My High School Marching Band plays really loud. I have a solo but I need to play over the band and I am having trouble with it. I`m using a 12E for the solo but run out of breath and cannot carry above the rest of the band. Any advise would be great.

i wouldnt suggest switching equipment. Your just going to have a lot of weird quirky little problems with that.

second, have you heard yourself out in front? by that i mean have you tried recording that section and seeing if you cant be heard?

if you cant be heard i wouldnt try to play louder. If you are already playing at your threshold volume without sounding bad, thats as loud as you can play. at that point i would talk to you band director about this. Its just not a good idea to FORCE anything out of your horn,especially volume. Stupid little problems will start to surface in your playing.

cheers

just a curious question also. what kind of horn and mpc do you normally play on.

this might have something to do with your problem

In band I play on a silver-plated yamaha, school owned and I use a 12C for band and 6 1/2 for symphonic. I`m first chair so I`m used to playing loud but the problem is the director doesn`t listen to us. He always wants us to play louder and louder. At home I use my laquer bach strad.

why the difference in mouthpieces on field and symphonic?

i suggest you use the 6 1/2. im guessing that its more comfortable for you than the 12. i think you might find also that you can put out a bit more sound with it too.

give it a try.

and also if talking to the boss equates to nothing. just give it your best if hes unhappy its his fault he isnt able to affectively communicate the important musical moment.

oops probably shouldnt have said that =)

Here`s a little something that I tell my students a lot. It works for playing high, and playing out, especially for solos. Imagine this. Imagine you are playing normally. Now imagine you are playing your solo. Imagine as you are playing that solo, (or playing high), that you are playing for someone 25 or 30 yards furthur away. The idea behind this is projection, instead of trying to play louder by forcing it.

The hard thing during this is sounding clean as you do it. The louder you get, the dirtier it may sound. But if you think projection, i.e. playing for someone furthur away, instead of blowing your brains out(bad), it may help a little psychologically.

The other problem may be the band. It`s your solo, meaning you have the melody. If the band is playing full out during your solo, it meeans they are playing over the melody. Which is wrong. There is one thing about playing full out, which is fun, but it is another thing when you are playing full out not caring whether you are playing the melody or covering it up. Tell them to come down a bit so you can be heard.

thanks guys

just have the director make everyone else play quitier since their not playing the melody and their drowning out the melody, just have everyone else play a couple "notches" down