(Trumpet)(2009)

Let`s just say, hypothetically speaking of course, that I am an exchange student in Japan right now. Hypothetically speaking, I have very little free time, but Trumpet is still important to me. Hypothetically speaking, I haven`t picked up the horn more then twice in the 3 months I have been here, but desiring to "get back in shape" so to speak, I request advice on, if I only have 10 minutes a day with my Trumpet, how to most effectively spend those 10 minutes. Any suggestions, (or sarcasm, they seem to be lacking it here in Japan;)), would be greatly appreciated.

ありがとう！Marg

P.S. As for playing in a band, I am doing Japanese fencing and do not have time to be in the school band. I may change this in a few months, but for now, I`m on my own.

P.S.S.
None of this was hypothetical.

robmassive

My advise, if it counts, is to try and make just a little bit more time for your trumpet playing; that is, if you are serious about it...
Maybe stay up half an hour later, playing into a pillow? (though a silent brass system might be better...)
In ten minutes your could do the first excersize from the clark studies, very useful. Or you could do Stamp no. 1. Both of these are good for lip conditioning, and just staying in shape.
Keep practising,
Rob.

omelet

i'm confused on how you could only have 10 minutes per day free time, that would be horrible

if so, you must make sacrifice on one thing or another and it seems the trumpet is less important than someting else. i dont think 10 minutes doing anything on the trumpet will get you back in shape, but better than nothing of course

rowuk

if 10 minutes it is, you can forget about building or maintaining, all that is left is damage control. My advice is to forget slurs and etudes and the other "good stuff". Play tunes. Whether that is a hymnbook or Japanese traditional melodies, it doesn't matter. The important part is that the family exposed to this likes what you are doing, and maybe can encourage you to do more.
Melodies, just melodies!
What is possible without the horn, would be the pencil exercize. Put a pencil between your lips and support it parallel to the floor. Eric Bolvin has this very detailed at his website.

http://www.bolvinmusic.com/PencilExercise-utube.htm

Good luck!

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(Trumpet)(2009)

It`s not that I literally only have ten minutes Trumpet time a day. It`s just I have other things (quite a few) that I also need to devote time to. Do you think it would be better to up it to 30 minutes every other day?

rowuk

with 30 minutes you can have a daily routine AND some tunes! 15 minutes of long tones, slurs and basic things like Clarke and 15 minutes of melodies. Never let playing tunes come up short! Do the pencil thing anyway!

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Vulgano Brother

Ten minutes per day is less than 1% of your total time per day, and really puts the trumpet in the back seat. 2% of your daily time would be close to a half hour, where some improvement can start to happen, and if you were to practice one hour every other day, you could really start building. Robin has given you some real good advice on what to do with your ten minutes, but I would suggest that you re-examine your commitment to the trumpet, and perhaps decide to devote 2% of your time to the instrument--it should be worth it!

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