THE PRACTICAL ORCHESTRAL WARMUP
ALEX SAMAWICZ
I've tried countless different warmup routines over the years. Inevitably, I'm left either too tired, not warmed up enough, or I'll feel that my embouchure is out of balance. Here is a combination of existing exercises that I tested under real conditions: playing full-time principal in an orchestra over several months. It always leaves me feeling solid, flexible, and strong, with an open, pure sound in every register. Over the long term, it gives me consistency, and while I'm not the greatest player who ever lived, this warmup allows me to use the tools I do have to their full potential. I was inspired by Dennis Melzer, de facto Principal Trumpet of Staatsorchester Braunschweig in Germany. I sat next to him for the entire 2013-14 season, and Dennis is easily the most rock-solid, confident, and consistent orchestral player I've ever sat next to. After a few months I noticed that he would always come in to the warm up room about 15 minutes before the performance started, and do EXACTLY THE SAME WARMUP VERBATIM, regardless of what we were playing. No noodling. Then he'd go into the pit, or on stage and play through some of the material. He was consistently, astoundingly solid throughout the whole season. He was consistent, for sure at least partly, because his warmup was consistent. I'm not Dennis. I need a different program, and a bit more time. This routine works for me, but you might need to add or remove things. That said...STICK TO IT EVERY DAY, at least exercises I-V. The rest of the routine can be catered to the task at hand: On performance days, cater your warmup to what you are playing. Think about how much down time you have in the piece: if you have to rest for 20 minutes, then come in on a loud, long high C, then you probably want to feel very warmed up, but very centered. If you are playing a program with lots of endurance challenges (pops/film music), then you probably don't need a very long warm-up. Be sensible. Whatever the challenges are (register, fleixibility, articulation), make sure you've attended to them in the warmup. On non-performance days, play as much of the studies as possible.
I'll explain why I chose these particular programs at the end, if you happen to be bored and/or interested. I STRONGLY recommend buying these books, from which I've taken most of the material: – – – – – –
Daily Fundamentals for the Trumpet, Michael Sachs Musical Calisthenics for Brass, Carmine Caruso Trumpet Techniques, Louis Davidson Flexus, Laurie Frink The Basic Caruso (free .pdf download), Markus Stockhausen Trumpet Lessons : III. Range, Power and Endurance, David Hickman
I. Foundation (Mike Sachs) PLAY THIS EVERY SINGLE DAY, FIRST THING Free buzz, mouthpiece buzz, then on the trumpet. Keep your airway as open and as free as possible, and don't hold back. Tap the mouthpiece lightly(while it's in the trumpet...) to get the first pitch. If you don't/cant free buzz, sing the first one. Use a breath attack: the airway is constant, and the lips touch lightly (think HAAAH, not PUUUH). Play this as loud or as soft as is comfortable. Reset after each note.
II. Six Notes (Caruso) PLAY THIS EVERY DAY, AFTER ex. I If you aren't familiar with this, don't be alarmed if you feel a bit tired directly after you're done. Take as much time afterwards as you feel you need. This exercise(and all Caruso exercises included in this warmup) is meant to be isometric. The mouthpiece stays in constant contact with the lips throughout. Play at least mezzo-forte, louder if you're feeling good. But don't force. -Set the mouthpiece on the lips and do not remove until the end of the study. -Tap your foot for four beats. -Inhale through the nose, two beats out, two beats in -First attacks are breath (haaa, not puhh), -Repeat When you're finished, don't noodle. Rest about a minute or two, have glass of water, and go to the next exercise.
III. Seconds (Caruso) PLAY THIS EVER DAY, AFTER ex. II Same rules as above apply. Again, if you haven't played Caruso before, don't worry if you feel tired. That said, this exercise shouldn't hurt. If you get up to G, and feel terrible, then stop and rest, have a glass of water. On performance days, I try to go up to D-E-D, and no higher. If it hurts, I stop at C. On non performance days I reset and go as high as I can. -Set the mouthpiece on the lips and do not remove until the end of the study. -Tap your foot for four beats. -Inhale through the nose. -First attacks are breath (haaa, not puhh), When you're finished, rest for about 30 seconds to one minute, and go to the next exercise.
IV. Harmonics (Caruso) PLAY THIS EVER DAY, AFTER ex. III Same rules as above apply. If you have never done Caruso, here is hopefully where you will notice your embouchure/set is pretty solid. You might be worried that your sound is too tight/bright. The Davidson exercises after this will reopen the aperture. On non-performance days, or if you are feeling especially strong, feel free to play them up to a few partials higher. -Set the mouthpiece on the lips and do not remove until the end of the study. -Tap your foot for four beats. -Inhale through the nose, two beats out, two beats in -First attacks are breath (haaa, not puhh), -Repeat When you're finished, rest for about 30 seconds to one minute, and go to the next exercise.
V. Davidson Exercises. PLAY THESE FIVE PAGES EVERY DAY(buy the book, and play as much as you can on non-performance days) At this point the embouchure should be working very efficiently. For orchestral work, I find that I need a more open sound, and better legato. Play these exercises as beautifully and as legato as you possibly can. If there are “bumps” in the legato, try playing the exercise with a flutter tongue, and then repeating normally. This will get the air moving in the right direction. On performance days, play the indicated dynamics, but be reasonable. On non performance days, push your limits as much as you can. The Cichowicz/Stamp idea of “think down when going up and vice versa” can be really helpful here. Be rigorous with the details: time your crescendoes and decrescendoes correctly. If you didn't do it right the first time, repeat until you are playing EXACTLY what's on the page.
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note: switch to C trumpet from Series II onwards if using in performance. Don't transpose: plas written.
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VI. Recentering (David Hickman) Play as needed This exercise is meant to both center the aperture, and to bring of a feeling of ease and fluidity into the high register. Don't work too hard. On performance days, you can skip this exercise altogether if you feel tired, or if the material stays mostly in the middle register. Play very softly, using a breath attack. Don't use a strict rhythm, but try to get the feeling of lightly “brushing� through the partials, aiming for the top and bottom notes.
VII. Rips (Lukasz Gothszalk) Play as needed. Trumpet soloist Lukazs Gothszalk showed me this exercise that he learned while studying in Karlsruhe, Germany. This is the opposite of the Hickman exericise: instead of lightly brushing through the partials, rip through them somewhat aggressively. Play without abandon, at whatever dynamic and speed you feel comfortable, but keep the rhythm more or less intact. Think of this as an airflow study, rather than a flexibility study. Aim horizontally, maintaining the intensity unti the last note.
VIII. Rex Flex (Rex Richardson) Play as needed. Crossover trumpet soloist Rex Richardson showed me this exercise while I was studying with him at VCU in Richmond, VA. Start in the “middle of the road” as far as articulation and dynamics, then branch out. On non performance days, push your limits, adding harmonics as you see fit.
Afterword This may seem like a lot to play, but keep in mind that the purpose is twofold: to prepare you for the demands of the day, and to gradually build more solidity and consistency into your playing long-term. I chose the exercises in this order because I needed something that would give me a very solid foundation at the beginning of the day. The Mike Sachs free buzzing, mouthpiece buzzing and trumpet long tones force me to begin every day with the basics of sound production. The Caruso exercises center and solidify the embouchure, making it work efficiently. I tried starting directly with Caruso, but found the approach too aggressive. While Caruso gives me a solid embouchure, the sound I play with directly afterwards is not exactly the one I want. The Davidson exercises serve to reopen the aperture in a way that I think is more appropriate for orchestral playing. I also find the Davidson exercises effective because they approach legato playing from the “opposite side:” playing them forces you to use good legato, as opposed to Cichowicz or other flow studies, where you have to use good legato in order to play them right (I still use Cichowicz all the time, just not as a warm-up). I tried starting directly with Davidson, but found that they left me feeling a little bit “spread” and unfocused. The Hickman exercise included here serves to re-center the aperture again, while bringing a feeling of ease into the high register. The last two exercises are about “overtraining:” playing aggressively, without abandon, establishing my limits. After I'm done I feel physically prepared to play almost any material. Psychologically, doing this rountine every day gives the confidence I need in stressful performance situations. Hopefully it helps you too!