Sharpen Your Sword!

[Derek Reaban]

I read a very interesting article by Craig Morris several weeks ago called Fundamentally Speaking (scroll down a few times to see the article). In this article he makes a very important distinction in what he calls “foundation” exercises versus the “skill set” exercises. (Please read the article in the link. It’s short and provides some very good ideas). He divides the “foundation” exercises into two distinct categories: Balance / Centering and Strength. “Skill set” exercises include Articulation and Flexibility.

I bring this up because when my oldest son started Kindergarten last year, I started driving him to school every day and I was not able to get in my Balance / Centering session in the morning. Muscle memory is a very strong component of everyone’s playing, and I was able to maintain my balance for quite a long time after I discontinued this regular morning session. Eventually though, the memory fades, and what used to be simple and easy becomes incrementally more challenging.

Over the past two weeks I’ve been spending time getting my playing (sound production) back into balance. I played a Saturday night church service, a Sunday morning service, and a Sunday afternoon rehearsal and service this weekend. There was a lot of playing (I play about 2 hours per day on average and this weekend I played 3.5 hours on Saturday and 4.5 hours on Sunday). The thing that amazed me was how important those “balance” sessions are for me.

When I have to do a lot of hymn playing, I know that I have to be careful not to play too loud for fear of “spreading”. This leads to strength issues when I have to play solos during the service. I was balanced going into each of my jobs this weekend, and I was carrying this great vibrant sound with me. I didn’t have to worry about sound production at all. The hymns were very easy to sing out to the congregation (little physical effort on my part), and the solos correspondingly had that same ease of production that I’m used to when I haven’t gone overboard with loud low playing.

I know I’ve commented on this quite a few times in the past, but how often do we focus on strength exercises at the expense of centering exercises? I know that when I was in high school and college I had never even considered doing centering exercises. How many people look at the Caruso exercises from a strength perspective? How about the Thompson buzzing exercises?

I’m sure if I were to post a question like, “I have some important jobs to play this weekend and I’m easily going to be playing for twice as long as I usually practice per day”, the majority of the responses would be related to how I should develop “strength” in the week or two prior to the jobs. By changing my mindset and doing the James Thompson exercises from purely a “balance / centering” perspective, I’m effectively taking the strength that I already have and multiplying it many times over. Much less strength is required when playing from a truly balanced state.

My results this weekend are a direct reflection of this line of thinking. I know that the Eastman students spend the beginning of every practice day doing the first four Thompson exercises to “sharpen the sword” and allow them to get the most out of every playing day. How many of us are going into battle with a dull sword?
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Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe Symphonic Wind Ensemble / Symphony of the Southwest

[Dave Converse]

Thanks for bringing this article to our attention, Derek. As an older player who went thru the common "comeback," I've already stumbled into this concept of "reed" fine-tuning. It jves well with the goal of finding one's most efficient lip position, and as a side benefit, has cut warm-up time down to a small fraction of what was previously necessary. Good post.

[Derek Reaban]

After posting about Emergent Properties I started looking for some other posts that I have written in the past. This one seems to be the most appropriate as a pairing with the Emergent Properties topic.

Rob Roy McGregor has a fantastic statement regarding the James Thompson material. I only have the Buzzing Basics books and have not seen the text for the Buzzing Book, so I’m not sure if these words are from Rob Roy or from James Thompson (these specific words are not in the Buzzing Basics text).

"First organize, then strengthen"

It has been a long time since I have rotated the Thompson material into my practice day. I think that this simple phrase from Rob Roy is exactly what I needed to hear to give me the gentle nudge to get these exercises back into the mix. From the stance of the “middle embouchure” and finding that centered resonant sound, “organize” is the perfect description. I’ve learned so much since the last time that I played these exercises, and I really think this “ingredient” will cause good things to manifest themselves in my playing again.

I also think it’s good to bump the Fundamentally Speaking topic to the surface again. This puts some great thinking on the table with respect to rotating routines and making sure all of the proper ingredients are included.
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Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe Symphonic Wind Ensemble / Symphony of the Southwest

[connicalman]

bookmark. thanks! great!

makes so much sense for me to do the first page of just about any of the methods which I dig deeper into later in the day
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kochaavim, csillaagkep, αστερρισμός, konnstelacji, connstellation... ...a.k.a. 28A