#11 - Personalizing Your Daily Routine

March 6, 2005 - Revised September 11, 2006
Link Added August 6, 2008

What is a Routine?

“Routine” can mean an exact repetition of events or a recognizable pattern of similar events within a framework. A practice routine can include a series of warm-ups, technical exercises, and music. It can be as rigid or as flexible as you like. You may want to improve or maintain certain skills every day and change your practice of others with changing circumstances, such as your evolving strengths and weaknesses, upcoming assignments, performances, or auditions.

Own It!

I have a colleague who doesn’t like the word “routine,” and I understand why. It implies a staleness, or potential staleness that can occur from repetition. There are things that brass players need to do on a daily basis, but if we are not careful, repetition can cause inattention. That can lead to bad habits, undermining the very goals of practicing.

When you personalize something, however, you are more invested, attentive, and care-full. This is one of the reasons why I found college more enjoyable than high school, for example: in college I chose my own classes, instead of having them chosen for me. So when it comes to brass playing, I recommend that everyone develop an I.E.P.: an Individualized Education Plan.

As you personalize your routine, keep in mind that how you play is at least as important as what you play, so you want to avoid practicing any bad habits that can come from not paying attention. If you notice your mind wandering, take a break, refocus, or simply switch exercises. If you feel like you are just going through the motions or that you no longer need to do something, then change your routine. A former teacher of mine said that practicing is like making a pizza: if the dough is a little dry today, then you need to add water. Always listen, pay attention, and adjust. Keep it organic.

There are extremes on both sides: some have been doing the exact warm-up routine for their entire long career, and some warm-up in a constantly changing way based on how they sound and feel, and that is also a routine. The key is to strike a balance that works for you.

On the Other Hand

None of this means that you should avoid consistency: patience and repetition over time are important ingredients of successful development. Sometimes you need to try something long enough to find out if it works for you. Many students make the mistake of judging an exercise as not useful after only trying it for one day when they would only see the benefit after months of repetition. When teachers assign music, warm-ups, or exercises, it is the result of their experience and training, passed down to them from their teachers, and so on. Only those who have the patience, perseverance, and persistence to really work on something over time will be rewarded with improvement.

How do we Develop a Routine?

Some instructors provide a specific practice regimen and require that students do not stray at all; some provide a routine as a base-line from which they guide students to develop their own plan; and some leave everything in the hands of the student. Generally I find that newer students succeed with strong guidance, as they mature they can increase their role in choosing assignments, and finally as professionals they are on their own. The important thing is that the student practice. A teacher can only judge the result of the exercises and make adjustments to fit an individual if the student is practicing.

• what and how you practice will shape you as a musician
• guidance from your teacher
• your weaknesses
• your attention span
• your short-term goals
• your long-term goals
• what you think well-rounded musicians should be able to do
• how much time you will practice
• how good do you want to get?

• Musicality
• Tone Quality
• Breathing
• Long Tones
• Slurs
• Legato & Non-legato Articulations
• Resonance
• Intonation
• Dynamics
• Vibrato
• Multiple Tonguing
• Sight Reading
• Evenness
• Flexibility
• Range
• Intonation
• Endurance
• Dualities such as highest/lowest, fastest/slowest, loudest/softest, longest/shortest, broadest/most forward, and more

Where can I find warm-ups and exercises?

We don’t have to rewrite the book on this. You can get warm-ups and technical exercises from the following links and books and you can adjust them to suit your needs and abilities. Whatever you decide to include in your routine will shape you as a player, but how you decide to play (how high your standards are and how consistently you practice) will have an even greater effect.

• Bill Adam's Routine (a version) - Click on "The Adam Routine" and "Part 1," "Part 2," and "Part 3." Trombonists will have to transpose this trumpet routine. Pretend it’s tenor clef and add 2 flats or remove 2 sharps
• Jeff Adams - click on "Educational PDF's" for warm-ups, scales, charts, improv, and more
• Alto Trombone Warm-Up - by Tom Gibson
• A Basic Daily Routine - by Brad Edwards
• Brass Warm-ups - by David Wilken (scroll down for the Brass Warm-up pdfs)
• The Daily Routine - by Tom Gibson
• Daily Routines for Beginners - by Josh Bledsoe
• Developing High Range - by Tom Gibson
• Ellefson Warm-Up - by Pete Ellefson
• A Great Warm-Up - by Tom Gibson
• International Tuba Euphonium Association Pedagogy Materials - These work great for trombonists, but you have to join the ITEA to download them
• Online Trombone Journal Materials - Warm-ups for Young Trombonists, One & Two Octave Scales & Arpeggios, Playing Legato (Cross-Grain Slurs), Jazz Improvisation, and more
• Scale Patterns for Tennessee Tech Students - by Joshua Hauser
• Trombone Exercise Downloads - by Joe Dixon
• Trombone Warm-ups wtih MP3 Play-along Tracks - by Joshua Hauser
• Trumpet exercises - by various artists
• Warm-ups, Fundamentals, and Embouchure Conditioning for Trombone - by Elliot Chasanov
• Warm-ups and Scales - by Toby Oft
• More articles on practicing can be found here

Some Items in a Practice Routine

Adjust the content, order, and timing to suit your needs, while working thoughtfully, repetitively, and consistently.

• long tones expanding out from the middle – for steadiness and air flow
• Remington pattern descending long tones – for slide technique, steadiness, and air flow
• long tones with hairpin dynamics – for consistent intonation at different volumes
• glissandi patterns expanding out from the middle – for air flow, range, resonance, strength, & consistency
• adjacent & non-adjacent slow slurs – for air flow, resonance, & embouchure accuracy
• cross-grain slurs – for air flow & slide/embouchure coordination
• flexibilities, or fast slurs throughout range – for embouchure strength & quickness
• short loud air attacks while keeping the mouthpiece in place - for building embouchure strength
• loud melodic single tonguing patterns (Bill Adam/Ernest Williams) - for building embouchure strength
• legato tonguing of notes on the same partial, chromatic and non-chromatic – for clean legato tonguing, slide/tongue coordination
• fast single-tonguing (from patterns or music) – for a fast, light, breath-supported single-tongue
• double & triple tonguing patterns transposed below low Bb based on Rimsky Korsakov’s Scheherazade (2nd & 4th mvts.) & Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite (Infernal Dance of King Kastchei) – derived from music for better motivated air flow, and played low because multiple tonguing is harder in this register
• intonation, using CD-based intonation exercise materials or playing accompanied music such as Bordogni etudes or Smartmusic (all found in Play-along Materials), or by recording yourself and listening back.
• range exercises from books by Remington, Bolter, and Ervin; etudes transposed up & down by an octave and/or clef; or high excerpts such as Bolero, Rhenish, Symphony Fantastique, Also Sprach Zarathustra, and Brahms' Second Symphony transposed even higher as printed in the Range Expansion chapter of my book
• scales
• etudes, solos, and ensemble music