Morning after routine

widespreadtrumpet · Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2017 7:03 am Post subject: Morning after routine

Hi all, as a weekend player and after a sometimes grueling performance, I'm at a loss as to whether or not jump on the horn again the next day or wait a day to let my chops recover. Looking for your thoughts on this...
Thanks

Don Herman rev2 · Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2017 7:58 am Post subject:

I've taken days off and they generally make me feel better and play worse. Work and Life are costing me a lot of practice time lately...

My" morning after" routine usually happens the next evening, natch...

I usually try a brief warmup comprising soft (quiet) flow studies or simple whole notes and rhythmic figures (whole - half - quarter -eighth on one note then move up and down in pitch). Just enough to get the chops and mind moving again. I try to focus on the sound I want and not the feel of my chops. If things feel and sound good I might do a short practice session, usually more in the middle of range and dynamics, not pushing anything. If my chops feel sore and things are just frustrating, I play a few soft low long tones then put the horn away.

FWIWFM - Don
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dstdenis · Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2017 8:03 am Post subject:

Michael Sachs recommends warm-down exercises after strenuous playing to loosen up and refocus tone production. He has a page of warm-down exercises in his Daily Fundamentals book, and I've found them helpful.
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Craig Swartz · Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2017 5:42 am Post subject:

If I cannot take a day off, and usually don't/can't, I run the regular Stamp warm up routine, which is a daily routine for me, anyway. Lips, mouthpiece, horn, the more stiff and unresponsive I am the more slowly and focussed I try to be. Listen, listen, listen. It always seems to get me back to a stage of relaxation in the center far better than anything else I could do and when fixating on the tone I tend to not worry about how things feel, which is often the primary problem.

trickg · Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2017 6:03 am Post subject:

I'll sometimes take a day off after beating my chops up on a gig. On the other hand, putting in some time with some very easy playing - really nothing more than a warm up of sorts - can help too. What I won't do is to try to put in a full practice.

There are times where I have to get right back on it again, and sometimes even gig back to back. When that happens, I do what I can to pace myself and not beat myself up the first gig, and I'll do some very light playing the morning after to get things loosened back up, and to get the chops focused again. Then I'll put it away until the gig.
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nayr42 · Regular Member Joined: 31 Jul 2016 Posts: 19

First and foremost, a warm-down is important. Low register, soft long tones will go a long way.

In general, I would not recommend taking days off. After time away from the horn, I feel like the trumpet is a more foreign object, rather than something i'm so familiar with. Regularity and routine are what build consistency in your playing.

If I had a hard day yesterday, I will usually try to do the first 4 exercises in the Thompson buzzing book. These do a great job of warming me up and getting me very focused, physically and mentally. What's important is that you take your warmup slowly, because it is going to feel differently. You need to have the mental focus to to bring your chops back to where they belong, whether that is through thompson or another warmup routine.

To quote a graduate student in my studio, "You can not trust the trumpet too much". You are working to turn your body into a machine; What you put into the trumpet is what you will get out. The production of sound comes from YOU, and NOT the horn. The horn only amplifies it. If you just put air through the horn, all you will hear is air out of the other end. So you must develop consistency and confidence in yourself, and not in the horn.

Don't get me wrong, there is a place for days off. If you're hitting a particular wall in your playing, maybe it's time to take a break physically and mentally for a day so that you can attack the problem fresh.

Craig Swartz · Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2017 7:44 am Post subject:

For "warming down" I'd suggest you just buy a golf bag club tube at Walmart for about $1.25 and pulse it on the way home in your car. The concept is from Pops although the car usage is my own adaption. About 5 minutes of "flapping" and things really start to relax again- lips, tongue, breathing muscles, everything. Concentrate on the sound and keep it steady and full.

If you do this you must also be aware that you could knock out your front teeth and about everything else if you also text and drive and rear end someone...

Craig Swartz · Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2017 7:46 am Post subject:

For "warming down" I'd suggest you buy a golf bag club tube at Walmart for about $1.25 and pulse it on the way home in your car. The concept is from Pops although the car usage is my own adaption. About 5 minute of "flapping" and things really start to relax again- lips, tongue, breathing muscles, everything. Concentrate on the sound and keep it steady and full.

If you do this you must also be aware that you could knock out your front teeth and about everything else if you also text and drive and rear end someone...