Posted by AL on June 30, 2000 at 21:18:26:
In Reply to: What's a girl to do?? posted by Cheryl on June 29, 2000 at 12:49:53:
Apart from the physical, you could try working on the brain via singing through your excerpts or solos, with piano for exact pitch, and really working on intonation and then moving on to musicality. Singing your pieces the way you want them to come out on the tuba. If you can sing them well, then applying it to the tuba, it makes a differnce. Also getting inspired with recordings and live concerts keeps your brain active and motivated, I find anyway.
Also, if you walk alot, you could do a breathing excercise such as breath in fully over 2 steps then release over 4, in over 2 and out over 6. Keep the breathing in over 2 always and go up by two with the exhale. I think the aim is to focus on the sensation of filling up the lungs and really controlling the realease. It is hard at first, and you will feel light headed, but it can be good to make it harder than it will be on the tuba.
In the end, it's not so much your chops that are lacking work, it's everything else that doesn't get used while you don't play for a while. Your lips will probably be sore when you first start back, so take it easy, but having sung through your parts and worked on breathing it wont be so bad because you wont be working the lips that hard.
Even small amounts of buzzing will help.
Big "sorry I was long and drawn out" AL