TromboneChat

Hey everyone!

I'm trying to put together different warm-up packets and books to have exercises to attempt to iron out any playing issues I might have on any given day. I'm a bass trombonist but the way I see it, why wouldn't I work on my upper range and flexibility too, so please feel free to reference or mention any books or packets or websites that I could use as inspiration!

Thanks everyone, I hope what I'm asking for makes sense!!

Your currently studying performance at college...what has your teacher suggested?

He has a packet that he has given out to all his students that mostly consists of Brass Gym exercises.

Quote from: CG2198 on Jan 24, 2018, 11:54AMHe has a packet that he has given out to all his students that mostly consists of Brass Gym exercises.

Then if you are unhappy with this,even though he has given them to all his students, then talk to your teacher and ask questions!

You are paying your teacher for his/ her time and advice so use it, none of us know your playing!

I have a 3 ring binder. When I find something I feel is beneficial I one of my books , I copy it and put it in the binder. This way, I am not carrying around a bunch of paper I am not using.

I will be happy to send you a copy of Lewis Van Haney's 10 minute warm up routine.  It is a combination, with Haney's take on Remmington (Hayney's  teacher), and Bill Bell's tuba warm up (his section mate in the New York Phil) in combination.

Mr. Haney, one of my teachers, taught me this warm up.  It will work on bass or tenor,, and does take about 10 minutes. I transcribed this in Finale, and have it as a PDF file.

Contact me thru the forum, and give me your email address.  I will send it to you.

I rotate between two quite specific warm ups depending on space available, time etc....
I do my own version of Christian Lindbergs warm up from hell, which incorporates a kind of basic yoga and breathing practice with slow slurs and push ups.

Alternatively, I will do Andrew Bains horn warm up, which I have slightly adapted in a way which I think is a bit more trombone focused. Basically the same though.

If you like I might be able to PM you a link on facebook where someone asked me to post a copy of my written out lindberg warm up. I think mine is slightly different to the original lindberg one, one of my teachers was a lindberg student so its mostly information passed through her as well as a brief conversation I had with Lindberg about it several years ago. In the thread I explain how its done through several very long posts.

The Bain warm up shouldnt be hard to find.... talk to almost any horn player studying and if they are not doing it they will have access to it or just be able to show you.

PM me if you are interested in the lindberg one and I will try and send you a link to where i explain my version of it.

My family got tired of long notes and slurs, so I just play a little melody in the morning. If it sounds bad I take a coffee and try another one.

Leif

Quote from: savio on Jan 26, 2018, 12:54AMMy family got tired of long notes and slurs, so I just play a little melody in the morning. If it sounds bad I take a coffee and try another one.

Leif

That's the best warmup ever, the coffee I mean. Warmups are individual. How long you are going to play before you think you are ready as well as what you are going to play. I usually start with chromatics up and down. If I only have one minute then there will only be chromatics. If I have five I will probably do some flex and some fake tones. If ten minutes I will probably add arpeggios and reach stretch the chromatics, scales and flex into the high register and down to the pedal register. After ten minutes it is not a warmup anymore. Usually five minutes is the long warmup. In symphony orchestra I do my warmup with a mute so I'm not desturbing the strings. In the end I remove my mute and play a few notes just to hear myself n the room.

I think playing a nice suitable melody is the best warmup if you do it in public. None wants to hear much scales and flex.

/Tom

The specific exercises should be tailored to your playing level. Whatever they are, they should be very basic and they should cover the simple things that aren't so easy to perform.

Quote from: watermailonman on Jan 26, 2018, 03:22AM--snip--
I think playing a nice suitable melody is the best warm up if you do it in public. No one wants to hear much scales and flex.

/Tom

Simply melodies are indeed good to do, but ... "There is nothing more beautiful than a scale when played well, don't you think."

Quote from: patrickosmith on Jan 26, 2018, 03:27AMSimply melodies are indeed good to do, but ... "There is nothing more beautiful than a scale when played well, don't you think."

I can think of more interesting things than a scale even when perfectly executed by the best musician in the world.

When all winds and strings go berserk on scales, flex and arpeggios it is a rather tiering 10 minutes, so I prefer short warmups.

/Tom

Quote from: savio on Jan 26, 2018, 12:54AMMy family got tired of long notes and slurs, so I just play a little melody in the morning. If it sounds bad I take a coffee and try another one.

Leif

Im jealous! I wish I could play a little melody and feel totally confident and warmed up just from that!

sabutin's method for coming up with exercises results in endless variety over the entire horn, and they work for warmup, starting gently. 

Quote from: bigbassbone1 on Jan 26, 2018, 09:17AMIm jealous! I wish I could play a little melody and feel totally confident and warmed up just from that!

Well, on a bad day I do something more like slurs or whatever I feel is needed to make it feels good. But 3-4 melodies in different registers works if I do it carefully. When I was young I used remington warm up everyday.

I think lot of things can work. The clue might be to feel what the lips/body needs everyday? Then do what is needed so everything feels ok. Can be different from day to day. Some days need more time and to be more careful. Isnt it so? Maybe younger players need a little more time and structure in warm up. I remember I used about 45 minutes with a systematic approach. After playing many years the mouthpiece feels like it has grown into the lips. So often a few melodies feels ok for me.

If I was younger and more ambitious I would done it more systematic;
1. Buzzing a few minutes
2. Long notes, scales.
3. Slurs.
4. Tongue, staccato.

Then ready for lot of different kind of playing.

Leif

Quote from: baileyman on Jan 26, 2018, 04:01PMsabutin's method for coming up with exercises results in endless variety over the entire horn, and they work for warmup, starting gently.
Thank you, John.

Yes, my exercises work very well as a warm up...especially if you understand where your breaks are and the need to play through into more difficult registers from your stronger registers. But...so does whatever you normally do in the practice room. The only general rule that I follow...and teach...regarding warmups is that whatever form they take, they should start in wherever you consider your "middle" range and initially work downwards through to your lowest possible notes, trying to minimize and time in (if not eliminate) your shifts.

Now...one problem with this is identifying your "middle" range. Here's how I go about doing so.

On every one of my 7 main instruments and their (all different) m'pces, I look to what kind of musical demands I expect to be asked of me, especially in terms of range. For example, with my lead horn I spend most of my time in the upper registers...say from 10th partial D down to 3rd partial D. ( ->    )...and I am not particularly fussy about lower registers The functional middle of that 2 octaves is...for me, on my chosen equipment...from say 6th partial F to 4th partial Bb, so I will start warming up somewhere in that range. I use Caruso interval exercises (half note at a slow tempo (maybe MM=70 or so), half note in some lower interval (somewhere within an octave, usually smaller rather than larger), back to the original whole note, then repeat the same procedure in any diatonic key you wish. I leave the m'pce in place on my chops and play these intervals right on down until one of the notes does not sound (Most often for me on that equipment around pedal Bb or A) and then I stop for a minute or two, try that interval again (not trying to "keep my embouchure the same," just doing whatever I must to get the best sound I can manage) and continue down in the same way until I cannot produce a sound after resting. For me that most often goes down through the double pedal falset tones and into a lip-flapping register I like to call triple pedals. Then I rest for a minute, reestablish my original starting register and play...gently...light melodies and or simple scales into or above the 12th partial.

Then? I'm pretty well "warmed up." 10-15 minutes tops.

On another instrument and m'pce? Same same, only my "middle" register will be different. Say I'm playing mostly 3rd parts and solos on my .525 trigger horn w/a 6.5-ish m'pce in a 4 trombone big band section. Most of what will be asked of me will be from say  -> Where is the functional middle of that range? In most big band writing? Say    -> . I do the same thing as above only lower. On bass or tuba? Ditto. If I played alto trombone? (I don't.) The same concept. If I was about to be asked to play say solo work mostly in the upper registers, Dorsey/Urbie style? Or latin big band lead which usually hardly ever goes down lower than  and pretty much stays in the treble clef ranges?  I'd start higher on whatever equipment I'd be playing.

But...you needn't use Caruso-influenced approaches to have this overall idea work very well. Figure out where the middle of your tessitura is; work from there down as far as possible (playing simply and not too loud or soft), then reestablish the middle and go up.

Works for me.

Later...gotta go warm up now.

S.

P.S. I think that one of the worst things about the way we learn the horn is that when we initially begin to learn the horn we almost all start playing on  . Now...that's a perfectly rational starting note for a beginner, but for many of us, we continue to think of that range as a starting place. I have seen and heard Doug Elliot recommend starting higher for some people, and I know for a fact that Bill Watrous's "starting" note is  ...or at least it was during the years that I worked with him in NYC. Experiment. You might be surprised at what happens.

Jeff Adams used to have a warmup package on his site (www.slideadams.com).  It seems not to be there now.  Maybe you can contact him and see if he'll send it to you.

Oops, turns out I was wrong.  Here's the warmup (PDF): http://nebula.wsimg.com/79679a60f8285de210f17d1e8c3bcd32?AccessKeyId=FE40EE6F6A3E76BDD00D&disposition=0&alloworigin=1

I have a warmup that was given to me by Jack Nowinski, who was a Remington student.  It's very similar to the Remington Warmups.

Jeff Adams used to have a warmup package on his site (www.slideadams.com).  It seems not to be there now.  Maybe you can contact him and see if he'll send it to you.

Oops, turns out I was wrong.  Here's the warmup (PDF): http://nebula.wsimg.com/79679a60f8285de210f17d1e8c3bcd32?AccessKeyId=FE40EE6F6A3E76BDD00D&disposition=0&alloworigin=1

I have a warmup that was given to me by Jack Nowinski, who was a Remington student.  It's very similar to the Remington Warmups.