Posts made by Dr GO

@Kehaulani said in Lifetime quest finally paying off!:

You're pretty condescending, you know, Dr. Mark. I get it completely. I'm not stupid. I just don't see redefining things.

You can't say airplane and mean the process of taking off, flying and landing, maybe experiencing some turbulence, en route. There are other words to describe it. But airplane is airplane.

First, airplane is a bad example to use, as it's name houses the very processes as to how it takes off. By placing air under the plane of wings that allow it to take off, and with stability, fly and with skill to use the air under that plane to land. And, yes, I am sure I will get turbulence for calling you out on using this example.

Kehaulani, it's not about redefining as it is about applying basic definitions toward a more functional process. A definition is a word. If you just hang on the word, you may miss the ability to move forward to put that word, that term into application. Words can have more meaning behind them. This is what the article Dr. Mark referenced has done. Read the article, and you will see that point.

Case in point, the French take "la bouche", the mouth to amazing levels of social application. Why would application of the mouth be any different to the trumpet? In fact there are many French uses of words for "the mouth" which derives to the French etiology to their unique word embouchure in particular: l' embouchure - the mouth as an outlet. This goes beyond the concept of just mouth. An outlet for all that follows.

Let's re-frame this entire thread into the positive learning experience that it has become. An educational piece that put a lot of dimensions on methods toward a common goal in optimizing the embouchure, a functionality that has many dynamics at play.

Or you can walk away from it with charges of condescending, hammering people (that comment launched a triad of non-therapeutic discourse). If we step back and look at this thread with a positive view, we will have learned a lot about the embouchure. If you read it with a negative bias, one has learned absolutely nothing.

@Dr-Mark said in Moderator in hospital:

@barliman2001 said in Moderator in hospital:

I'll probably be out of hospital some time next week.

---

Five words to make the stay bearable; Candy stripers and sponge baths.

With my luck, I'd get stripped candy and Sponge Bob!

@Kehaulani said in Lifetime quest finally paying off!:

"A new definition for embouchure is the process needed to adjust the amount, pressure, and direction of the air flow (generated by the breath support) as it travels through the mouth cavity and between the lips, by the position and/or movements of the tongue, teeth, jaws,cheeks, and lips, to produce a tone in a wind instrument."

Maybe I'm overlooking something but . . what's new about this?

To me the newness is keyed in the word "process". A process of many actions, not just the lips. The embouchure is built around many things including the external variables (mouthpiece and equipment) as well as the intrinsic variables, lips, tongue, teeth....

@N1684T said in Moderator in hospital:

Damn. I am away for a few months and everything goes to hell.

He's not quit dead yet!

Cool article Dr. Mark. This is what I came away from, fist summarizing the author's conclusion: "A new definition for embouchure is the process needed to adjust the amount, pressure, and direction of the air flow (generated by the breath support) as it travels through the mouth cavity and between the lips, by the position and/or movements of the tongue, teeth, jaws,cheeks, and lips, to produce a tone in a wind instrument."

What is cool about this article is it just presents the fact. No suggestion as to methodologies, systems, programs, and just brings the point home that there are a lot of variables, and what ever works, works.

Corona Virus Etude. Enjoy.

Youtube Video

Just received this email from the leader of one of the big bands I play in:

Hey Generations,
I hope everyone is doing well, I've talked to many of you over the past week. I miss performing with you all. Several members have spoken with me about a recording from home project. So we're going to try it. We have decided to do 145 All The Way.... I will be sending out a backing track in the next couple of days, you can listen to the track and play your part along with it... You will need to video yourself playing your part on a GoPro, Tablet, or cell phone, while listening to the backing track through headphones... Once you have recorded your parts you can upload them... I will be mixing the audio.

This sounds like an innovative idea. If it happens, I will provide an update as to how this works out.

Some creative mask use I have seen:

To me this one says: "Orange you glad I am not coughing on you"

I wonder if this one is wearing square pants:

So, do you put a lime in this one:

I am betting for this one, it's his time of the month to shop:

So to all of our members, stay safe out there and wear your masks however creative they may be.

@Dr-Mark said in Moderator in hospital:

@barliman2001
It is a sad thing that you are sick... I hope you fine this small discussion about how to relax just by petting your dog helpful.

Of course in this example, having tetanus and rabies vaccine up to date helps.

@Sound-Advice said in Lifetime quest finally paying off!:

@Dr-GO
And after playing that double C I wasn't worth much to the band afterwards. Because I had expended most of my reserve energy.

In the Stevens-Costello method we set the embouchure to be able to blow this double C...

I knew that I was setting my embouchure as directed by Stevens-Costello... Soon as I could get notes in or around double C I took this same embouchure and worked it down to my concert B flat tuning note.

See, this is what I see more of the goal. Not to lift once that 200 lb weight but to lift that 150 lb weight easily and repetitively. I needed to develop a technique that did not allow me to fatigue playing a 4 hour gig with the Eddie Brookshire Quintet. Double C was not my goal. Lasting 4 hours for high range charts that stayed in the high range (high C to G range for a large potion of songs) was. I found on my own what I call the Phoowwww technique. I developed this as a physician, teaching over a decade of medical biochemistry and physiology to first year medical students. I put the theory behind metabolism and muscle function into practice. It achieved my goal, I can now last through a 4 hour gig with Eddie Brookshire. And a side benefit, I hit that double high C with solid attack, whenever I rarely need it. In this technique, dental position is not an issue. Its all about forming the optimal orbital mouth muscle to diminish fatigue (build up of lactic acid to this and support muscle).

That's what it is all about. Endurance. Not double C, triple C. When one had assured endurance, they play what ever they want to play with mindful security. That is the goal.

@Dr-Mark said in Perfect Pitch:

@SSmith1226
...I worked on this but found it to be a huge pain in the ass. Not that the system didn't work, it fine tuned my listening to the point that if I heard something just slightly out of tune for any period of time, it gave me a headache. I'm happy with relative pitch...

Agreed, relative pitch works for me. Relative pitch is most important to use since most of us play in ensembles consisting mostly of mere mortals... Relative works well in this context.

@Dr-Mark said in Lifetime quest finally paying off!:

@Kehaulani
Where in the world will a person use a triple high C?

To call their dogs in their neighborhood?

@GeorgeB said in Artist on BOARD:

@BigDub

If you make the dog any more real looking than it is, it just might bite you in the ass...

It might, as I just cleaned up its poop!

@Dr-Mark said in Where Are You From?:

I'm a Mountaineer,
Song?
Take Me Home Country Roads

Okay but post your favorite version that best expresses the true feeling of home. It is a beautiful song and your choice of home feel would be special.

barliman2001. I am wishing you speedy recovery from your urgent medical matter. Thoughts of healing are going out to you. Glad to hear it's not Corona. Have been loosing some good musicians to that one. Hopefully this malady you will beat in now time and will have a speedy recovery!

@Dr-Mark said in Unbelievable. Too young and for no reason.:

@flugelgirl
A fellow West Virginian, Bill Withers has just passed.
Just damned.

Ain't no sunshine since he's gone.

@BigDub said in Artist on BOARD:

Here are some subtle finishing touches. I think I may be done with it, but I will wait a while to decide...

Looks dog-gone-good to me. Nothing fur-ther needs to be done from my prospective.

@Sound-Advice said in Lifetime quest finally paying off!:

"I am vehemently opposed to the 'common ground argument' of the (EEE) action of the tongue for the upper register combined with the relative jaw motion because:

A. Raising the tongue to the EE position raises the floor of the oral cavity and thus cuts the oral cavity approximately in half.

Result 1: Vibration is inhibited and muffled in the smaller chamber, leaving a smaller, basic sound to be amplified by the instrument.

Result 2: EEE position of tongue prevents cheek muscles from fighting or resisting air column in the mouth cavity because the air column doesn't reach the cheek muscle. Lip tensions therefore become strained.

Result 3: EEE position of tongue causes air leakage through nasal passage, reducing needed compression at the lips (I would say that 100% of the players that articulate EEE leak air through the nose at the peak of their range"...

End quote of Roy Stevens up to that point...

Sound-Advice... This to meee reads as one dimensional reasoning.

Result 1: Vibration is not a function of chamber volume alone. You cannot forget about the pressure wave within the chamber and the ability of the smaller volume to allow pressure to work in favor vibratory support. (Also the MRI video disproves this read)

Result 2: EEE position of tongue and on influence on cheek function, cranial nerve 12 is independent of cranial nerve 5. If you have not had a stroke (maybe this is Roy Stevens problem) the tongue position had no control override of a person's ability to compensate with cranial nerve control. I'm a physician, don't mess with me man when it comes to physiology of the oral cavity.

Result 3: Nose leakage? Really? Another independent neurological control, cranial nerve 10. We, as humans, have counter regulatory control over these strictures to protect for these actions. So to quote Monty Python: I blow my nose at you!

@Kehaulani said in CLEAN YOUR HORN!:

... having less resistance from the sudden absence of junk in it = change in pulmonary airway from aerosolization of growth in the brass"

This is an appropriate English to Medical Language translation.