How Do You Warm-Up on the Trumpet?
Ok, the big question… what’s your daily warm-up? Many of us have a consistent routine, but many of us likely take a more variable approach. What are your objectives when you warm up? What exercises do you fall back on to make you feel ready to go? Is there a time of day you like to warm up? Share your best practices, or any questions or uncertainties you may have!
4 replies
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I'll kick it off and share my routine... curious to hear each of yours!
I like to start with breathing exercises to make sure I'm using my air properly (not breathing too shallow or introducing tension somewhere). My two favorites are 1) trying to fill up a 6-liter breathing bag as far as I can, always with a metronome to ensure a regular exhale rate over 8-16 seconds... and 2) box breathing with a timer! These force me to develop control, stamina, and efficiency with my breathing - and it's impossible to do them well without good form.
Recently, I've been buzzing a lot more. I like free buzzing for the way it activates my facial muscles, though I've always been quite bad at it. But over the last month with practicing it daily, I can now buzz 1.5 octaves pretty effortlessly. The goal is not range, but being able to produce a pure tone when buzzing does translate to efficiency on the trumpet. Mouthpiece buzzing is also excellent, and I usually do a few minutes of this too. Scales, glisses, articulation - usually starting around a middle G and expanding outward.
On the trumpet, I like to start with poo attacks, usually around a middle G. I alternate between lots of variations of this (you can see more in the Ultimate Trumpet Warm-Up PDF under "Resources" on the tonebase trumpet site)... I'll usually do long tones down to low C or low G, depending on how beat up I am from the day before.
I structure my warmup around an arpeggio sequence that comes from LA studio legend Dan Rosenboom's book (stay tuned for more on this over the summer... 👀 This quickly activates my tonguing, my loud/soft playing, slurring, scales, pitch bending, and gets me ready for anything in 10-15 minutes.
Depending on the day, I'll then go into a variety of other things: Clarke, chromatic scales, I rarely do flexibility in the morning these days (a la Chris Gekker's advice), and lots of articulation (typically Arban).
My main focus is as an improvising trumpet player, but I still try to do a lyrical etude most days to make sure I'm blowing through my note changes.
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How about when you come back off holidays and dread picking up the horn and wonder what’s going to come out.
Tons of Tunes for trumpet ( cd included) 4 bar intros This sets you up to play in time and makes you aware of the melody and breathing.
Beginner book (kids tunes ) range D on the staff and beginner book of classical tunes, Range F on the staff.
As simple as this approach is it gets you playing tunes immediately. After this you probably won,t dread day 2.
I use these books on beginners .
Regards,
Sid Arnold
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Hi Ethan,
Ok but in many cases when we pick up the horn after a lay off I try to approach getting back in the saddle as a no brainer.
Listen to the sound track and play a long. Sure it,s a simple tune but as you play along your ear will dictate what you have to do.
ie Breath ,play the tune ,you will naturally articulate the style because your ear will tell you what to do.
The fundamentals of these 2 books ,Tons of tunes ( 30 min.S of playing and resting between tunes )will calm you down, and you will feel it after the 30 tunes.
This approach is not intended for the players who are getting ready for a n audition, it,S just for most of us who are still trying to stay in the game.
Regards,
Sid Arnold