Tarter_trpt8
You wrote:
"...there is so much to learn with only so much chop time, how do you learn it all and play it well and efficiently without hurting yourself or overplaying?"
It sounds like you are trying to learn everything that you need to play while actually playing the trumpet. I'm sure that's not entirely the case, but consider this analogy...
How well would a football team accomplish the goal of moving the ball up the field if there were no huddles, no time to plan and formulate how to approach the obstacle in their path? The only time that the actual game clock is moving is when the ball is in play. It doesn't account for the time related to strategic planning that goes on prior to actually touching the ball.
The same idea should be applied to your practice time. The goal of practice is to put the most intense, clear image of how you want to make the music sound into your head. John Hagstrom says, "...the intensity of the musical voice in one's head must be able to drown out what may or may not come out of the instrument".
So, to put that voice in your head, you need to be doing a lot of work away from the trumpet in preparation for the time when you get ready to move the ball up the field (practice time).
Here is a quote from the
CNN interview with Philip Myers (Principal Horn with the NY Philharmonic):
Quote:
|
My real pleasure, frankly, comes from looking at music, not playing it. I spend four or five hours a day looking at music, analyzing music. For me, that's joy. Last week, I was looking at a piece by Benjamin Britten and, as I saw what he was trying to communicate and how he did it, my respect went waaaay up for this guy!
|
Whoa! Four to Five hours a day studying the music, getting a complete sense of the music in his mind before he plays? That's amazing to me, but it's the reason that he is where he is.
Here’s another quote from John Hagstrom with respect to a question that I asked him about "putting the sound in my head":
Quote:
In reference to your request for insight about how to generate an internal sound concept, I can sum it up in one word: immersion. Immerse yourself in the recordings you have of the sound you most want to achieve. That is how we learn language and the subtle inflections that give emphasis and nuance to our words to others. It is no wonder then that it would also be the method by which we would imprint the subtle nuances of timbre that construct the quality sound concept we strive for.
Bombard yourself with the product you wish to imitate, and, just like when you were a child, you will begin to be able to speak that same language yourself within a few years...of CONSTANT bombardment, and I don't just mean once a day when it is convenient. Do what Byron said and make your car a university on wheels...you don't know if the radio works cause you've never used it; you've only used the CD and tape player playing the material that accomplishes your task.
Well, that's the best I can do for you right now. If you are waiting for a quicker way, get ready to wait a long time, cause there isn't a quicker way if you truly want to own the sound concepts you aspire to.
|
The clearer the sound image is in your mind before you sit down to practice, the better chance you will have of actually moving toward that sound image. Spend an appropriate amount of time away from the horn listening and studying (even better to grab a score and actively listen to the music while reading what's in front of you). After you do this, try and sing what you have just heard. Can you do it? If you can't, you need to spend more time to assure that the image is as clear as possible before you even pick up the horn again.
Hope these thoughts are helpful!