Posted by Kendall Prinz on August 16, 2001 at 01:57:19:
In Reply to: Practice schedule posted by Graham W. on August 15, 2001 at 21:38:41:
Are you practicing a lot of high solo-like material, or working extensively on you upper range. If so this could be causing your problems. From my experience, working on solos in the upper tessitura causes tension that will bleed into the next practice session (not literally). Suggestion: practice high solo sections down an octave 3 times for every one time you play it at pitch! You will still be working on rhythm, intervallic relationships, and musicality without blowing your chops. You will be surprised how much easier this makes the passage playing at pitch.
When you work on your upper range make sure you balance that with low range work. If you are feeling tension the ratio should probably be about 1/3 high to 2/3 low.
WARM DOWN EXERCISES:
Remingtons, starting on low C and going to the pedal range
Chicowitz (sp?) Flow studies going into the pedal range, slur starting on G (key of C major), The following are the solfege syllables and the scale degree numbers for the excercise:
So-Fi-So-La-So-Mi-Do or 5-#4-5-6-5-3-1 then transpose by descending half-steps.
(Helpful Variation: So-Fi-So-Mi-Do-Ti-Do)
Half Step excercize (slow) starting on low C and descending: C-B-C, B-Bb-B, etc
Clark Technical Study no. 1, mm. 2 & 3, slowly: In case you are not familiar:
3/4 time slurred descending then ascending chromatic eighth notes. The lowest point is beat 1 m. 2, in other words the outer interval is an Aug 4th. Therefore you are going from C to F# to C, then transpose down a half step: B to F to B. Go as low as possible, make sure your are slurring, avoiding excessive embouchure movement, and above all relax, play it softly
Mouthpiece Warm-Down: Buzz smeared descending then ascending perfect 4ths in the low range. Descend by half-step then repeat until you get to your extreeme low range.
I've rambled enough here. I really hope this helps. Feel free to email me if you have any questions about any of these excercises
Sincerely
Kendall Prinz
Low Brass Instructor
Texas Lutheran University