Jonathan West <[email protected]> wrote: Get some lessons and have an experienced player look over the horn. He or she will be in a much better position to say whether it is OK than anybody here
This is good advice, of course. Whether you're playing horn or golf or Texas poker, it is much easier for someone else to analyze flawed technique than the perpetrator himself. > 2) Breathing - I'm doing the old "book on the diaphragm" exercises; long > tones; not much improvement. Previously I lived in the midwest. I'm now in > the mountains at 8500 feet. Could that make a difference? Since you're acclimatised to it, there's no particular reason for that to make much of a difference. It's far more likely one or more of the following is the major cause of slow progress with strength of lip This opinion is not buttressed by any facts and is therefore suspect! Air pressure at 8500 ft is slightly less than 3/4 air pressure at sea level. If one is acclimatized, and has an uncompromised pulmonary system, there would be no shortness of breath at that altitude. Breathing might be just a little deeper or more rapid. And the speed of sound is not significantly changed at that altitude, so wind instruments will not suffer immediate severe tuning problems. But the reduced density is certainly enough to affect breathing, tonguing, and embouchure behavior. On the other hand, it is not certain that altitude is the root of your problems, real or imagined. If (and _only_ if) you cannot visit some pro to evaluate your technique, if only for a single lesson, then my suggestion is to stop imagining all sorts of age- or altitude-induced problems. You cannot change your age (other than sitting on your butt as you become older) and probably there is a good reason you are living at an altitude on the right end of the bell curve, not free to move somewhere like Malibu or New Orleans or Death Valley or Elkhart Indiana. So instead just forget about all your real or imagined problems and conceive the sound and technique you want to achieve. Then make it happen by working towards that sound. That way you will adapt your technique to your age and/or altitude. You may adapt your playing, but you cannot easily adapt your age or geography. You gotta play the cards you are dealt. _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
