Of course I know plenty of people who have taken a softball in the face, or a ski pole, or an elbow etc....

The dumbest one that happened to me was the chord on my lawn mower snapping and whipping me across the chops...it swelled up nicely right across my top lip. Ouch. Had a gig the next night...not cool.

I think the best results from studying a martial art, that can be applied to trumpet, is the mental thing. I've know WAY TOO MANY trumpet players, classical and commercial, who couldn't do one sit up, pull up, or push up, and couldn't run down their driveway, much less a get through a Karate work out, that are terrific players.

Ray