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The Following passages are taken From The Ultimate Warm-Up for Trumpet by: Michael Droste. This book goes through all aspects of warming up. From air exercises, lip buzzing, mouthpiece work, long tones, tonguing, flexibility exercises and phrase studies, it's all there, with all of the information sequenced appropriately to optimize your warm up! This 40+ page book of warm-ups is not yet published. It is currently available on loose leaf paper which could then be inserted into plastic sheets and into a three ring binder for everyday use. The cost of this book is $8.95 plus $2.50 Shipping. If you are interested please send a check or cash to the address on the contact page. Your book will arrive within three weeks. (please make the check out to Michael Droste) The Ultimate Warm Up Practice Guide This is a concise guide to help you obtain the greatest results from your efforts! A. Practice Schedule You need to practice on the average at least 40 minutes per day including weekends. Depending upon your goals, your practice time will vary. B. How long is the Ultimate Warm Up The Ultimate Warm Up is half of your practice time. If your practice session is 40 minutes, then the warm up is twenty minutes and if your practice session is two hours, then your warm up time is 1 hour. C. How to practice You should always practice with a metronome. Use it with every practice session. Use the metronome on every piece of music; exercises, etudes and pieces. 1. Go to the hardest parts of the piece 2. Just play through the notes to get the feeling of the music 3. Set the metronome on a low setting where you can easily play the passage 4. Play and master that passage (play at least ten times with no mistakes) 5. Increase the metronome speed 6. Repeat steps four and five until two metronome clicks PAST the written tempo. 7. Tape record your playing, Is your sound warm and rich in tone and pleasing to the ear? Use the metronome to keep a steady beat OR an underlying subdivision of the beat. Always play with and use your metronome, you won’t believe how out of time you are until you use one! D. After the Ultimate Warm Up Continue with assigned etudes or exercises from your private instructor. You should also be concentrating on the major literature for your instrument! The Ultimate Warm Up Table Of Contents Part 1. Getting Your Air Moving Part 2. Lip Buzzing Part 3. Mouthpiece Work A. Mid-range to pedal tones buzzing B. Slow slides from medium to low to medium high Part 4. Long Tones. A. Mid-range to lowest possible notes B. Mid-range to medium high notes Part 5. Tonguing A. Mid-range to lowest possible notes B. Mid-range to highest possible notes C. Double and triple tongue if your able Part 6. Flexibility A. Mid-range to low lip slurs B. Low to medium high lip slurs extended Part 7. Phrase Studies The Ultimate Warm Up How To Use This Warm Up Book The entire book should be played, each practice session. If time does not permit playing the entire book, then play as much of each section as time permits. Do not skip any sections. You must do the exercises in order from beginning to end. (If the Ultimate Warm Up contains exercises to high for you, skip that section until your able and go to the next exercise.) Part 1. Getting Your Air Moving Set your metronome to 60 bpm for these warm-ups. Air is the secret to great tonguing, range and tone production. It is THE most important aspect of playing any wind instrument. Think of your air as a continual stream of water flowing through your kitchen faucet. Always constant never stopping! Air Tips! -Low notes require a greater volume of air to produce a great tone. Imagine making an ‘ah’ sound in your mouth and directing the air into a large tube. Always constant never stopping. -High notes require fast air. Imagine saying an ‘e’ sound in your mouth and directing the air super fast into a small straw! Always constant never stopping. Part 2. Lip Buzzing Set your metronome to 60 bpm for these warm-ups. For these exercises try to get a nice full, rich sound that is full of tone. What is done here is amplified by the mouthpiece and horn. Do not spend more than 5 minutes on this section. Go for the most beautiful sound that you can create. Listen to yourself, tape record your playing. Is your sound full, rich, warm, musical, and pleasing? Part 3. Mouthpiece Work Set your metronome to 60 bpm for these warm-ups. Hold the mouthpiece with the thumb and forefinger at the end of the mouthpiece. This is to keep you from putting pressure on your embouchure. The key is to keep the air constantly flowing. Go for a great sound! Listen to yourself, tape record your playing. Go for a warm, rich sound with a lot of tone. What you produce now is simply amplified by your instrument. If your sound is thin, this is the place to devote more work and energy. Play the exercises in a relaxed fashion, not loud or soft, but with a nice full tone slowly moving higher and lower as directed. Part 4. Long Tones Set your metronome to 60 bpm for these warm-ups. Again, the key is to keep the air constant, always flowing. Go for the most beautiful sound that you can create. Listen to yourself, tape record your playing. Is your sound full, rich, warm, musical, and pleasing? You can make beautiful music by simply playing long tones, it is possible! Part 5. Tonguing Set your metronome to 80 bpm for these warm-ups. The key is to keep the air constantly flowing. Think of the kitchen faucet analogy again, while the faucet is constantly flowing, imagine flicking a butter knife quickly through the stream of water. The butter knife quickly separates the water and the stream of water continues never stopping. The air flows on, but is lightly separated by the tongue. When playing these warm-ups use different syllables for tonguing. Use as directed: da, dee, do, ta, tee, to. Go for the most beautiful sound that you can create. Listen to your sound, tape record your playing. Is your sound full, rich, warm, musical, and pleasing? Part 6. Flexibility Set your metronome between 60 and 80 bpm for these warm-ups. Another key to playing the trumpet is flexibility. The ability to move from 2nd valve F# to 2nd valve B quickly and smoothly is essential. Along with other valve combinations, these simply have to be mastered. The key for successful lip slurs is to keep the air constantly flowing. When doing the extended slurs change the air flow! The low notes require a greater volume of air to produce a great tone. Imagine making an ‘ah’ sound in your mouth and directing the air into a large tube. Always constant never stopping. The high notes require fast air. Imagine saying an ‘e’ sound in your mouth and directing the air super fast into a small straw! Always constant never stopping. Go for the most beautiful sound that you can create. Listen to yourself, tape record your playing. Is your sound full, rich, warm, musical, and pleasing? Part 7. Phrase Studies Set your metronome between 60 and 80 bpm for these warm-ups. These studies are meant to make your playing as musical as possible. Sing the music, yes sing it! Imagine the most beautiful voice singing the passage in your mind. Now go to the music and reproduce exactly what you hear in your mind; exactly! This is why musicians play and practice! Why play the trumpet if you are not receiving a musical experience? Music is feelings and emotions, play all your music this way and you’ll never want to stop. Go for the most beautiful sound that you can create. Listen to yourself, tape record your playing. Is your sound full, rich, warm, musical, and pleasing? ©Copyrighted 1998. TrumpetStudio.com |
