That is very interesting ....
I was reading a trombone forum early tonight hosted by NY Freelance trombonist Sam Burtis (
http://forum.samburtis.com/index.php )
He said this:
The timing alternative suggests that you time in the entire motion of the horn to your chops, from point of rest to initial attack.
Try it. You’ll like it.
Tap your foot at a moderate tempo (say 100 BPM, maybe slower); mentally subdivide in 16th notes, and within the space of two beats (That’s what I generally use…could be 3 or 1 or 4, I suppose), raise the horn to your chops and play your note.
You will very soon find that the horn goes to the right place on your embouchure, the breath is naturally correct, the embouchure forms at the right moment, the tongue does its preparatory job, and the note comes out with less drama than at any time before in your playing career.
It feels like one of those scenes in a sci-fi movie…almost in slow motion, the space ship heads for the docking bay; the barrier opens; the ship enters, and then magically settles into just the right position so that it can hunker down and do its spaceship business.
No thought, no planning, no consideration of anything except time.
Your body knows what to do. You have played 8 gazillion middle Fs (G in the staff for trumpets) before. It knows EVERYTHING it has to do to play that note, and the application of good time to the process allows it to do its work in a well coordinated manner.
Time acts as a guidance system, and the physical computer takes over.
"5,4,3,2,1-CONTACT!!!"
Make this a HABIT…find the two or three ways you habitually hold the horn while playing… time this in while practicing, and soon it will begin to appear in your playing life.
A normal entrance…
"5,4,3,2,1-CONTACT!!!"
A difficult note…
"5,4,3,2,1-CONTACT!!!", only maybe a little slower to allow for preparation.
(No thought…it just happens.)
The conductor gives an unexpected cue or your miscounted rests…
"5,4,3,2,1-CONTACT!!!" only almost instantaneous and there you are, playing the note almost before you realized it was time to come in.
This works.
It works amazingly well.
It is probably the single most effective tool for improving general playing that I have ever found.
Certainly the simplest.
Time in the raising of the horn to your lips.
DUH!!!
(Only took me about 25 years to figure THIS one out…)
Takes the "ACK!!!" right out of "attack", I will guarantee.
There is an emphasis on practicing -- but if you are always "practicing" then you are always making mistakes. I am not sure about putting the horn down for 30 minutes. I like what Sam suggested 54321 play the right note -- in the middle, good tone. Do this over and over until you can play any note on command without thinking. It may take some of the heat out of the "hot seat."
I like to play fairly easy etudes and play them through with the emphasis on playing with no mistakes and with a good tone. Often we stop when we practice and go over a section until we get it right. But do we then come back and play it
through?
I am adding Sam's suggestion to my practices. It makes sense to me.
M&C