warm up

[jwilson46]

My first lesson with Reinhardt was in 1967. My chops have evolved greatly since that time. So some of what he told me for corrections wouldn't apply today. That's a natural progression. However he did say that the low range was my enemy. He also said that under ideal conditions he would tell not to go below 3rd space C for an indeterminate amount of time. Today I don't play below 2nd line G until I really feel warmed up and in the groove. While practicing I approach the low range with caution and don't spend too much time there....especially below low C.

I'm not suggesting that this is the approach for everyone but I do think incorrect playing of low notes can be a big culprit.

I can play double Cs and Ds...sometimes higher and I'm 70 years old. It was Reinhardt and then Doug Elliott who made this happen.


John

[Paul T.]

I'm sure that this advice would apply to a lot of players.

I always start warming up somewhere above "middle C" for similar reasons. It's just too easy to "play wrong" down there and start making adjustments to your playing which could be harmful to your overall technique.

[Doug Elliott]

That's an interesting approach. I tend to emphasize "correct low range" in the beginning of a warmup as a cure for "incorrect low range," but just staying out of it for the beginning is definitely another way of looking at it that could be very effective for some players.

[Paul T.]

Right. The recipe for me is always to think back to Reinhardt's comment that "the key to correct brass playing is the downward slur" (or something along those lines), and once I'm executing it correctly, I'm basically warmed up and ready to go.

I focus on finding my legs/embouchure in the middle register of the horn and then slur down from there with the best form I can manage, while trying to make it feel the same is it up higher, and that usually locks everything in for me. I don't really need to warm up the upper register - it's always there when I'm doing things right (thanks, Doc and Doug!).

John, how often do you succeed in actually staying out of that register for an extended period of time? And, if so, how does it make your playing feel?

[mcgovnor]

Excellent thread.

[shaolin]

After many years of playing, I still find that most days, Doc's #57 warm-up routine is the best way to start my playing day.
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[jwilson46]

Doug wrote:

[Doug Elliott]

Yes, that's how I would say to approach things.

The exception is that if a IIIA has been playing with multiple embouchures and has an upper groove and a lower groove, it would be a good idea to stay away from the lower groove as much as possible and therefore stay out of the low range to better establish the upper groove and not risk falling into the lower one.

I was in that situation during my early years studying with Doc, and he did have me stay out of the low range for a while. Then later I had the same issue when I discovered that a left side placement worked much better and I had to establish that new groove and stay away from my centered groove. That was a tough change - I had a well established groove in my chops with a pretty centered placement, and the mouthpiece always wanted to go back there, so I had to fight it for a couple of years.

This groove isn't discussed very much but it needs to be considered when making adjustments. It takes a long time for your body to fill in an old groove when you make a placement change.

[Bluesy]

This is an interesting thread. I've always warmed up by starting with the mouthpiece, then the lead pipe, then the bottom half of the trumpet/cornet range down to low F#.
As I play my long tones I notice that the lower notes often want to crack to the higher partials, and I have to make minute lip adjustments to get back into that "lower" groove.
Maybe I learned something here about where to start my warmup!
I'm sure there are ramifications of this approach that haven't yet crossed my blood-brain barrier so I'll check this thread again.

Bluesy/
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Finally Beiderbecke took out a silver cornet. He put it to his lips and blew a phrase. The sound came out like a girl saying ‘yes.’. . . . .Eddie Condon/

[BeboppinFool]

[JoshMizruchi]

Bluesy, welcome to the Reinhardt forum! We're glad you are finding this thread helpful and it's really cool to see more people posting in here. That said, keep in mind that Doc Reinhardt:

1. Did not advocate starting your playing day on a low F#. In fact, he felt somewhat the opposite. He wanted to get your chops out of that "lower register" setting and more efficient and set up for the upper register. For example, Warm Up #57 starts on a middle C. As you become more advanced, you're invited to start your playing day on even higher notes than that. Check out Warm Up 57 and give it a try sometime. Just rest as much as you play, and stop BEFORE you get tired (I like to stop when I feel warmed up).

2. Reinhardt did not teach leadpipe buzzing. Not sure his exact reasons, but he probably found it un-necessary, among other reasons.

3. Reinhardt did not teach mouthpiece buzzing. I think he thought mouthpiece buzzing could encourage un-necessary spreading of the chops, and he probably also thought it wasn't necessary.

Reinhardt has a lot of rules, I'll admit, but to be honest, trumpet playing has a lot of rules. So in a way, it's kind of necessary. Does that make sense? Hope this helps you.

Josh
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[Pete]

I have more recently, the last 2-3 years, focused more of my playing with regard to the Reinhadt approach. Although I had been introduced to it while in the military years ago by a friend who was a Reinhardt student, I did not consistently work on any of it at that time.

Most often these days I use the Spider warmup starting on middle C. I definitely use this before I leave for a gig. I also use the first four or five lines of the Track routine before a gig. These seem to zero in my chops. If there is no gig on any specific day, I will try to do the Track Routine from top to bottom. I will do Warm Up 57 once or twice a week also if the mood strikes me.

And I have to agree with John about staying away from the lower register until you are ready. As a self proclaimed IIIB I definitely benefit by following this advice.

Pete

[jwilson46]

I took my first lesson with Reinhardt in 1967. I had a lot of bad habits then. I asked him about mouthpiece buzzing. I will try to represent what he said as accurately as I remember. He said that he didn't find mouthpiece buzzing that helpful, mainly for two reasons. The resistance was much different and there is the danger of not approaching the mouthpiece with the same angle to the embouchure. Then he chuckled and said, "if standing on your head first makes you play better then do it." I never asked but I wonder if he was thinking of Maynard doing his yoga exercises before a concert. There were times when riding to a gig I played on my mouthpiece to warm up. I never got anything out of it. Doc told me that when Maynard played at Birdland he would drive in from Connecticut and play one handed while driving. Slide Hampton use to tell everyone that Maynard could take the horn out of the case and play immediately. Maynard never told him what he was doing. For obvious reasons driving and playing is not a good idea. I admit I've done that.

Pedal tones has created a lot of discord in the past on this Forum. Reinhardt has told most players that they absolutely should stay away from pedals. In 1967 he told me that pedals are ok for some players but not the majority. Unless you can play them with absolutely no chop distortion you should avoid them. He said there are other ways to relax the chops. I can't play them without distortion so I don't. We all know a couple great players who can play them with apparently the same embouchure and continuation of track. But there are a lot of great players who never touch pedals. So why take the chance.

Don Junker and I sometimes drove to Philly together to take lessons. We even sat in on each other's lesson. Doc would often tell each of us different things that we should be doing. I asked about the contradiction. He said "one man's meat is another man's poison". This was the beauty of Reinhardt that he tailored lessons to the individual and his needs at the time.

John

[Bluesy]

[Doug Elliott]

You're right about all that, but I would always caution newcomers not to assume that what was "advocated by Reinhardt" for one student will apply to another student. Teaching this stuff is necessarily very individualized. Warming up in the top half of your range is a good idea for many players at a particular time in their development, but may not remain a good idea forever and may be very wrong for other players.

Glad to see you here, keep reading and asking questions.

[JoshMizruchi]

Good point. It hadn't occurred to me that Doc might want some people to start lower...I guess always hearing from the Reinhardt guys to get your chops out of the lower register setting fairly early in my playing life, it really stuck with me.

Also, thank you very much to John for sharing Reinhardt's thoughts on mouthpiece buzzing with us. Those were fantastic insights, particularly how the buzzing affects your playing angle. I never even thought of that.

I will share this...Up until I first started learning about Reinhardt and taking lessons with Reinhardt students, I often started my warm ups on a low C...BUZZED ON THE MOUTHPIECE!

Initially it makes perfect sense. Athletes often warm up by doing the easy stuff, so trumpet should be no different right? But it is a little different I think.

You CAN get good results practicing that way. But the Reinhardt approach done correctly will probably get you playing even better.
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[revmklyons]

I definitely don't start warming up low any more. When I was a young stud, I started on concert F and down in half steps....spent a lot of time in the pedal area ( I am a euph player BTW). Then I would go in to slurs and scales....but now I know that I played on two embouchures (at least two, actually). I had a low setting and a high setting. I became pretty adept at disguising it, but it lead to my demise. I was aware that I reset for the higher octaves, I just thought everyone did...

Anyway, now I start at least on 4th partial....sometimes on 6th partial F and keep that setting as I descend. It feels and works better.

Just my input...I am no longer a young stud. More like an old jackass.
K
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to God be the Glory, great things He has done!

[Bluesy]

Why is it that when we're young we are "young studs" or some other complimentary moniker, but when we get old we refer to ourselves as "old jackasses"?
I saw a license plate on the back of a pickup at the Jersey shore; "old crab"

B/
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Finally Beiderbecke took out a silver cornet. He put it to his lips and blew a phrase. The sound came out like a girl saying ‘yes.’. . . . .Eddie Condon/

[revmklyons]

LOL! I wish I was an old stud. it turns out the older I get the better I used to be.
K
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to God be the Glory, great things He has done!

[razeontherock]