TromboneChat

I'm playing bass trombone with a little community band .Not sure when it started happening, but when I put the horn down, there's a lot of spit on my face. I started off on tenor with the group and can't recall whether the same thing happened. I use a Faxx 1.5 mouthpiece with the bass.

Are you pointing the instrument upward so the moisture is draining back towards you? That would do it.

Nope. Playing down toward the ground.

Not sure if this helps, but I had a similar problem after starting to double on tuba a year ago. I was drowning in moisture with the tuba, and emptying 3 spit valves. The excess spit subsided after a few months (thankfully!) and now I don't have to wear a bib to play. I think it may just be getting used to the larger mouthpiece and the extra air flow.

I have had that issue my entire playing life. Not spit on my face, but emptying often.

I have had a few students who had very wet faces when they played. All of them were downward angle players, so it had nothing to do with the instrument draining water back on the player.

One player in particular just learned to wear a bib-type thing when he was in high school. He was a spectacular player……went on to win the concerto competition at the college he attended. As he got older, he learned to also have a small towel nearby while he was playing.

When I was younger, I played with dry chops. When I went to Oberlin, my teacher (Thomas Cramer) encouraged me to play with wet chops because your lips can move around and it enables greater flexibility. I remember him saying something like……”it is better to have saliva dripping off your chin than to play with dry chops.”

"”it is better to have saliva dripping off your chin"

What an image...As @Lastbone said, I suspect that the larger mouthpiece might be the reason, but I don't recall the problem a year or so ago. Last night, I believe I caught myself with tongue sticking out between my pearly whites. Hmm.

Perhaps checking your self out in a mirror while playing will give you a clue as to what is going on.

Just a guess but a too large mouthpiece may not allow your lips to seal completely. That may allow excess moisture to escape. Have you tried a smaller mouthpiece as a test?

So I'm not the only one with this problem? I need to empty the horn every minute.

PhilTrombone wrote: ↑Thu Feb 23, 2023 8:30 am Perhaps checking your self out in a mirror while playing will give you a clue as to what is going on.

That's what I was thinking. Sometimes you can have a leak that you don't notice - a little air squirting out just outside the mouthpiece, maybe when tonguing. I would think some spit would escape with the air. Some players with a leak still sound good.

I wouldn't go any smaller on the mouthpiece esp if it's a 2 valve bass. Examine how centered the mouthpiece is on the embouchure, angle of rim contact and amount of pressure. My first college teacher in my very first lesson said to "anchor" the rim on the bottom lip; most flexibility (and even that should be minimal) happens above that anchor point.

It's a 2-valve bass and my teacher recommended the Faxx 1.5. If looking in the mirror doesn't work, I'll ask for a consult or even a lesson from a bass player I know.

JeffBone44 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 23, 2023 12:44 pm So I'm not the only one with this problem? I need to empty the horn every minute.

Not the only thing I need to empty every minute. /hydration_side_effects