds the world record in holding the longest note, I believe it was for 55 minutes!

It is even possible to play an infinite number of measures on a continuous tank of air. This is possible through the technique of circular breathing (See the Medical Concerns Section for a disclaimer - which is really more tongue in cheek - so to speak). I find this technique works very well for extend phrases. I also like to use this technique about once a gig, and usually on a blues solo, to hold one note whereby I start a blues note that holds true through the I, IV, V progression for at usually two cycles through the progression. At the conclusion I blast through a series of 32 note runs for contrast and then take a more traditional blues solo. That has always been an exceptional audience crowd pleaser.

Here is a link to the discussion of the technique:
https://www.wikihow.com/Circular-Breathe

There was an interesting article published in 1999 in the highly respected British Medical Journal on the lower life expectancy of sax players compared to other musicians and looking for reasons as to why this may be so. The authors come to an assumed conclusion that it may likely be do to the damaging effects of circular breathing on the lungs. Give it a read and see if you agree (or not).

https://www.bmj.com/content/319/7225/1612

Then Discuss!

@administrator said in New Categories:

https://www.trumpetboards.com/category/34/medical-concerns

And Dr. Go is moderator

Ready to serve sir, ready to serve!

Agreed:

I bought this one from ANA Mendez and he had Charlie rehab this one for me (My 1940 Super Recording)

This is what Tom had done for me (in the order shown: Olds Recording; Olds Ambassador; Martin Committee):

That Getzen Power Bore in his photo gallery is now mine!!! All mine!! Thanks to Cyber_Shake (old TM Member)

I highly recommend Tom. I have given him lots of work sending several of his kids to college don't ya know. He is the man that does Harrelson's Midnight Summit trumpets. Here is his website link:

https://www.greensbuffing.com/About-Us.html

From his "Testimonials Page"

The Harrelson Summit Midnight:

@mafields627 said in Welcome to TrumpetBoards!:

...and now getting close to wrapping up my 13th year as a middle & high school band director. I hope I can make a positive contribution here as well!

Matt, you will make positive contributions for sure. I worked with a middle school band director for 8 years as an assistant volunteer through the middle schools "mentor-ship program". I would come in early morning to assist the band director and run sectionals two days a week before I would drive off to work to start may regular day gig. What an amazing impact that band director had on those young minds, not only musically but taught them a world etiquette (from the perspective of music performance) that they will take with them into the rest of their years. I personally missed doing this for the past 5 years when I moved out of that school district.

Of interest, I was at a big band concert last week and a woman come up to me out of the audience, gushing with praise for me for helping teach her son on trumpet when he was in middle school with that school system. She then told me he is now in college getting an arts degree and how much of an inspiration I had been to him. So yes Matt, you are making positive contributions and making a difference in young people's lives!

@trickg said in Welcome to TrumpetBoards!:

I've been digging this new board lately - some really good stuff on here, and it's cool to see the same screen names and avatars. I don't know who created this board in light of TM's demise, but I see this as sort of the new and improved TM. Let's hope that it becomes a place that newcomers to the world of the online trumpet forum can find and easily learn to navigate.

Agreed Patrick and somehow we have to convince our friend TrumpetMD to join. I have tried but he has yet taken the bait. Maybe if you too do a little nudging!

THEN there is my current favorite contemporary musician that I must admit has most recently augmented my prior musical voice into a bit softer direction, Till Bronner:

Also had the pleasure of playing on stage with till at the ITG Convention in Columbus in 2015 and have a picture of the two of us together after the session:

Then there is the music of Claudio Roditi who was my most influential trumpet teacher that I had the pleasure of training under for 18 months while I lived in NYC and during the time he was an understudy of Dizzy Gillespie. "Prague in March" is not one of Claudio's more remembered songs as it is not quit in the spirit of his Brazilian style, but man this is my favorite recording of my favorite teacher:

My FAVORITE song of all time from the trumpet player that has most influenced me:

@N0isemaker said in Flugel Thread:

@Dr-GO ,
Way cool solo, nice job.
Larry

Thanks again. When you have Kenny Drew Jr as the piano player pumping out the chords behind you, it only takes you to higher places!

@N0isemaker said in No real gains on anything more than 40-45 minutes of practice.:

@Dr-GO ,
At our 2 hour Band Rehearsals I have no problem, either do I have a
problem at our concerts witch last a little short of rehearsal time
I figure the constant interuptions from the band director give a little
time to rest before starting up again.
However down the basement at practice time I'm fatigued after 30 min.
of constant practice.
Allways been that way for me.
Larry

Larry, I agree. With breaks in between, this does not produce the same stain and demand on the muscle. But you are doing something differently during practice time. Likely you continue to play without interruption. This produces more strain, even though over a shorter time period. So the muscle feels this strain and shows it as fatigue.

I actually have used this situation to my advantage. I have developed a 2 hour aggressive practice routine and found by so doing, I have built up muscle units where I can make it through a four hour job with no problems.

Case in Point: I remember our big band rehearsal just this past Monday evening where our band leader was going over toward the end of the 2 hour rehearsal time on the chart "Nutville". We must have done the first 16 bars of the song at least a dozen times. This has in the written lead trumpet part the second A above staff that repeats several times. Our director even took a couple of the repeats in very slow time, at one point, holding each note out for four beats. I was able to resonate that second A above staff clear and full each time, thanks to my two hour rehearsal routine preparing my lip muscles for such stress. After that 2 hour band rehearsal, I then and ANOTHER 2 hour quintet rehearsal and made it through that with energy to spare. Preparing muscle in advance is the goal to such a performance success.

Here is the actual chart we played (from the Buddy Rich Band). I notice in this that the lead player only uses the E above staff. The part has in the score the second A option which is the one I have always used.:

@fels said in No real gains on anything more than 40-45 minutes of practice.:

Last December I had pneumonia and did not play for about three weeks. I followed "rehabilitation" routine for about a week and was soon back to where I was prior to the pneumonia.

Absolutely. As a clarification, building the muscle from scratch takes time, but once your there, getting it back does not take nearly as long. This is because in the prior state, you already developed the "motor units". Then it's just getting back the coordination of "muscle memory".