I played trumpet for years, had a beautiful tone but no endurance. Any time I played in the upper register for 5-10 mins. my lips went numb. Everyone said practice and build up your chops, but that did not work. I would like to start playing again, would a high end horn help; Silver Flair etc.? Mouth piece?
I picked up a soprano sax about 10 months ago and can`t believe how comparitively easy it is to play, but my heart is still with the trumpet.

new horns won`t help endurance and unless you want to screw yourself over than don`t listen to advice about mouthpieces on this forum because people are about to start reccomending shallow mouthpieces that will screw you over. the only thing to do is build lip strength and that takes time... not just a few days... usually a few months.

go check out those embouchure method books, like balanced embouchure or super chops. trumpetherold.com is a much better forum for your type of questions, they have top of the line players or teachers who moderate that particular forum. It is "somewhat" well organized, go check it out.

Oh, and you should always be careful for internet material, there is always a possiblity of fraud. Reading is fun though so enjoy! http://trumpetherold.com

oops my bad, http://trumpetherald.com

Is your stomach hard when you play? Does your tone crack in the upper register? When you take a breath do your shoulders raise or does your stomach get hard? If you are not supporting then your endurance will go quickly. Try taking a breath with a deep "o" syllable. That should send the breath where it needs to be.

Yea read about that man... I had the same problem when i got back a few days ago... I couldnt hit my high notes and i sounded horrible i go mad lol.