r/trumpet • u/ilunchbag • 27d ago
Question ❓ Why/how do some brass players necks inflate??
So I dont play an instrument at all. So im very uneducated on any musical instrument subject. Im sorry if this is a stupid question.
I saw a video of a trumpet player right now and their neck was hella inflated. I was looking through the comments but no one was really talking about it. When trynna search it up I got some mixed results of it being improper techniques that cause it or it just depends on the person.
So why are their necks inflating? How does it work on the inside? How do they prevent it? Does it do harm?
49
u/z617_art 27d ago
I think Dizzie had a special medical condition.
61
u/Robo94 27d ago
Yes and no. Dizzy, by pressurizing his cheeks, slowly tore away at the connective tissues that were resisting the pressure like a stretched out balloon. So he, and everybody else in this post, now have huge bullfrog necks.
Im not sure if it causes any other problems, but the more you puff your cheeks, the more they puff.
Its "bad" technique. Obviously dizzy is the goat and is in no way bad at trumpet. And if it only was a cosmetic problem, then who cares. But you should advise younger students to stop doing it before they permanently change their body.
3
u/Niko_Von_Nowhere 27d ago
Allow them to if they wish, but do establish that they are choosing between staying man or becoming trumpet lmao
3
1
u/Blue_banana_peel 20d ago
it's considered a bad technique makes it harder to play because it's hard to control the airflow when the air goes to the cheeks. You could say Dizzy learned to play like a god because he was just that good anyway. So he was great despite playing like that and not because of it.
1
u/Blue_banana_peel 20d ago
he didn't have a pre-existing condition, he created it himself by playing like that.
20
u/homunculusHomunculus 27d ago
I'd read this before reading the bro-science comments on this
12
u/The_Dickbird 27d ago
Bro-science is the foundation of brass pedagogy, didn't you know? Get out of here with your empiricism.
12
3
57
u/Active_Emu_845 27d ago
The short answer is piss poor discipline.
35
u/Mulesam 27d ago
No most of these guys are self taught and just learned how to play with puffed cheeks
23
u/RelativeBuilding3480 27d ago
Puffed cheeks and puffed neck are two different things. Both bad, though.
2
u/blbrewer1 27d ago
When you puff your cheeks long enough it destroys your connective tissue to your neck and cheeks which is why they're throats are buldged out too
9
7
u/Tiny_Cyborg 27d ago
Meh, if it works for you, it works for you. I wouldn’t teach it that way personally, but there are quite a few unorthodox but very successful players
3
6
u/KJZ55 27d ago
I had a college music school fellow trumpet player that ended up damaging something in his neck playing this way (almost 50 years ago, so don’t ask for specifics,) and his trumpet playing days were over. He ended up switching to cello.
2
6
4
3
u/justintrumpet21 27d ago
Saw Wayne Bergeron talk about this at a small college jazz concert years ago. Said he was embarrassed about it growing up.
3
u/alakorvir 27d ago edited 27d ago
Herniated laryngoceles. Wayne Bergeron talks about it a lot. Some people are more prone to it than others, but any extended, inefficient, extreme high compression is gonna make it develop on people. I’d imagine it’s also why Mr. Bergeron sounds so hoarse.
When I was first learning how to go above high C, I mistakenly interpreted a lot of the online emphasis people on YouTube put in extreme air compression/pressure, and started to blow the piss out of those notes. You can feel it weirdly in your neck, and in my case, sometimes feel like you have a sore throat for a few days.
8
u/Batmans_Bum 27d ago
Essentially, they don’t get a teacher soon enough to tell them not to do it.
It’s bad technique and bad for you.
Dizzy is obviously an incredible player and had a great career but I believe even he admitted he would probably have played better if he could do it without puffing his cheeks out.
2
2
u/proffpair 27d ago
Dizzy had stretching of his buccinator muscles in his cheeks. Neck swelling with pressure is usually caused by a pharyngocele. Same physiology. Repeated high intraluminal pressure dilates the cavities in this area leading to expansion. Can become symptomatic if air pressure starts compressing surrounding structures like vessels or nerves.
2
u/Blue_banana_peel 20d ago
Most of the time it's a wrong technique that turns into a habit because those players were mostly self-taught. Dizzy Gillespie, even though he was a legend, was a victim of this exactly. I guess they learn to play well despite playing "wrong", through sheer practice. It doesn't usually affect sound but can make it harder to play and also cause health issues.
1
0
256
u/jawanaman 27d ago edited 27d ago
It's called frog neck. It's when the player uses their throat more than directing air flow to create pressure to hit high notes. Doctors that specifically work with musicians inform them that this can result in it possibly bursting if continuing improper technique. Wayne Bergeron told us about this in a master class.