Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2005 9:36 am
I went to Bryant JH back in the '70's until my family moved to New Mexico. Mr. Murphy was my BD. Cool!One more thing. I noticed you are from Arkansas. I'm from Bryant originally.
Page 1 of 1
Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2005 3:16 pm
I have posted on mouth sores several times before. I switched from a silver mouthpiece to gold and finally a Kelly plastic. I now use my Kelly for everything. Another cause of my lip zits was abrasive irritation caused by playing too loud for too long. I play tuba in a rock trio and by turning my gain up on the mike and playing mezzo-forte instead of blasting,I can now play four hours without breaking out two days later all over the area covered by the mouthpiece rim.
Once the zits are out, I treat them and then apply stinky old A and D diaper rash ointment. At my age,it takes most of a week to heal up. Here lately,I have been getting a lot better at playing more softly all night and the sores have not come. Also,I am going to order a tube of chopsaver cream from ibowtie.com to apply after a gig and to treat zits that occur. Maybe that stuff won't smell as bad as A and D.
I spent twenty years in bars blowing trumpet shots,unamplified, along with an electric lead guitar. I had no idea how loud I was playing until we booked into a small room and my trumpet had the manager in tears. It has taken me months to find a way to quiet down my tuba and still play with punch. Now,however, I have room to play with more dynamics than ever before. I think things are going to work out.
Once the zits are out, I treat them and then apply stinky old A and D diaper rash ointment. At my age,it takes most of a week to heal up. Here lately,I have been getting a lot better at playing more softly all night and the sores have not come. Also,I am going to order a tube of chopsaver cream from ibowtie.com to apply after a gig and to treat zits that occur. Maybe that stuff won't smell as bad as A and D.
I spent twenty years in bars blowing trumpet shots,unamplified, along with an electric lead guitar. I had no idea how loud I was playing until we booked into a small room and my trumpet had the manager in tears. It has taken me months to find a way to quiet down my tuba and still play with punch. Now,however, I have room to play with more dynamics than ever before. I think things are going to work out.
Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2005 3:42 pm
My son also has this issue. I will be spending a fair amount of money in the next few years on mouthpieces and rims, depending on what he fits. To see if they were any good, I got a couple: DEG and a Kelly. He likes the DEG nylon cup.
As for me, I use a Kelly 18 with a strip of golfer's lead tape around the shank where it meets the bowl for everything, indoors and out, on my Conn/Cavalier sousaphone (predecessor to a 14k). Last week I demonstrated it to some band teachers who play in the local community university band, and they were duly impressed.
They're inexpensive, being lexan they won't break, and it might just be the solution to your situation.
As for me, I use a Kelly 18 with a strip of golfer's lead tape around the shank where it meets the bowl for everything, indoors and out, on my Conn/Cavalier sousaphone (predecessor to a 14k). Last week I demonstrated it to some band teachers who play in the local community university band, and they were duly impressed.
They're inexpensive, being lexan they won't break, and it might just be the solution to your situation.
Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2005 11:09 pm
About a year ago, I was playing lead trombone in two ensembles back to back, and then going straight to wind ensemble on euphonium for an extra hour and a half. A friend loaned me his 11C mouthpiece while I was on the market for a new piece. It was a generic brand; there was not even a logo or label of any kind letting you know what company made it. I started getting mad breakouts right after, and I wasn't sure what it was from. For the majority of the next week or two, I thought it was the two and a half to three hours of playing high G's to F's above that, and then playing in wind ensemble right after.
The Abreva worked OK, but one thing I noticed for me, is that it didn't exactly heal the problem, but sped up the healing process. If a blister/zit/whatever we want to call it started appearing, it usually took about two to three weeks to heal. With this stuff, it took about one, but I still had to endure the pain and whiteheads and whatever else goes with it. When I finally bought my Warburton, the problem was pretty much gone. I also noticed that this problem still arose if I had a stressful playing situation coming up, like a recital. I haven't seen it recently at all, but I put the trombone down to concentrate on euph and bass. Then again, I still have the horn to my face around 4-6 hours a day; granted I don't have to wail on high C's and D's the whole time.
I have heard that gold plated mouthpieces were originally done for reasons of allergic reactions to the silver plating, and that people only a while afterwards started getting them for their looks, but I don't know how true that is.
Nick
The Abreva worked OK, but one thing I noticed for me, is that it didn't exactly heal the problem, but sped up the healing process. If a blister/zit/whatever we want to call it started appearing, it usually took about two to three weeks to heal. With this stuff, it took about one, but I still had to endure the pain and whiteheads and whatever else goes with it. When I finally bought my Warburton, the problem was pretty much gone. I also noticed that this problem still arose if I had a stressful playing situation coming up, like a recital. I haven't seen it recently at all, but I put the trombone down to concentrate on euph and bass. Then again, I still have the horn to my face around 4-6 hours a day; granted I don't have to wail on high C's and D's the whole time.
I have heard that gold plated mouthpieces were originally done for reasons of allergic reactions to the silver plating, and that people only a while afterwards started getting them for their looks, but I don't know how true that is.
Nick