warm-up

[LARSONTUBA]

I have seen several students who encounter this in their practice. Some students of mine, some students of others.

Its an intriguing situation. Not everything works for everyone the same way, so daily routines should almost be tailor-made for each student's strengths and weaknesses and needs. Those change as well, so the need for constant modication to the routine based on improvements as well as un-improvements is necessary! This also helps to keep the routine from becoming a part of your daily practice that you just run through without actively thinking about it (which can be detrimental as well).

Those are my stream of consciousness thoughts in response to your post.

Andy Larson

[NDSPTuba]

As a horn player in college and in my professional career after wards, I had a 30min warm-up. I covered allot of ground in that time, long tones, lip slurs, scales, articulation exercises. For about a year during college it was an hour long, I added a long tone interval exercise where I went through my entire range in thirds, forths, fifths, sixths, and sevenths. Effectively if I did this everyday, I didn't need to do anything else and my chops would "maintain". Looking back I realize I was much more a jock than a musician.

Now having my embouchure problems on horn and they do creep in from time to time on Tuba ( I play Tuba exclusively now ). I find if I don't do long tone exercises for a couple of days, my playing will suffer. So I try and make sure to start every day off with long tones and articulation exercises before I practice anything else. I usually spend 15 minutes on it. I need to expand upon my fundamentals practice ( to me this is part of warm up ) as I am still a Tuba Newbie going on one year of playing and have many things that need work.

[The Big Ben]

bloke "who has no warm-up routine, and only - from time-to-time - *practices specific fundamentals/skills which have been self-diagnosed as 'weakening' or 'backsliding' "

*EDIT: When working on new pieces of music for my quintet and orchestra jobs, I *will* - on the spot - invent little exercises that will drill me on technical challenges encountered in new pieces.

My buddy is a golf coach. His HS golfers often tell him "Don't mess with my swing" and he says to them, "Son, at this point of the game, you don't have a swing." He feels that, at their point in development, they really don't know what they are doing right or wrong and, if they do, they don't know what to do to fix their problem without causing others.

Might students of the horn actually need a set routine that gets them ready to play and reinforces a "general set of skills"?

Joe, you have been playing many, many years and have the ability to self diagnose and to prescribe medicines for your playing. Do students (those who have been playing five years or less) actually have the ability to know what they need to practice in certain situations? I would agree that using 90 minutes of frequently limited time to just run through a set warmup routine before hitting the 'work' of the session seems kind of long. However, wouldn't a 15 min. set routine based on what a player's experienced teacher knows the student needs for the 'work' ahead be beneficial?

Jeff "Just asking" Benedict

[bill]

I was shown a wonderful and brief horn warm up and head adjustment, by Velvet Brown, that I have continued to use and find enough for generally getting a day started. I also do what Bloke says he does, when I encounter a difficult passage. The brief routine is playing (on an "F" tuba), F, C, F, from 4th line F down, in about slow quarters. Use each valve or combination until you have gone down to F#. Then, do the same thing with F, G, F, where the F's are eighths and the G is a quarter and go down the valve combinations. This takes 5 minutes and, in my case, I find I am holding a warm horn and my chops are pretty much ready for anything else I want to do, right then. If you do this with your eye on a distant object (like from my studio, I see the neighbors garden and hedge and try to project the sound waves over or through the hedge) you get a good breathing work out and reinforce the concept for projecting sound.

Bloke is right, it should not be a life's work to warm up.

[windshieldbug]

The primary issues that I'm trying to address here are

- too much emphasis on mechanics at the expense of working to perform music.

- burn-out due to building oneself a daily Sahara of non-gratifying experiences.

I would add the need to perform this entire ritual adequately to perform at an acceptable level.

My teacher (bless his heart) gave me this perspective:

"Back in the day, we had to haul our horns through the subway, and IF there was any preparation time available before the session started, we spent the time studying the music, so as to not make complete fools of ourselves. Now put the horn up to your mouth, and use this exercise as your warm-up if you need to!

[The Big Ben]

I certainly wouldn't raise my eyebrows at 5 - 15 minutes of this sort of stuff.

If someone, truly, is at a stage where there are *many* basic skills that need improvement, why not *rotate* these drills over a period of days (or various practice sessions within a day) in *various* (5 - 15 minute) "warm-up routines"?

The primary issues that I'm trying to address here are

- too much emphasis on mechanics at the expense of working to perform music.

- burn-out due to building oneself a daily Sahara of non-gratifying experiences.

All points well taken. After all, "the music" is what we're going for.

[Rick Denney]

People who play every day never really cool off. (That was a near-quote of Arnold Jacobs.)

For people who have gaps in their playing--not at all in the population of students to which Bloke refers--a gentle warm-up does several things: 1.) It warms up the embouchure muscles so that they are properly filled with blood before taking them to the limit, 2.) it reminds the player of the basics of moving air, and 3.) mostly importantly, it re-establishes the proper tone and pitch concept in the player's head.

To me, warm-up is not about practicing fundamentals. That's what you do AFTER you warm up, if you need to.

Bloke has advocated knowing all scales and their variations. He has advocated certain exercises designed to test breath control. It will not take 5 minutes to learn and do these things. But they are not part of the warm-up.

I frequently spend about ten minutes warming up to get the blood going and the air moving, then I play some legato music to get the musical brain going and to get the chops connected to the musical brain. Then, I work on the music on the stand. I take breaks from that and work on scales. In fact, I often use the scales as a cool-down after playing high stuff to rest the chops (and the brain). If I did that every day, I would improve, but this has to fit in a complicated life, which is the reality for most hobbyists. During times in my life when I've been able to play a lot every day, warm-ups take about one minute.

Rick "who warms up carefully, especially when out of practice, for at most about 10 minutes" Denney

[Todd S. Malicoate]

I play very sparingly these days, but even when I was playing every day for several hours I would begin each practice session or rehearsal with just a few long tones and perhaps some octave-fifth-octave slurs down into the low register moving down by half-steps. Maybe 3 minutes at most. Interestingly, I also don't really "warm down" at all after a practice session or rehearsal. C'est la vie.

I'll offer my thought that not using a long warm-up has been beneficial to me in that I don't have to rely on a great deal of preparation when I take an extended time away from the tuba...my chops are pretty used to not having to warm up much, so they can be "ready-to-go" quickly under pressure.

For a long time I suspected I was among a rare breed of tuba players (brass players?) who don't like (or feel like they really need) a long daily routine. I have created a lot of "face time" through extremely slow practice with a metronome when learning a new piece and increasing the speed one click at a time. I really don't like to practice mistakes and preach that concept to my students (particularly the youngest ones).

However, I don't begrudge those players who use a lengthy daily routine and feel like they get a benefit for it. It's simply not for me. I'll take that time and work on the Arban Characteristic Studies or something like that. I'm perfectly willing to concede this way of doing things might not work or be best for everyone.

Nice topic, bloke...it's interesting to see the wide variety of opinions on the subject. I would be very interested to hear the opinions of current professional players...I have a guess that many of them don't spend much time warming up (or down) either, but I could be completely mistaken.

[pwhitaker]

I buzz for about 30-45 seconds and then do some pedals and 4th valve low notes. If on a gig I am usually warmed up in time for my solo turn in the first number (usually Bill Bailey or Hindustan or Smiles.) At home I jump into a scale and arpeggio routine that takes about 20 minutes. Since I don't read music any more I play through a few tunes from memory in several different keys to keep my brain and fingers awake. Being older (67) it now takes a little while longer to get the blood flowing to my chops.

[NDSPTuba]

My first hour of practice is usually warm up and fundamentals. It isn't until the second hour when I get to pieces that need wood sheddin. That is why for me warm up and fundamentals fall under the same heading. Its what I did first. Unless I wasn't feeling it for some reason and just wanted to get to what absolutely needed attention and get out.

During my days in college and after as a horn player I never "needed" a warm up. I could definitely relate to what Mr. Jacobs said, I always felt ready to play. But doing a good long warm up always felt good. It was/is a very viseral experience for me. It literally physically fells good. Almost endorphin producing in a way. Especially long tone type exercises.

[Todd S. Malicoate]

I have now probably started a fire but I think we definitely need to hear from more professionals on this forum about this topic before we come to a "conclusion".

No fires here...thanks for sharing your story and your opinion!

I hope that I join the rest of the community here in realizing that there really is no conclusion to be drawn...some players respond well to a daily routine and others find them not so helpful. I hope I didn't give you the impression that I was sold on the idea that long warm-ups are bad. I have simply, in my own experience, noticed that the professional players I have collaborated with over the years* all shared one common trait...they pulled the horn out, tooted a few notes, and were ready to go.

* Caveat - the overwhelming majority of those professionals were "jazz musicians."

[rocksanddirt]

I'm of the 5 mins of long tones and intervals working down as a warm up school.

if I have time, I will do some studies/scales/complicated interval work/etc. otherwise it's onto what ever we're playing this week.

[Long Beach State Tuba]

I will do 15 mins of breathing, and 15 mins of buzzing before I even touch the horn. Then I do 10 mins of Long Tones and 10 mins of Lip Slurs. After that i will take a little break, then i will run through the Michael Davis 20 minute Warm-Up. That is my warm up routine and i do it everyday. I always get a lot of criticism from my peers for doing it, but i feel like it gets me fully warmed up and ready to play everyday. On a normal practice day, I will practice for 6-8 hours. I have tried the short warm ups and my chops give out a lot faster when i do them. This warm up works for me and I feel like I get better everyday because the 20 minute warm up routine is very challenging and fun as well!

[Nick Pierce]

Has anyone tried the warm-up book Baadsvik sells? Any comment? I've been wondering about it for a while.

[k001k47]

Warm up routine: (10-15 mins.)
in order

-PLAY (not longtones)
-SCALES (slured, tounged)
-MULTIPLE TOUNGING
-LIP SLURS
-LONG TONES*


-Proceed with practicing music.

Warming up (to me) is not about working fundamentals. Warming up is getting the blood flowing to one's lips, syncing one's fingers and tounge, and just getting comfortable with the horn. Working fundamentals is another concept; if I want to work on fundamentals, I wait until ~after my daily warmup routine. I vary my fundamental work and play exercises that target any problem I may be having. (such as intonation or range)


* The reason I play long tones last is because starting a practice session with long tones creates alot of tension and disrupts blood flow to the lips.

[k001k47]

Warm up routine: (10-15 mins.)

* The reason I play long tones last is because starting a practice session with long tones creates alot of tension and disrupts blood flow to the lips.

I never experienced this with long tones at the beginning, it must have been the roach

Oystein Baadsvik -who stated that Arnold Jacobs felt the same way- said in one of his masterclasses that starting with longtones is stupid because it creates tension; yes, stupid was the exact word he used to describe it. This is why I (now) rarely play longtones while warming up.(but I do play longtones more towards the end of my practice sessions) I was a big skeptical at first, but trying a different warm up routine convinced me. You should try taking Oystein's advice.


Don't you have practicing to do at this time of night?

[bearphonium]

With tuba playing as a hobby, almost two years playing the tuba after a 25 year layoff from music and a pretty busy schedule away from work as the background... I can slide right in and play, although it takes a few minutes to get comfortable. My normal warm-up routine is low scales and partial scales, chromatic scales low and mid, and some slurs over 4 partials. I then do some metranome and tuning work, and then do some ear training. I then work what is on the stand. When I remember to, I do breathing exercises away from the practice sessions (standing in line at the grocery, or any other place where I have time to think "I'm bored").

Interestingly, I spend about as much time on the tuba as I do "practicing" for my day job: working out, sparring, shooting and the like, although the sparring and shooting is less often, but longer when it does happen. (I could NOT spar every day, although I'd love to shoot someone elses ammo everyday!!)

[The Big Ben]

I
You just need to break playing down into all of its various necessary skills and then figure out what you need to do to polish them individually. These skills need polish to differing degrees for different people who are at different levels. I usually assign a pretty regimented warmup and daily drill set for my students and adhere to is rigidly for a year or so. When they start to really understand what needs to be worked and what my standard is in lessons I eventually allow them to become more experimental in what they use to maintain and advance their personal skill sets. Some kids never get away from the prescribed material because they never seem to grasp the underlying thought behind it (or are too lazy to improve). Some are allowed to "self-teach" after a year or so.

Each student is different and has to learn what needs to be worked on to maintain and improve playing skills in their own manner and time. Each gets there via a road littered with my suggestions and exercises and such, but they have to do it on their own two feet using their own reasoning. We can only lead and inspire. The students who succeed are the ones who are avid seekers of knowledge and practitioners of skills.

This was the point I was suggesting. The ideal is to have students self-diagnose problems and cures, There are steps to this independence (and some may never get there) but that's the goal.

[MartyNeilan]

We had a guy where I last went to school, that would spend almost a half hour warming down after every concert. Really made a spectacle of himself on stage or on tour. I don't think he plays much anymore.

[k001k47]

Now.....I am not saying NOT to warm up....it is important....but would anyone the TNFJ agree that one should be able to pick up their horn without warming up and PERFORM effectively, especially a professional/striving to be a pro?

That's what I was suggesting. My warmups are very short...and they're just to get my face and fingers going.
And anyone can call me Noel if k001k47 seems odd.