Just Play??

[BraeGrimes]

30-Day Practice Routine (passed down by a good teacher I had):

1) Identify what you suck at, and make it one thing (it can be a fundamental playing technique, like double tonguing or flexibility, or something more relevant to the music you want to play, like a page of the Tomasi Concerto or Coltrane's Countdown)
2) Make everything relevant to the thing you suck at; stretch and warm-up (15-min or so) then do exercises based around where you are at with the task.
3) Do this for 30-days. Dedicate at least an hour of work on this area (not including playing/performance, warm-up/warm-down, or any other technique/piece outside of the one you suck at)

After 30-days, take a break (3 to 5 days) to recoup mentally or whatever. Then start again. If you put 10 of these together in a year, you'll be a [censored]

Hope this helps!

[jvf1095]

Thanks Brae!

[HERMOKIWI]

Your dilemma is more complex than it may seem on the surface. Playing trumpet is something that can be fun and satisfying but what constitutes "fun and satisfying" can be very personal.

Is it "fun and satisfying" to work through technical exercises on a a continuous basis? For a lot of players, working on technical exercises on a continuous basis is the opposite of "fun and satisfying," particularly in view of the fact that it takes a long time to become proficient to a serious degree.

So, I think that you need to seriously evaluate your objectives and seriously consider how much pain you're you're willing to sustain in order to obtain greater proficiency.

There's no absolute connection between playing proficiency and fun and satisfying results. There are players of varying proficiency who find their trumpet playing to be "fun and satisfying." What's your threshold? What sacrifices are you ready, willing and able to make to become more proficient, what price are you willing to pay, and will the increase in proficiency really translate into an increase in fun and satisfaction greater than the price you pay?

More general playing will make you more proficient in terms of the correct things you're doing. It will hinder you to the extent you're doing things incorrectly because practicing things that are incorrect just further ingrains them into you.

Proficiency vs. enjoyment can be a trade off and the tipping point can vary considerably with the player, the player's objectives, the player's available time and how the player defines the ideal place the player wants to be in view of the realistic constraints/limitations on where the player can be.

The wealthiest person in the world in not necessarily the happiest person in the world. The most proficient trumpet player is not necessarily the happiest and most satisfied player. These are all very personal issues.
_________________
HERMOKIWI

[trickg]

^^ There's a lot of wisdom in that post.

I've said before on here, and I also mentioned it to the High School kids I was working with during the few years I spent running an extracurricular HS Jazz band program - that most people would probably be bore out of their minds listening to me practice.

Back in my first years as an Army trumpet player, before I met my wife and before I got waylaid by life's responsibilities of career, family, kids, etc, I could have my cake and eat it too. I was gigging all the time, and it was music that I truly enjoyed playing. I was lucky enough to not only be in the ceremonial and concert bands, but I was also in the brass quintet and the big band. Almost every day I was either rehearsing with those ensembles or gigging with those ensembles, and as a result, I could take the time to do the boring drills in my personal practice time and not have it affect my personal satisfaction for my playing.

As I got further into "life" and I left the Army band program after 10 years, I had to find a new method to the madness. I was BUSY for for a number of years - I look back, and I honestly don't know how I managed to juggle it all.

The problem I was faced with is that I knew how good of a trumpet player I'd been, but with my life being what it was, I had to come to grips and acceptance that my playing, given my current circumstances, was not going to be to the same level it had been - I simply couldn't put in that kind of time on the horn like I had in the years before.

With that in mind, I came up with a streamlined approach to keeping my chops in order enough that I could gig and still play well enough to enjoy myself, but it meant that there was no fluff in my practice routine - it was all technical drills designed to keep my technique up to a level to where I could go out and gig and not suck.

These days? Dunno - I haven't done a gig outside of the National Guard band for over a year, and I just don't have the motivation to practice. Barring some external factor that comes in and reenergizes me, I'll quite likely hang up the horn for good once I'm eligible to retire from the Guard band in 2022. That ties in directly with what HERMOKIWI said about a persons satisfaction with what they are doing with horn, and how it's highly personal.
_________________
Patrick Gleason
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"95% of the average 'weekend warrior's' problems will be solved by an additional 30 minutes of insightful practice." - PLP

[jvf1095]

I do agree with that. And it is the same as golf, which has been tied into this thread. You can play decent golf for years, ingraining the wrong way of doing things. If you go for lessons, it's years of doing things wrong that make it more difficult to correct.

[BGinNJ]

I think Dr_trumpet's advice, about having perspective and a realistic idea of how good you can be, was great, and really resonated for me, too.

The OP mentioned range & endurance in both strategies, being studious or just playing. If you're not playing the right way, neither will work.

I'm no heavyweight, but I learned a certain way of playing as a teenager, and perpetuated it, off and on, for decades. I never developed a great range or endurance, even when I buckled down and did all the stuff I was taught back then- long tones, Colin, Clarke, Gordon, etc.

It wasn't until a comeback 8-10 years ago, when I sought out a Skype teacher and learned to play more efficiently. My range improved, and because I wasn't working so hard, so did my endurance.

I don't have hours to play, so my endurance isn't so great, but whether I'm playing technical stuff or just tunes (and I do both in any given session) it's much less frustrating than it used to be.

[jvf1095]

Funny you should mention range & endurance in both strategies, via practice & the right exercises, & just playing. I started an exercise program about a week & a half ago via a book called Embouchure Builder. the exercises consist of lots of lip slurs up & down the scale, & tricky fingering, most of which is lower to middle register. Wow! I can start to feel the difference in my chops already vs just playing even a complicated song. I'm going to work on that & others & it's coming along well. As far as lessons, I am getting the COVID vaccine middle of Feb. So I'm going to hold off on any lessons until then. If that's pushed back for any reason, I'll go the Skype route. Thanks for your input & the input of all that responded to this post.

[Trumpetingbynurture]

[Trumpetingbynurture]

[alexrmznv]

Definitely a good idea is to push yourself little by little every day. The endurance is usually associated with how flexible you are as a trumpet player. Getting comfortable with different parts of trumpet playing (such as finger facility, slurs, arpeggios, etc.) will overall will make it easier to develop endurance.
Good Luck!

[jvf1095]

Yep. That's my approach aside from "just playing"

[cgaiii]