SRA cycle and brass instruments

[Greg Ruhl]

Hi Rip,
I'm getting back to playing low brass. When you learned the trumpet, did you apply the SRA cycle to the development of the embochure musculature? If so, how did you approach it? I'm thinking that these are smaller muscles and can recover more quickly. I'm also thinking that long, higher notes are the equivalent of a "heavy" rep or set and are the optimal way to strengthen the embochure. Thoughts?

I've found that lifting has given me a lot of playing power (strong abdominals can push air faster/harder through the instrument).

[Mark Rippetoe]

You're writing this book, Greg. When I started 22 years ago, I had no idea that there was a cycle. But we do need another bone player.

[Greg Ruhl]

I'll give it a try and report back. Thanks!

[Escroll]

Hi Rip,
I'm getting back to playing low brass. When you learned the trumpet, did you apply the SRA cycle to the development of the embochure musculature? If so, how did you approach it? I'm thinking that these are smaller muscles and can recover more quickly. I'm also thinking that long, higher notes are the equivalent of a "heavy" rep or set and are the optimal way to strengthen the embochure. Thoughts?

I've found that lifting has given me a lot of playing power (strong abdominals can push air faster/harder through the instrument).

I play French Horn at a professional level, and am currently a more or less rank novice running SS. I’ve been thinking about the SRA cycle and how it relates to brass playing lately - my thoughts are very preliminary but here goes. Long tones and isometric exercises have always been the gold standard for building endurance, and logically the small muscles should follow the same SRA cycle as larger muscles involved in weight lifting. However endurance and range are not solely functions of strength, but also I think of the ability of the lips to endure the strain of whipping back and forth under tension for a long period of time, and to resist inflammation. I’m not sure exactly how that would relate to their strength, but it’s a quality which seems to require cumulative adaptation over quite a long period of time (5+years at the least), and have a pretty hard daily cap. Someone with a greater knowledge of muscle physiology could surely make more informed comments than me.

I will say that I am of the idea that the neuromuscular (or fine motor coordination) aspect of learning brass playing very definitely follows the SRA cycle - improving or replacing a motor pattern causing a stress which must be followed by recovery if adaptation is expected.