TromboneChat

So when I have 'bad chop days'I find myself just wasting my time trying to somehow get things to work and then getting frusturated when they don't. Do you have any advice for doing something that's actually productive? I'm especially frusturated right now since I have an upcoming audition.

Put the horn on the stand and go do something else, come back tomorrow

JCBone wrote: ↑Mon Feb 22, 2021 9:12 am So when I have 'bad chop days'I find myself just wasting my time trying to somehow get things to work and then getting frusturated when they don't. Do you have any advice for doing something that's actually productive? I'm especially frusturated right now since I have an upcoming audition.

If you feel like you MUST practice, find something productive you can do. Slow scales. First studies from Arban’s. Slow slurs. Technical shedding at half speed.

Also working without the horn can be so productive. Sing at the piano, listen, do organizational/administrative tasks (making audition packets, listening playlists, emails, travel plans, practice plans etc etc), clean your horn.

I find doing something productive is usually more relaxing to me than just giving up for the day in frustration. Rest on purpose can be productive, but you’ve got to believe it’s right and not a failure.

I take it very carefully. First try to make the sound coming out the right way without to much struggle. My method is to buzz a lot and then try to make the F in staff sound ok without force anything.

Thats me but I think the key is not to force anything. Or as Vegasbound told, wait to next day.

Leif

"Bad chops days" happen for a few reasons, in my experience. Rather than accept them, you can try and reduce their occurrence.

1. You are dehydrated. Drink water. It won't be a fix until the next day, and you have to stay hydrated. This still happens to me, rarely, but luckily I have a wife who is a health nut and constantly reminds me to drink water. I've found that on days where I'm dehydrated, my lips are thinner and my teeth feel like they are in a different place. And I think, my god, why did my mouthpiece get larger?

2. You are sick. Not much you can do about this. See number one, above. I drink a vitamin C drink every day.

3. You are out of practice physically. If you take a week off the horn, even if you are very disciplined about documenting and remembering how your embouchure and air function, your lips will feel thin and you'll get tired easily. The fix is to keep your knowledge of your embouchure up to date, apply what you know, don't get tense, and stay in the low register. Focus on making the connection between the air going into the horn, and having the horn push back on you. Lip slurs. You'll be back in the game in a day or two.

4. You're out of practice mentally, or never were in shape mentally to begin with. If you don't have a routine you do religiously (a warm up routine has as much to do with remembering the function of your embouchure and air as it does with warming up the muscles), and you don't have a working knowledge base of your embouchure and air that you can actually apply, then you will easily forget how to play. This is very common in beginners and even college students. A bad chop day is literally that they forgot how to play, got frustrated, got tense, and then adopted an inefficient way of playing that day. This is the hardest to overcome, and the hardest to admit. I would have "bad chop days" in college and didn't know why. But this is the exact reason why. Basically, I sucked and was still a beginner even though I had many really good days each week. Once I learned the lip slur routines, especially the low register routines in the Brad Edwards book, and did them religiously every day for a year, and consciously thought about what I was doing, that was when type 4 bad chop day went away for good. For now.... Knock on wood... (Where is that lip slur book again?)...

What do you mean by “bad chop days”?

I certainly have days where I have more difficulty with tone, flexibility, accuracy, etc. I just spend a little more time on the relevant part of my warm up like long tones, lip slurs, etc. Playing quietly and slowly (aka. taking it easy) can help a lot too.

JCBone wrote: ↑Mon Feb 22, 2021 9:12 am So when I have 'bad chop days'I find myself just wasting my time trying to somehow get things to work and then getting frusturated when they don't. Do you have any advice for doing something that's actually productive? I'm especially frusturated right now since I have an upcoming audition.

Go back and listen to previous practice sessions with focus and plan out a practice strategy for things to work on the next day.

Listen with focus to some excellent musicians and see what you can learn from it.

Do a little reading or research on the composers of the music you're practicing.

Do some analysis on the music you're practicing and get into how that piece is constructed.

Practice a secondary instrument, if you've got one. If not, take up piano/keyboard.

Pop into a music forum and enjoy an interesting discussion about music.

Video or audio record yourself practicing regularly. If you're having a bad day, record yourself playing a little bit and see if you tell what you're doing differently from a good day.

Also, depending on how you're playing, sometimes things might feel like they're working great - until the next day when whatever it was that you were doing comes back to haunt you. If you're finding your playing is inconsistent a lot, consider setting up a video lesson with someone who can help you troubleshoot (my go-to is Doug Elliott, one of the moderators here, sometimes people even consult with me for help, there are others out there too).

Put some music on and hit the garden.

What Harrison said. Find the reason you're having a "bad chop day" first. Work on the cause, not the symptoms.

On those particular days, my response ranges from "put the horn down" to "figure out the problem and have a great day afterwards."

But nothing can be done if you don't figure out the reason why those days are happening.

If that happens and if the cause is my chops are swollen then I will put the horn in the box. It has not happend for many years now. What has happend is I don't feel like playing because I'm to tired or unfocused. Maybe I did not sleep well or had to work late so time has gone. When this happens I try to play for at least 15 minutes and only basic stuff, but sometimes even 15 minutes is too much. If that's the case the horn stays in the box. I can allow one day of no practice as this does not effect my playing negatively, it may even improve things to take a single day off. If playing is a disaster? No point to waste time on swollen lips. They will be okay tomorrow.

/Tom

What people have said above. In addition, sometimes we need to focus on playing and producing something regardless of how it feels or how we think it sounds. On those days, just playing—the discipline of a routine—helps me achieve something when things aren’t working well or when I think they don’t sound good.

What Kris said.

My go-to is either Arban's First Studies or Brad Edwards Lip Slurs, depending on what specifically isn't working well. Sometimes it's Rochut, usually 8vb (I'm a bass trombone player after all).

For all of those, I use calendar method. Play each study that ends in the same digit as today's date. When you run out, put the horn away. You've done something to make tomorrow better.

Teele & Caruso. Actual rep if I have to practice for something specific.

If you are a pro you are going to run into performance situations where you maybe don't feel great or aren't connecting well with your horn that day. Still have to find a way to get through the gig. It's also like 80% psychological, a bunch of people will probably still think you sound great even when you aren't living up to your own expectations.