Lip flexibility

[MikeW]

A trumpet player in our community band has been advised to begin his warm-up with long notes on a didgeridoo, to relax his lip before playing.

His didgeridoo has a rubber-like mouthpiece like a very wide and very shallow sousaphone mouthpiece with a half-inch throat. I blew a couple of long notes on it, and it is at least possible that my tuning stabilized a little quicker that day, maybe.

I found a few references to the didgeridoo in the archives; I guess several of you must own them so I thought I would ask:

Do you use the didgeridoo as part of your regular practise ?
For lip flexibility, or for breathing, or what ?
Is it worth buying or building one (drain pipe plus thermo-setting modelling clay) ?
Or would blowing pedals on a tuba serve the same function?

[Bacchanalia]

Or would blowing pedals on a tuba serve the same function?

Ding, Ding, Ding...I think we have a winner.

Relaxation, blood flow, waking the muscles up, what's not to love?
But I really have to wonder who's recommending this to him...and do they sell didgeridoos?
Really, couldn't they think of something a little more realistic for a warm-up routine?

It's like telling a weight lifter that he must bench press a buffalo...not the equivalent weight of a buffalo...but an actual buffalo.

Not actually owning a didgeridoo, maybe I'm completely missing something here. It wouldn't be the first time.

[MikeW]

To be fair, that's only the start of his routine. After that he goes into the usual stuff like buzzing scales on the mouthpiece, long notes, exercises from Arban etc. The didgeridoo seemed a bit strange to me as well, but he swears by it, and on the one occasion that I tried one it seemed it might offer some benefit....enough to make me curious.

[Lingon]

Or modern tools from yet another culture?

[Peach]

I use tools from yet another primitive culture. My lips are really quite flexible.

Mwahahahaha!

[b.williams]

1. Do you use the didgeridoo as part of your regular practise ?
2. For lip flexibility, or for breathing, or what ?
3. Is it worth buying or building one (drain pipe plus thermo-setting modelling clay) ?
4. Or would blowing pedals on a tuba serve the same function?

1. No.
2. Nothing.
3. Hell no.
4. I don't know.

I would recommend working on low register long tones on the trumpet a la Claude Gordon et al. I practice cornet just about every day and thats what I do.

[Roger Lewis]

You might find this to be another way of accomplishing the same thing on the tuba.

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Just my $0.02.

Roger

[MikeW]

So let me see:
Lip relaxation/breathing exercises before beginning to play: sanctioned by Arnold Jacobs, so probably ok.
Exercising on the tuba ok, buzzing and blowing on modified mouthpieces ok (extra points for cheap homemade equipment)
Building/buying a digeridoo when you already have a tuba: pointless, but fun (points for blushing a little when you admit it)
Using a didgeridoo as a surrogate bass for the tuba-poor: novel, and suspiciously new-age

How about a portable telescopic convertible didgeridoo/yard-of-ale ?