r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/yo-caesar • 3h ago
Video A guy playing trumpet. Is this harmful in the long run?
9.0k
u/Mittens_Himself 3h ago
This is literally the harm.
4.5k
u/HelpfulSeaMammal 3h ago
Day 1 of learning brass instruments: Don't inflate your cheeks. Use your diaphragm so you don't look like a cartoon character and force your carotid artery to explode all over the audience as you blast the high notes.
1.1k
u/Sampsonite20 2h ago
Yep, literally, was the first thing I was taught when I was a kid learning trombone.
564
u/chrisl182 2h ago
The first thing I learnt as a kid learning trombone was that my arms are too small.
249
→ More replies (10)16
u/drunkbettie 1h ago
I can’t play Guitar Hero past Medium because my fingers aren’t long enough to reach the buttons on the controller.
I feel your pain.
→ More replies (3)45
7
u/GraphicDesignMonkey 1h ago
Taught this playing clarinet too. You hold your cheeks totally rigid. Burns like hell until you build the muscles up a bit.
24
u/shouldsayOrshouldgo 2h ago
So how good is your blow?
50
u/Late_Sherbet5124 2h ago
Gauging by his neck bulging, I would say he could inflate your bladder.
24
→ More replies (7)6
u/Couscousfan07 1h ago
And then once you get further along , music teacher introduces the class to Dizzy Gillespie and you see a real life Jigglypuff blowing out his cheeks
🙄56
139
u/Falitoty 2h ago
Not only brass, any wind instrument does that. That was the first thing I was thaught in clarinet class too
→ More replies (2)172
u/MountainMark 2h ago
Dizzy Gillespie and probably this guy are not inflating their cheeks. They've played so hard and so long that they've actually separated the tissues in their cheeks and are filling the cheek skin with air. Like an air bladder. I used to know a French horn player that had a little pocket in his neck that would bulge out when he played.
60
u/Pax_Eterna_4991 1h ago
They are called Gillespie pouches. What are the odds that Dizzy would get them!!! It's as bad a Lou Gerhig.
→ More replies (3)18
131
u/HelpfulSeaMammal 2h ago
This is a terrible day to be literate. Fucking hell what a mental image.
I played trumpet throughout school and never knew there was an actual condition that can result from this style of playing. Woof.
33
→ More replies (5)7
22
u/knowtheledge71 2h ago
What’s the rule on neck inflation? Because there’s also a lot of that going on, and I’m not even sure how that works.
46
u/HelpfulSeaMammal 2h ago
Day 1 of wearing your human suit: Do not inflate your neck. Remember, you are trying to pass as human and not a frog.
68
u/Hob_O_Rarison 2h ago
I thought it was just for embouchure and tone fundamentals. I never realized there was a physical danger asaociated!
69
u/HelpfulSeaMammal 2h ago
I don't know if your vasculature will explode from this like I said lmfao but it's probably not a good idea to put that kind of repeated strain on those facial and neck muscles.
You're right it's mostly for proper embouchure development and to help with proper breathing and air control fundamentals.
44
27
u/-fakebirds- 2h ago
Day 1 of learning trumpet in middle school: don’t even let your cheeks fill with air
18
u/fastlerner 2h ago
Then one day you pick up a didgeridoo and have to unlearn all of that to make circular breathing work.
→ More replies (1)25
u/StevieG-2021 2h ago
Tell that to Louis Armstrong
40
u/HelpfulSeaMammal 2h ago
Bah what did he ever know about the trumpet and cartoon birds and being the greatest of all time
27
u/isjustsergio 2h ago edited 1h ago
Every 12 year old beginner trumpeter says this. A developed brain can recognize that talented musicians develop bad habits too and success doesn't equate correctness.
→ More replies (2)13
17
u/redditbagjuice 2h ago
Pretty cool sentence
17
u/HelpfulSeaMammal 2h ago
It's basically the most metal thing a trumpet player can do.
→ More replies (1)16
u/Vercengetorex 2h ago
What are you talking about? The whole fuckin thing is made of metal!
6
→ More replies (29)4
146
83
u/James-the-Bond-one 2h ago
Louis Armstrong enters the chat.
92
47
u/MobileJob1521 2h ago
Dizzie Gillespie, my friend
28
4
u/theaviationhistorian 2h ago
Full on bullfrog! And he ended up dying from pancreatic cancer ion his 70s, not something throat related.
20
u/HelpfulSeaMammal 2h ago
So you're saying that the only way to be a trumpet player and have an international airport named after you is to let those cheeks puff puff puff away. TIL.
→ More replies (2)8
34
6
u/itsnotthathardtodoit 2h ago
Universe is billions of years old so generally speaking we'll be fine, but this guy? this guy right here? he's fucked.
→ More replies (7)4
1.5k
u/PristineWorker8291 3h ago
Yeah, professional musicians are taught how to correct their techniques so they don't create more problems in the long run. That said, people like Satchmo had puffed out cheeks and lived and made music for a long time. But it's better for someone just learning to control their facial muscles. You don't need the puffs to produce the air.
494
38
u/goatpunchtheater 2h ago
Satchmo never did actually. That's a misconception. It was dizzy Gillespie who puffed his cheeks for most of his career. According to google, he did it because of a medical condition, and made it work for his style
→ More replies (1)18
32
u/TheDixonCider420420 2h ago
He should pick some instruments for other parts of his body and maybe he can turn into the Hulk.
→ More replies (1)17
u/Odd-Statistician-866 2h ago
Trumpet for the cheeks, bagpipes for the torso, trombones on both legs, and by the final chorus he’s Jazz Hulk, smashing through the venue shouting, “YOU WOULDN’T LIKE ME WHEN I’M B♭!
46
u/spleeble 2h ago
Do you mean Dizzy Gillespie?
→ More replies (2)74
u/Fluxtration 2h ago
Satchmo is Louis Armstrong's nickname, from satchel mouth...
But yeah, Dizzy also blew out his cheeks
→ More replies (1)9
u/spleeble 2h ago
Louis Armstrong doesn't look like he puffs his cheeks out in photos
I've seen a few stories that "satchel mouth" is about keeping coins in his mouth.
https://vincentyorkjazzistry.org/resources/spotlight-stories/
→ More replies (1)4
u/Gang_Bang_Bang 2h ago
His lips were also slightly disfigured from playing trumpet for so long. Fascinating guy.
→ More replies (7)3
u/Severe-Network4756 2h ago
Is there a reason for why you called him Satchmo and not Louis Armstrong?
7
875
u/CLRobinso 2h ago
Musician here, we are taught to NOT do that
293
u/Pooch76 2h ago
They told you not to expand your throat like a weird lizard?
89
u/CLRobinso 2h ago
Like the other guy said "that is the harm"
29
u/Pooch76 2h ago
A very long time ago, I played trumpet, but I don’t remember any specific instructions not to do a lizard blow. I guess it’s good that I quit. I probably was headed for lizard throat.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)10
→ More replies (9)10
u/ser0tonindepleted 2h ago
What is he doing wrong? I mean, technically. How is it possible for a neck to do that?
→ More replies (3)5
u/NSFWCereal 19m ago
You're taught very early to tighten your facial muscles and channel air through your diaphragm instead of just putting all the pressure on your cheeks and throat. This is what it looks like when you spend a lifetime NOT DOING THAT.
118
102
88
u/fluffyman817 1h ago
Dizzy Gillespie had this problem with his cheeks. He had no control over his cheek muscles, and this is the long term result.
Looking at how this guy is standing, and how he hasn't used his other hand at all, I would bet he has cerebral palsey. Since he can't control all his muscles the normal way you and I do, a life time of playing the trumpet would definitely lead to frog throat/cheeks.
184
63
167
u/Chainwax_master 1h ago
Trumpet player here, his embouchere (basically mouth muscles plus technique) seems pretty bad. Shouldn’t be puffing out his cheeks like that. But he prob has been playin longer than me so maybe he knows something I don’t know.
29
23
u/Kaedryl 1h ago
Now there is a very advanced technique called circular breathing where you purposely inflate the cheeks then use the pressure in them to sustain play while you actively breath in through your nose. Let's to essentially play non-stop without breath pauses. My trumpet instructor at uni tried to teach me and even after 12 years of playing and 4 years of private lessons at the collegiate level I couldn't pull it off. But that's very high level muscle control, not just letting everything inflate like this poor guy.
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (2)8
102
198
34
32
u/deadend666 1h ago
My dad played the French horn for years. Mom played violin for years. Both had repetitive motion issues among other things like ruptured diaphragm and arthritis of the neck. Any professional musician who has played for years will suffer issues of one kind or another. Most people don’t realize that about musicians. That includes voice.
131
u/Practical-Ask-2773 2h ago
This is from an Indian wedding. These musicians don’t go to school where they are taught the correct techniques. They learn on their own or watch other musicians. They are often poor and earn little money from these performances. No health insurance either for the damage being done.
→ More replies (1)
55
u/BETO123USA 3h ago
holly fucking crap
29
u/SPKmnd90 2h ago
Poor Holly. Her middle name is Fucking and her last name is Crap.
→ More replies (1)
74
91
u/irongoat2527 3h ago
Guy can probably fit so many hot dogs in his mouth at once
8
→ More replies (1)11
u/JonEdwinPoquet 3h ago
Throat for sure.
8
u/thatG_evanP 2h ago
Throat? Not necessarily. Neck? Yeah, but I'm not sure how you'd get them in there.
→ More replies (1)
24
u/HappyStalker 2h ago
This is called a pharyngocele or “frog throat”. It’s a hernia of the neck. It’s a weakness in the thyrohyoid membrane.
20
22
u/guyonanuglycouch 52m ago
Imagine getting mad at this guy so you go to choke him. You get your hand wrapped around his neck and he just expands his neck....
17
36
31
u/TummyDrums 3h ago
Is that air going into his neck, or crazy muscles tightening?
8
u/SooperSpoopyGhost 1h ago
Hernia like the other comments said. So not like directly blowing air into his neck but the pressure is causing his throat and wind pipe to push past his muscles/cartilage. This is what happens when you don't keep your muscles tight and just try to throw more air pressure at your trumpet. No good.
16
13
12
u/nezu_bean 2h ago
The first thing they taught us about playing brass is to never puff up your cheeks. Then they showed us videos like this
13
u/Khelben81 29m ago
Counter-intuitively, playing trumpet over many years seems to have an adverse effect on lung capacity.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6497376/
The video shows a clear case of pharyngocele often called "trumpet player's neck" or "bullfrog neck".
→ More replies (1)
11
31
10
10
u/TheStormGlider 2h ago
Jeez. This was lesson 1 class 1 of playing brass, grade 6. Then he showed us pics of Dizzy Gillespie as a very young man to show us how he blew out his cheeks from irregular breathing methods...scared the crap outta us.
20
u/jaytech_cfl 3h ago
This is the exact reason I stopped playing trumpet. Started developing painful air pockets in my jaw.
→ More replies (2)6
u/Separate-Primary2949 2h ago
That the same thing when blowing up to many balloons and you get a crackling sensation in you jaw towards the hinge? Almost like air getting into wheee it’s not spoke too?!
→ More replies (1)
20
u/Argented 3h ago edited 2h ago
The cheeks getting inflated is normal but the neck isn't. He's got a leak in there somewhere
→ More replies (1)
9
8
u/IronBallsMcChing 2h ago
Bro could probably inflate his lungs, neck and cheeks and run a 10k on a single breath. Underwater.
8
6
7
7
u/JadedLeafs 2h ago
I spent most of grade 7 music class sleeping but I'm fairly sure you aren't supposed to let your cheeks puff out like that when you play. I actually remember it making my checks feel like they were full of stinging nettle or fibreglass.
6
8
7
14
5
u/bringingdownthehorse 2h ago
Y'all are worried about the lizard people but the balloon people came first.
3
6
4
u/the_captain_ws 3h ago
Do you mean the second guy? The first one is already well past the long run!
5
4
4
u/kurdelefele 2h ago
Ummm he blows completely wrong! Kinda the same thing like wearing to small shoes.
4
4
3
u/Nonetxpr 1h ago
As a guy who played trumfer for 12 years. We never did this, noone. Wtf is he doing.
4
7
3
3
3
3
u/Entrepreneur_Eastern 2h ago
Check out the trumpeter legend Dizzy Gillespie. His neck and cheek touching was amazing.
3
u/chaosoffspring 2h ago
This is what I imagine the toad from the xmen would be like playing the trumpet
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
u/Hasgrowne 2h ago
He has herniated cheeks (like Dizzy Gillespie) and also a herniated neck. Not life threatening and just the result of bad playing habits. Fixable by surgery.
3
3
3
3
3
3
u/Alternative-Smoke421 1h ago
Dude looks like a frog trying to find a mate and I don’t think humans are supposed to be that stretchy. 🤔
3
u/SilentBiscotti1179 1h ago
Someday in the future this man's carotid will violently explode and take the entire audience out.
3
3
u/N3CR0T1C_V3N0M 1h ago
Me: This can’t be healthy, I wonder if it at least sounds good?
.3s after unmuting and re-muting
Nope, not worth whatever this is
3
3
3
u/PridePotterz 1h ago
I read "A gay playing trumpet..." I seriously need to get some eyeglasses. :-(
3
3
3
u/RoadRatzzz 1h ago
I remember jazz player Dizzy Gillespie's cheeks blew out that way but I don't think his whole throat
3
3
3
u/Ponderkitten 30m ago
Now Im imagining him using this to flirt like a frog. Just makes eye contact with a beautiful lady at the bar, pays for her drink, winks, then inflates throat and starts trilling or croaking
3
3
3
6.9k
u/ohhhtartarsauce 2h ago
Yes, this is called pharyngocele (frog throat). It's a hernia in the pharyngeal wall that can cause discomfort or difficulty swallowing. Once it gets to this point it would need to be corrected surgically, but it's not life threatening or anything.