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Fundamentals

As I structure my practice the bulk of time is on fundamentals.  That is: long tones, soft playing, lip flexibilities, chromatics, Clarke Studies, scales, arpeggios, lip bends, pedal tones, breath attacks, flow studies, etc…

I may not hit all of these everyday, but I always play long tones, chromatics, breath attacks, and lip slurs in my warm-up.  After that I start to think about upcoming performance challenges.

Using books to practice licks

If a piece like Scheherazade is coming up I’l spend a lot of time in the Arban book on single and multiple tonguing. If I will be using small horns, I will include them in my fundamentals practice.  For high sustained passages I will use the Schuebruk book and upper register Clarke studies. 

It’s also helpful to practice your fundamentals in various styles.  Try practicing Clarke study no. 3 in a fanfare style and also in a sweet lyrical style.  I played Copland’s Quiet City recently.  I used the efficiency arpeggios in the John Daniel Special Studies for Trumpet book to help achieve a more dolce style.

!!:  Play the lick?  :!!

I don’t enjoy practicing licks from repertoire.  I’d rather practice studies that address rep. challenges.  If a lick is giving me trouble, I try to figure out where and why it isn’t working.  Sometimes just repeating it a few (dozen) times will fix it.  Often the problem stems from something else.  When I figure that out, odds are better that it gets fixed.

Practicing the fast double tongue passages from Scherazade takes extra attention toward my air stream.  If the air isn’t good then the tongue gets tired and bogs down.  Rather than addressing this by playing the lick over and over again, I go to the Arban book.  It’s just more fun than drilling the excerpt.  

Progress on fundamentals

It’s tempting to warm-up and start practicing excerpts or solos right away without practicing fundamentals.  It seems like a time saver.  I don’t think so.  Progressing on fundamentals will eventually save time on repertoire preparation.  Licks become easier. This frees you up to play musically and have fun.

I hope this has been helpful.  Take care and thanks for reading,

Bill