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when Caruso?



 
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B6L
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Joined: 11 Feb 2002
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Location: Castelvolturno, Italy

PostPosted: Fri Apr 05, 2002 2:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have been dealing with Caruso off and on for years and have found the routine spelled out in "getting started" a real blessing ,it takes all the guess-work out of it.
My question is when should I do the ex. I play full time and I am a little scared of playing the ex. "till no sound comes out of the horn" then going to a gig.or on days of practicing mixing them in with my regular routine. I have been doing them last thing at night thinking that a full night of rest would be good after taking the chops to what I consider full muscle falure.





If this question has been answered somewhere else please let me know

[ This Message was edited by: B6l on 2002-04-05 06:13 ]
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PH
Bill Adam/Carmine Caruso Forum Moderator


Joined: 26 Nov 2001
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Location: New Albany, Indiana

PostPosted: Fri Apr 05, 2002 6:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

When I was studying with Carmine I did the first 20 minutes of his calisthenics first thing every day. Then I would rest a bit, play other things for 30 minutes or so, rest another bit, and come back to finish my calisthenics for the day. I could easily do this on the day of a gig-as long as I had an hour for my chops to cool out first. I would always do six notes, 2nds, and the harmonics first thing in the morning-even if I had a gig at 8am. I'd go back and finish the other stuff later.

These days I usually play other stuff for 45 minutes or an hour, take a break, come back and do my calisthenics, take another break, come back and continue my other practice.

Carmine told me to never do his calisthenics when I was tired or if my chops were really stiff, swollen, or otherwise beat up. He said that bad habits are developed when you practice too much on chops that are messed up. You resort to survival strategies like pressure and twisting the horn, etc. to compensate for lip fatigue, etc.

I would definitely NOT do the Caruso studies so late in the day that your chops are tired or unresponsive. Do them while you are fresh.

If I had had one of those "2 Latin gigs and a rodeo each day" kinds of weeks Carmine suggested that I only do many repetitions of the low F# exercise and perhaps the six notes once or twice each day. When my schedule and my chops normalized I could go back to working on the intervals, etc.
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_bugleboy
Carmine Caruso Forum Moderator


Joined: 11 Nov 2001
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 05, 2002 7:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

B6L,

The short answer to your question is do Caruso FIRST thing in the day. Caruso should be the exposure your chops feel at the beginning of the day when they are fresh. I wouldn't do Caruso stuff at the end of a playing day when you are the most tired. Carmine used to always say that you can't teach tired chops anything. (Only exception being the low F# drill. But it is more of an embouchure reset button.) Be particular about following the Four Rules while practicing. If your chops feel wasted give them a rest and go easy on ANY kind of practice. If you have a heavy blowing day, back off of the Caruso, maybe only do ths Six Notes and the Seconds as a warm up. How high the Seconds go is always irrelevant to anything. Don't think that they should go as high as yesterday, or that they should start going higher and you should start to see improvement after any specified period of time like 2 weeks or 2 months or 2 years. Just do it! Let them (and the other interval studies) go as high as they will while following the Four Rules. You shouldn't feel frustrated about how your Caruso stuff sounds or plays. They WILL help you to execute your music better, but, in and of themselves, don't need to sound particularly good or reach any particular level. They're just calisthenics!

The more you practice Caruso, the less you will feel as though you only have X number of high notes a day or that your endurance is only X number of minutes or hours per day. Ultimately, you will be able to play just about as long as you can stay awake.

CR
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_bugleboy
Carmine Caruso Forum Moderator


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PostPosted: Fri Apr 05, 2002 7:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pat,

I just read your post after I had posted mine. It definitely sounds like we had the same Carmine for a teacher.

Charly
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Max Reverb
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Joined: 19 Nov 2001
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Location: Phoenix AZ

PostPosted: Fri Apr 05, 2002 7:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

You guys are so cool.
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B6L
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Location: Castelvolturno, Italy

PostPosted: Fri Apr 05, 2002 8:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I feel a bit guilty.......I should be paying money for such sound advice.
It sounds logical to do Caruso on fresh chops , and my chops recover very quickly , as long as I get a rest before the gig or practice I should be cool.
Please be paitent with me as I ask this question (I'm shure many have asked the same type).
As according to "getting started"exercises I am on lesson 2 , if I start doing these first thing as you say the very first thing (warm-up) I would be playing would be the 6 note ex. repeating 1 time only then 2nds till no sound comes out of the horn rest @15-20min then repeat the 2nds ,rest then go on with the rest of my playing day?
Also the harmonic scales,do I keep repeating the ex. untill no sound comes out?
Thankyou so much to all you people in this forum!
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_bugleboy
Carmine Caruso Forum Moderator


Joined: 11 Nov 2001
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 05, 2002 8:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

B6L,

".....then 2nds till no sound comes out of the horn rest @15-20min then repeat the 2nds ,rest then go on with the rest of my playing day?"

Usually you would play until no sound comes out or you just get air, rest 15 seconds and continue from where you left off until no sound or just air comes out again (the second blow). At this point the exercise has been completed. You would now wait 15-20 minutes before repeating this exercise. Personally, I think once a day is enough, especially in the beginning (first few months), maybe twice with plenty of time in between (a few hours).

"Also the harmonic scales,do I keep repeating the ex. untill no sound comes out?"

The first line of the Harmonics exercise plays up to your highest note in the series that you can hold for 4 beats in the open fingering position, mm=1/4 note=60. When you have gone through all 7 positions, with each succeeding line being 1/2 step lower than the previous one, that is the end of the exercise. There would be no repeat unless it were to come later after resting. Not sure if I understand the question that you have with the Harmonics.

CR
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B6L
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 05, 2002 9:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thankyou for your reply,
About the harmonics ....just play them one time through?
Also do you start the day with the 6 note ex. is that the very first thing you play?
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_bugleboy
Carmine Caruso Forum Moderator


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PostPosted: Fri Apr 05, 2002 11:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes. And yes.
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