spinning classes

[OzTrumpeteer]

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With a final bark of farewell, the two wolves dove back into the murky waters and paddled to shore Within moments, they had disappeared into the heavy growth on the shoreline Tombeline could still f

[PH]

Exam week is coming here at school. This is too big a can of worms to open until I can give it the attention it deserves (perhaps in the pedagogy forum rather than here or in the Caruso forum).

Soon...

[trumpetherald]

Moved from Bill Adam forum ...

[ZeroMan]

[OzTrumpeteer]

Well, I briefly considered calling my post "Hey Pat! Answer my question" but I thought that might be a little forward

Seriously though, I originally posted this in the Caruso and Adam forums where I thought Pat (among others) might see it. His generosity with his time and advice has certainly proved, IMO, his reputation as an educator and I'm sure he will get back to this when he has the time.

The "can of worms" statement has made me a little nervous though.....

[PH]

Okay, I'm back.

First of all, this is just me talking. You probably won't find too many Caruso or Adam students agreeing with me. However, I am convinced that that is because almost no one else studied for years with both teachers and understands both approaches very well. I can't think of anyone who really claims that they derived great benefits from both (except perhaps Dominic Spera & Randy Brecker). A few people that I know had great success with one of these masters and had a limited amount of exposure to the other.

Almost all the Adam students I know have gross misconceptions about what Carmine's teaching was about. (I think Mr. Adam probably has these misconceptions as well). Most Caruso students don't know much about Adam either.

To me there are more fundamental similarities to these approaches than differences. The things that Adam & Caruso had their students practice weren't very similar, but the approaches have much in common in their philosophical/psychological underpinnings and in their understanding of efficent learning process. I have not had a lot of trouble harmonizing them. I will say that I have only been using both approaches together in my daily work for a couple of years.

I studied with Adam (& Adam students) for 6-7 years. In those years I only did Adam stuff. Then I studied with Carmine for a little over 3 years. In those years and the 3 years that followed I did not follow Adam's approach, but pursued Caruso's method. After that I returned to graduate school and studied again for about 3 years with Mr. Adam. For those 3 years and the following 10 to 12 I only practiced from Adam's approach (although I used both in my teaching as needed).

My renewed interest in Caruso and my reintroduction to regular work on his studies was inspired by a few encounters with other Caruso students such as Laurie Frink, Sam Burtis, and especially by Charly Raymond's great contributions to this site.

These days I find that my daily practice is unfortunately inconsistent due to other personal and professional demands. I practice anywhere from 1 to 5 hours per day, so I don't normally adhere to a set routine. In an ideal day (5 or more hours of practice) I'd probably play the first 30-45 minutes of my Adam routine (lead pipe, long tones and/or flow studies, Clarkes, some Schlossberg or Glantz). Then I'd take a chop break (during which I'd probably play the piano or write some music). Then I'd come back and spend 30-45 minutes doing my Caruso routine (6 notes, 2nds, review the interval chart, harmonics, chromatic pedal and scale, tonguing exercise, chord pedal and scale, developed scale, & maybe a little bit of the Baermann book). Then I'd take another break. After that I'd probably do some articulation/pronunciation work and some legato lyrical playing from Arban, Getchell, Charlier, Bozza, Vannetelbosch, etc. Then I'd finish my day playing with Aebersolds.

Remember that I'm a professional player who has been working on this stuff for years. This is especially crucial with the Caruso stuff. Go to the thread on that forum called "Getting Started" and go at least as slowly as Charly suggests. Slower is better than faster. It is better to take 2 or 3 weeks on each lesson than to move on before you are ready. Progress in the Caruso studies is not about getting through all the exercises in a hurry. It isn't about how high you can go on the intervals. Advancement in Caruso studies is 100% determined by how closely you follow the Four Rules and how refined your timing gets. It is about synchronization of physical activity, & that is achieved by subdividing the beat. It is NOT about muscular strength.

Anyway, that is how I do it on a heavy practice day.

On a lighter practice day (1 hour or less) I would probably start with leadpipe, a few long tones or flow studies, a few Clarke studies, 6 notes, 2nds, one or two other interval studies, harmonics, and then I'd work on something musical.

That is the specific stuff I do and how I balance things. I will talk about the similarities in the philosophical, psychological, and attitudinal approaches in another post tomorrow.

[PH]

Well, it isn't a day later, but atleast I'm back!

It’s all about balance. Adam knows it and Carmine knew that, too. They both would agree that the conscious mind needs to focus on a goal. The player can not be too emotionally involved in their "success" in reaching that goal. The player is too busy playing to have time for conscious mind evaluation.

The unconscious mind does the fixing unbidden via repetition of a systematic routined approach to the rudiments of playing. The conscious mind keeps the "eye on the prize". For Carmine the conscious focus was rhythm. For Adam the conscious focus is tone. In both cases, the only willful physical activity is blowing. This takes up a small portion of the player's thinking during playing. The rest of the thinking is obsessively focused on the target (CC=timing, WA=sound).

Carmine achieved balance in his students by focusing on rhythm. Adam achieves it by focus on timbre. They actually take philosophically similar, nonmanipulative approaches to achieve a similar goal of balance throughout the playing system. The exercises and the mental focus is different, but the understanding of learning psychology really isn’t.

[OzTrumpeteer]

Thanks for your replies, Pat. At the moment I'm enjoying some good results from using the two methods (in separate practice sessions). I think it's just a matter of finding a good balance between them (if you'll excuse the pun), though I haven't yet decided whether it works better to start the day with CC or BA.

[Karel]

Most of the days I can practice one or one and a half hour. Sometimes (not often) I can study for two hours a day. This is what I mostly do:

-Buzzing lead-pipe
-Caruso 6 notes
-Caruso 2nds
-Caruso 3rds
5-10 minutes rest.
-Adam long tones (start at G in staff)
-Clarke exercise 1 (start at #13)
-Schlossberg #6
-Schlossberg #31
-Schlossberg #13
-Schlossberg #14
-Schlossberg #15
-Expanding Scales (as explained at Mark Minasian website)
-5-10 minutes rest
-Other things as tonguing exercises, etudes, jazz-tunes.

I was wondering if it is the best to start with the Caruso exercises. I'm doing this because I think you need fresh chops for the Caruso exercises. The next weeks I will be adding more of the Caruso routine into my schedule.
However maybe I'm wrong and is it better to start with the Adam warming-up routine/Schlossberg and ending the day with Caruso.
Are there any opinions on this (Pat)????

Karel.

[PH]

I have tried it different ways and find that once I get used to the new drill they all basically work.

Right now most days I seem to play the leadpipe, long tones, Clarke 1 (about 30 minutes of stuff) and then take a short break and hit a mixture of Caruso and the new Frink/McNeil "Flexus" stuff (about an hour total plus breaks). Then I break and pick up the articulation stuff from Adam before finishing the day with a lot of musical work.

[Karel]

When I start with Caruso, my embouchure always "feels" good for the rest of my practice time. But I think I will work the other way around for the next weeks. See if it makes any difference for me.
The new Frink/McNeil book, sounds interesting. I understand it's a good mix between Caruso and other exercises. I heard also good things about the Bob Findley book.
There is so much to do and I wish I had more time for practicing!

[Miles58]

"Carmine achieved balance in his students by focusing on rhythm. Adam achieves it by focus on timbre. They actually take philosophically similar, nonmanipulative approaches to achieve a similar goal of balance throughout the playing system. The exercises and the mental focus is different, but the understanding of learning psychology really isn’t."

Hmm, I wonder what kind of results one would achieve if they were to play the Caruso exercises, but instead of following the Four Rules, followed Adam's principles?

[PH]

[Miles58]

Pat,
The rugby comment was appropriate, as I was speaking with tongue in cheek.

You mentioned in an earlier post that you use both methods in your teaching as needed. Do you evaluate a student's playing and then decide whether the student could benefit more from Caruso or Adam and then steer them in one of the two directions, or do you more commonly give assignments with exercises from both methods?

[PH]

I give most everybody stuff from the Adam concept and prescribe the Caruso stuff as needed on a case by case basis. Of course, all of it is somewhat modified based on my own knowledge and interests.