The same thing every day?

[CJceltics33]

I know many of you are passionate about the Dave Belknap routine. I have been doing it every day for a few weeks now, but I am wondering if it would be more beneficial to switch to something else for awhile. How much better can I get from doing the same flexibility routine every day? Am I really improving, or is it just maintaining what I have?

[harryjamesworstnightmare]

I have A & B days. Some people may have more. This means I alternate or rotate routines so I get everything covered in a week but not necessarily everyday. This prevents burnout, and also helps ensure I can work on everything I need to without trying to cram it all into every single day. What I have in both sessions though is some long tones and flexibility but not necessarily the exact same exercises each session. I hope this helps.
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[rbeasley]

I feel it's a good idea to have a few options to go to in order to avoid stagnation. It's good from a physical and mental standpoint. Different routines/exercises will work those skills in different ways, thus broadening your abilities. Plus, we all need a mental refresher from time to time.

I've found that if I play the same materials for too long they start to become less effective and start sounding worse. After changing things up my playing improves, and when I come back to that previous material I'm playing it better.
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Robert Beasley
robertbeasleymusic.com

[Dayton]

Some trumpet players find a routine that works for them and stick with it throughout their careers. Others have a constantly-evolving routine. The key thing is to make sure that your routine accomplishes what you need, both physically and mentally.

If you feel like you are in Schlossberg overload, scale back. Steve Hendrickson, longtime principal trumpet of the National Symphony, had me pick one exercise from each of the eight sections in Schlossberg and then change them up whenever desired. That cuts your Schlossberg time in half. Then Clarke, Arban, etudes or music for performance....

If you want to move onto something different, there are many, many other daily routines to choose from: Clarke's "Setting Up Drills," a lesson from Mitchell's "Mitchell on Trumpet," Sachs' "Daily Fundamentals," or routines from Caruso, Gordon, Reinhardt....

Edit: Ryan Beach, principal trumpet of the Alabama Symphony, has a Youtube video explaining how he builds his practice routine. It is a long video, but has some good insights.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGzdo5N3dgI

Good luck!

[Seymor B Fudd]

[Turkle]

I got the results I needed from that routine by doing it every day for years. Once you build up your strength you can get through it fairly quickly.

But I was using it to rebuild a destroyed embouchure (due to dental work). So your mileage may vary.

I think for a real embouchure routine you won't get results quickly. It's just not how it works. You have to really pick something and stick with it.

One final note. With skill acquisition, no one progresses in a linear fashion. You don't find yourself getting a little better every day. Rather, you'll be at the same level for a long time, then you'll suddenly "level up." So don't worry that you don't see progress. No one learns things a little at a time. It's nothing for a long time, then everything all at once.

Just my opinion! Good luck.
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Curry 3.

[drboogenbroom]

Routines and exercises don't make us better. What makes us better is having and improving proficiency at performing the demands the routine places on the playing system.

The best ways to improve this proficiency and, to a certain extent, even what we might mean by the use of that term is the subject of pages and pages of implicit and explicit debate on these forums.

At the end of the day though, many of us struggle when we simply take a routine from a method book or at someone's suggestion without the guidance of a talented teacher because without that guidance we lack the perspective to effectively target our proficiency level, or even know where it is. These are problems we all face, and why I encourage people to "take lessons" their entire playing lives. However, these issues are often very apparent with young players.

All of that out of the way, I would personally not assign the Belknap Routine as presented on this site to a young musician, and I would certainly not recommend they just grab a Schlossberg book and go, particularly if it seemed like they had some playing issues like limited range, endurance etc.

There are so many good teachers available via online teaching these days, I hesitate to recommend a specific routine to anyone sight unseen, though I teach enough young musicians that I do have a pretty good base line approach that most of my students find some success using even with minimal guidence.

So, the thought I will leave you with is related to my first comment. If you
1. Cannot determine what specific skill a routine is designed to improve proficiency with,
2. Don't know how to measure your current proficiency at that skill or measure progress,
and,
3. If you don't know how to improve that proficiency (hint: playing a routine over and over is not the magic answer to this last one)

then that routine is not for you right now. At which point I would find a teacher who can answer and guide you through the routine (if you really want to learn something specific) or find or build a routine that you can do the above three things with, even if it is isn't fancy or famous.

Kevin
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By concentrating on precision, one arrives at technique, but by concentrating on technique one does not arrive at precision.

Bruno Walter

[Turkle]

You also may have to try different things to find what works for you.

I tried Caruso (studying with a qualified teacher) and hated it. It just didn't work for me, even though so many other players had such great results with it.

So don't force something if it's making you worse.
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Yamaha 8310Z trumpet
Yamaha 8310Z flugel
Curry 3.

[Jaw04]

Practice what you want to get better at, and let THAT mentality guide your practice sessions. That's my approach. I don't do a "routine" but there are some things I play every day because I'm always trying to play them more efficiently, and I feel they help me get to where I'm trying to go.

[HERMOKIWI]

In order for any method to give you the desired result you have to play the method in a manner consistent with developing and achieving the desired result. That's the biggest problem with methods. If you don't play in a manner consistent with developing and achieving the desired result you cannot achieve the desired result (although you may improve in the direction of achieving that result).

So, understanding the hows and whys of what you have to do to achieve desired results is an important part of using any method. When you hit a wall you need to take a serious look at your fundamentals and your technique because you're only going to be as proficient as your fundamentals and technique allow. No method can overcome faulty fundamentals and bad technique.

As the saying goes: Practice doesn't make perfect. It's perfect practice that makes perfect.
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HERMOKIWI

[Lionel]

[Rod Haney]

I would love to hear a true usable 4 octave range from low g thru dbl hi g, who can demo this - real usable notes only please.
Rod

[HERMOKIWI]

[Jaw04]

[Lionel]