Car Practice

Jeff_Strong · New Member Joined: 28 Jan 2014 Posts: 3

Just my 2 cents. I've had to practice a lot in cars in the past, and have found that if I'm calculated about what I do while in the car I can get a lot done and not have to worry about damaging my hearing.
Many of the great trumpet players have said they spend much of their time honing their soft playing and that having the control in the softest part of their playing leads to greater control/command in the louds. These are sentiments that I've heard expressed by Hakan Hardenberger, Tom Hooten, Chris Martin, Bud Herseth, Chris Gekker, Barbara Butler, etc. It is with that intention, honing my softs and working on response and purity, that I approach playing in the car.
When I have to practice in the car, I do much of what others have already mentioned: seat pushed back or sit in the back seat, good but COMFORTABLE posture (it never will be ideal in the car) so that I can breathe naturally. But I haven't had to worry about decibels because I practice mostly in the mp-pp dynamic range while in the car. I use the time to work on response, playing with as huge of a sound as I can while playing softly (think 5 inch tall guy playing FFF), getting purity in the sound, no grit, clear fronts, no waiver/quiver in the pitch or sound, coordination of breath and tongue, clean articulations, etc.
If you get a lot of your loud stuff done in other settings, the car can actually be a nice place to get some soft work done.
When I first saw this post it was in the "recent posts" column on the front page, and I didn't realize that it was specifically in the Claude Gordon section. Once I realized that, and taking into consideration I haven't spent much time with the CG technique, I thought about deleting my post as I may be out of my element here. But I'm sure at some point in the routine he asks for soft playing. So I figure I'll submit it anyway, and if it's helpful, great! If not, feel free to ignore the post.

Cheers,
JS

John Mohan · Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2015 4:32 pm Post subject:

Hi Jeff,

Your post absolutely belongs here! I think you make very good points and suggestions in it.

And yes, Claude had his students practice things very softly ("in a whisper"). But he didn't have students do this at first as he found that if a player tried to play difficult things too softly too soon, he would tend to pinch up and do it wrong. So at first things were practiced at a comfortable mf to f volume, then as the student progressed, certain studies (i.e. the Clarkes) were practiced very softly.

Best wishes,

John Mohan
_________________
Trumpet Player, Clinician & Teacher
1st Trpt for Cats, Phantom of the Opera, West Side Story, Evita, Hunchback of Notre Dame,
Grease, The Producers, Addams Family, In the Heights, etc.
Ex LA Studio Musician
16 Year Claude Gordon Student

ljazztrm · Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2015 9:16 am Post subject:

ljazztrm · Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2015 9:17 am Post subject:

kanemania · Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2015 10:09 am Post subject:

It might be slightly off topic, but ... share some of those NJ wedding band leader stories, please.

tomb · New Member Joined: 21 Oct 2013 Posts: 7 Location: Sydney

I, out of necessity, practice in my car all the time.

I simply move the front seat forward as far as possible, lean the seat forward, and sit in the back. You can get good posture that way if you're in a reasonably sized car.

Jerry Freedman · Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2016 3:25 am Post subject:

For what its worth, I am a naturally early riser ( 4-5 AM). No one is up but the birds. I can use this time for a very healthy walk or not so healthy but more satisfying practice. I grab a practice mute and go out to my car for about 45 minutes. One morning while doing boring calesthenic exercises, seeing movement out of the corner of my eye I looked up and there was a deer staring at me at the driver side window. I went on with my practice and she ( no antlers ) left after a few minutes. Maybe had I switched to a Bach etude I was working on, she might have stuck around

american boy · Veteran Member Joined: 22 Sep 2012 Posts: 344 Location: ny

Old thread,but just noticed a reply to my comments about car practice and a strange band leader,and yes Ijazztrm,thats gotta be the same guy.Cant remember his last name,but his first started with an L for sure..Horn Section would stand behind a partition and he would stand at piano..That guy made me want to yack,and he would stalk around during breaks and just talk s..t to everybody.I started doing it I think right after he had gotten out of jail,and did it for like a season and a half until I got with another band run by somebody from earth