trumpetdiva1

Hi Tony,

Could you give us an idea of what your practice routine looks like on a typical day? I’m curious.

Thanks,

Janell

kadleck

Hey Janell -

It usually depends on the work that I have going that day. If I know that I'm just doing my show or a jingle, then I can let loose practicing. If I have something more taxing, I'll just do a big warm-up and lay low.

I'm a bit of a lip slur nut, so that eats up about 20-30 minutes (many patterns in different registers). After that, I'll do some tonguing exercises, particularly in the low register where my tonguing is not-so-great.

Also - I play 2 mouthpieces (which I don't necessarily condone), so I do this routine on my Bach 5B and then switch over to my Monette B5LM and do it again.

Time permitting, I'll put on an Aebersold play-along CD and try to keep my jazz playing together. (It's amazing how quickly it goes away when not done regularly!) Or maybe work on some C tpt., or piccolo.

With studio work, you often never know what you'll have to play until you get there. For that reason, I try to do a little of everything rather than a lot of one thing. I know that I'll never sound like Manny or Phil Smith in an orchestra, or Woody Shaw in front of a quintet, but if I try to wear as many hats as possible ("jack of all trades, master of none"), it will help me with what I need to do.

Tony

trumpetdiva1

Hey Tony -

Thanks for sharing that information! It is always fascinating to find out how the true professionals warm-up and how they choose to spend their time depending on what their playing day brings to them.

So, from my understanding you do this particular routine twice--once on your Bach 5B and then again using your Monette B5LM. Are those two mouthpiece comparable or do you consider them to be different? My main mouthpiece is the Monette B4L, but I like to switch to the Monette B4 in a practice session to achieve a darker, warmer sound. Do you think that if a trumpet player decides to use two mouthpieces (which you do not “condone” but may be hard if you are playing a variety of styles) that they should at least perform some of their routine using both of them? How do you select one mouthpiece for all types of playing? Do you have any suggestions?

Janell

MJ

Hey Tony,

This is a bit off topic. But you mentioned never knowing what you will have to play when you show up to the studio. Do you have any suggestions for practicing sight reading skills besides alot of listening and reading?

I'm sure you show up to some of these sessions and the music is pretty hairy and requires excellent reading skills. Is this ability something you developed just by doing it alot. Or do you think it is something you can practice just like slurring. I know picking up a new piece of music every day and running through it is probably the most common answer. Just curious if you have any other suggestions. This skill is something that is incredibly important in the freelance world but doesn't get talked about alot and is something I'm trying to improve on myself.

MJ

kadleck

Janell -
The Monette and the Bach are not really very similar. The rims are pretty close in diameter, but have very different contours. I've been doing the two mouthpiece thing almost since day one (I played a Bach 1 1/2C and a Jettone all the way through high school). The trick for me is to ALWAYS start on the larger one, and to try and play them both equally if possible.

As for finding one to "do it all", I haven't found it yet. Plus, I (myself) just don't feel right playing a tiny mouthpiece in an orchestra, or playing a huge mouthpiece in a big band.

MJ -
It sounds like a cop-out answer but it's true ... sight reading only improves when you do it. Sometimes I'll borrow a french horn or clarinet method book just to keep my reading together. I heard that Maynard used to practice violin etudes (as only he could).

Also, ear training is extremely important to me. Being able to hear an interval before you play it will certainly improve ones reading skills. I don't teach too many lessons, but when I do, I always try to slip in some ear training. (I'll play a 5 note phrase and ask the student to play it back to me, giving them only the starting note. Then we'll switch. It's good practice for both of us.)

Basically, just read as much as possible. And don't forget about transposition ... another beneficial tool.

Tony

trumpetdoc

Hey Tony,

I'd like to add a little to your great advice. DUETS! When I was in high school I was fortunate in that my high school band director was a great trumpet player (Vacchiano student). I would hang out in the band room all of the time, sometimes cutting classes to play duets (I don't recommend the cutting classes part). We played duets at least 3 times a week and sometimes 8-10 times. As a result I became such an advanced reader that I began playing professional gigs at age sixteen (I became a union member at 16) including playing the televised Miss New York State Pageant for 3 years while in high school. So I would suggest that students find a friend who plays and read duets as much as possible. Duets improve your reading better than playing alone because of the "ensemble" feature. And it doesn't necessarily have to be a trumpet player. In college my best friend was a tuba player and he and I played duets several times a week. In the winter when the weather was bad it was every day. We played a lot of oboe/bassoon and violin/cello duets. Great for transposition as well. And speaking of reading music for other instruments, I always enjoyed playing through the Bach flute sonatas. Some of them work quite well for the trumpet. Just rest frequently and they become great endurance exercises as well.

I didn't mean for this to become so long winded. So the short of it: DUETS. As many and as often as possible.

By the way, I really enjoyed the hang on Saturday,
Leon

kadleck

Great point Leon - duets are nice also because you can switch parts and get twice as much sight reading practice in. When I was in Jr. H.S., my teacher would always pull out some duets for us to read through. It always bummed me out to hear about teachers who refused to play along with their students, because duets are often our introduction into ensemble playing.

TK

trumpettrax

Hi Tony,

I'm a comeback player and to jump on the bandwagon about duets I think it's great. I'm taking private lessons and my teacher is also a composer. My teacher is writting a book of duets, so....during my last lesson I was having problems with a particular rhythm. He wrote a duet during my lesson (sounds bad - what about the lesson etc, etc but wasn't really) and we played it together while he wrote it out. It was amazing. By the time I got done with playing the duet a couple of times, we went back to the piece I was having trouble on and voila! It worked itself out. He said he was thinking of doing a lot more playing together with his students. I think it's great.

Trax

kadleck

Trax -

I remember learning so much by playing with my teacher. I'm really lucky that he broke out the duet book at the end of every lesson. It also breaks up the monotony of the lesson, especially if a student is struggling with something. Often, "stepping away" from the problem momentarily and coming back to it later can be quite helpful (as in your case).

TK

trumpetdiva1

When I was teaching at the Wilkes University Conservatory & Community School of the Arts in Pennsylvania (now Eddie Severn teaches there), for my high school student, I would pull out a duet book of Rich Willey’s and Bugs Bower’s “Rhythms Complete” for sight reading at the end of a lesson.

I know of a saxophone player and university jazz orchestra director, Nick Driscoll, who pulls out a viola or violin book for sight reading. He would always find something challenging to hone his sight reading skills. He said that when he was auditioning for music schools, his teacher at the time would make him sight read at the end of each lesson. So, when he went to audition for music schools, the sight reading part was so much easier and he was more comfortable with it. It seemed to work wonders for him, as he had received his M.M. from the Manhattan School of Music.