12 base accordion somewhere in my youth, then a 120 base from Sears then at last a Morbidoni accordion through high school. I played the accordion fairly well, but lost interest as soon as I started college. While in my junior year in high school I made a huge mistake joining a drum and bugle corps. I played a one key bugle; I think that was the start of my tightening my throat and using the strength of my lips to play in the upper register of the instrument. While still in the corps I started taking trumpet lessons in downtown Saint Paul. My bad habit persisted when I started lessons; however, because of a good teacher I improved on the instrument. The problem I’ve struggled with throughout the study of this instrument has been using my lip instead of air flow. As soon as my lip gave out my throat kicked in, to stop the uncomfortable pressure on my lip. A disaster for playing on any brass instrument. Soon as the throat tightens no air gets in to protect the lip from the unwanted pressure. There have been a few times in my life where I almost corrected the problem but I never really got free from the habit’s grip.