Today my lips don't fit my mouthpiece

[imsevimse]

I was on tour this weekend, traveled about 260 km north in Sweden from where I live, not that much but we drove about 3.5 hours. It was cold and the water froze on the inside of the window next to my seat. In the mini bus it was rather ventilated and I guess my lips got a little dry in the process. When we arrived it was -23°C. which is -9.4°F. I took a quick walk but it was so cold I immediately started to cough. We did the gig and that turned out well, went to sleep and then we drove the same 260 km home in same cool vehicle. Today my lips don't want to vibrate. They do not wake-up, and they do not fit my mouthpiece

Are there any good suggestions/quick fixes or should I just take the day off? What would you do? Suggestions?

/Tom

[harrisonreed]

You're likely dehydrated. Cold weather dehydrates you and you don't realize it, because it's cold.

Drink lots of water and hot herbal tea with honey, no fika, no beer

[ghmerrill]

... no beer

I thought that beer works great. It's just that because there's alcohol in it, you have to drink more of it to get the right degree of hydration. Isn't that how it works?

Really, the only thing I find shocking here is that it's -9.4°F in Sweden in the middle of winter. I thought they had cold weather.

[imsevimse]

... no beer

I thought that beer works great. It's just that because there's alcohol in it, you have to drink more of it to get the right degree of hydration. Isn't that how it works?

Really, the only thing I find shocking here is that it's -9.4°F in Sweden in the middle of winter. I thought they had cold weather.

Sweden is wide from south to north and I live just below the middle 40 km from the capitol Stockholm, it's more close the south. We had -40°C (-40°F) that day in north.

I put the horn in the case for an hour, had some sugar free cola and surrendered to my Bach 11C mouthpiece. It doesn't work today. Had to dig deep in the mouthpiece box. I knew I had a bunch of 6 1/2 AL mouthpieces. After an hour it still feel bad but lips vibrate so I will play some. Strange feeling, Can't recall my lips ever felt this bad. Confidence is null. Lucky I do not have to play great today. Nobody is listening...

/Tom

[Burgerbob]

Yup, dehydration. Hit some electrolytes and drink a bunch of water. It takes hours, if not a day or longer to recover from that kind of feeling.

[imsevimse]

Lips are okay. I'm back.

/Tom

[AtomicClock]

Yup, dehydration. Hit some electrolytes and drink a bunch of water. It takes hours, if not a day or longer to recover from that kind of feeling.

It might be quicker to go to a medical center and have an IV saline hookup. I don't know under what conditions they would allow that, compared to just hydration & rest. "Doc, I got a gig tonight!"

[Crazy4Tbone86]

One of my teachers would advise…….

“You can play if your lips are in pain, although it is definitely not advisable, but you cannot play if your lips are swollen.”

I wonder if this applied to your situation?

[imsevimse]

One of my teachers would advise…….

“You can play if your lips are in pain, although it is definitely not advisable, but you cannot play if your lips are swollen.”

I wonder if this applied to your situation?

Yes. Dehydration and a drafty, cold car was a bad combination. Swollen lips for me does not work.

/Tom

[Doug Elliott]

Cold weather always makes lip vibration difficult for me, but I deal with it. That's where a big inside diameter helps. If I have to play an outdoor gig in the winter sometimes I'll switch to one size bigger rim.

[imsevimse]

Cold weather always makes lip vibration difficult for me, but I deal with it. That's where a big inside diameter helps. If I have to play an outdoor gig in the winter sometimes I'll switch to one size bigger rim.

Maby I should have done the gig on a larger rim that evening. The reaction on the lips came the day after.

/Tom

[Crazy4Tbone86]

Cold weather always makes lip vibration difficult for me, but I deal with it. That's where a big inside diameter helps. If I have to play an outdoor gig in the winter sometimes I'll switch to one size bigger rim.

I wish I would have known this or thought of it a long time ago. Back some years, my brass quintet had a consistent outdoor gig with an upscale shopping court. We played 3+ hours on the Friday and Saturday evening after Thanksgiving, and then every Friday night in the month of December up until Christmas. I think I did that gig for 16 or 17 years straight.

On the really cold evenings, we intentionally designed our music sets so they got more and more simple as it got colder. We knew that by the end of a cold night our range was reduced to about an octave on our respective instruments. All of us felt like we couldn’t fit our lips inside the mouthpiece after a couple of hours in the cold……very similar to the topic here. I never thought to move to a slightly wider rim.

[Doug Elliott]

And then you discover that the bigger diameter actually works better all the time.

[harrisonreed]

I would use the narrow 106 for regular playing, and the normal lexan 106 for outdoor playing. Saved me in Sapporo, during the snow festival, when we did a subzero gig in the snow. The wider rim contour felt better, and my chops stood up no prob.

We played until the instruments stopped working. My trombone eventually muted itself from internal ice.

[AtomicClock]

We played until the instruments stopped working. My trombone eventually muted itself from internal ice.

One has to wonder if there was any audience in conditions like that.

[harrisonreed]

We played until the instruments stopped working. My trombone eventually muted itself from internal ice.

One has to wonder if there was any audience in conditions like that.

Yeah there were probably 500 people in front of the stage. It is a pretty unique festival, and there were probably 10000 people within earshot, on that block of park. Everyone is there to see giant ice stages and sculptures. We had a huge applause when the last instrument falled, in a "yoku ganbatta" "well fought" sorta way.

The organizers were happy to have us since all the rock and pop groups had to cancel because their equipment wouldn't work. Only us and the JSDF performed that day.

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[imsevimse]

And then you discover that the bigger diameter actually works better all the time.

Could be, but I do not think so for me. I can play wider rims and I do this if I think it helps. Sometimes it does but sometimes it doesn't. The context is what makes me decide.

On wider rims I get more tired and feel fatigued earlier in an evening, especially if demands includes a lot of loud playing in the high register. This has been my experience and is during normal performance conditions.
If I play lead in a big band I want the Bach 11C or my Yamaha Nils Landgren signature mouthpiece. On both these mouthpieces I normally don't feel fatigued, and I can cover the whole register on the lead charts with ease. Erlier mouthpieces that I liked are a Bach MT Vernon 12C and a Bach 6 3/4 C. Besides my own preferences I also listen to what my friends say about my plaing. They do comment the tools a lot because they know I'm a collector and they also know I like criticisms. What's most important to me is the opinion of the section, and they often comment my lead playing. I've noticed they do it more positively when I'm on certain gears. Lately I've especially noticed this when I switch to the 11C. They tell me the lead sound is best with this mouthpiece on any of the horns I bring and this is why I'm now moving away more and more from the Yamaha. The Yamaha is a tad wider and gives a more mellow lead sound and in some situations that would be what I want but is not what's picked up as the "best" or "most effective" lead sound, apparently.

The organizers were happy to have us since all the rock and pop groups had to cancel because their equipment wouldn't work. Only us and the JSDF performed that day.

Those pictures tell the story. I wouldn't want to change place with you at any cost. Bad conditions but good work from you

/Tom