PRESIDENT’S TOOLKIT

Ask Simon …

BY SIMON MINSHALL

I enjoy writing these articles as it makes me question and analyse what I try to do with my own playing. This time I want to address two related topics: having a break from playing and tips to get back, or simply stay, in shape.

Summer is upon us and many of you will be thinking about taking a break from playing. There is always a huge ramp up towards final recitals, school concerts, bandstand concerts and many other events that require us to perhaps have the instrument on the face for more time than the body would like. We must remind ourselves that these muscles need love, care and attention: having time off the face will enable you to come back physically and mentally stronger.

The process of going back into the practice room can scare us: it can be tough to not get around things that were achievable before. Stamina will be the main issue. Some of us can take weeks off the instrument and seemingly pick it up and play just as before, whereas others need to dip their toe back in over a period of days. I have often made use of trombone quartets to help gain back what has vanished. If several of you have taken similar time off, why not get together. It's amazing how beneficial that mutual practice can be, not in a situation where you worry about what others think.

This follows nicely on to the second question. I’m a scheduler and planner, so my practice takes on a similar structure. I like to have an idea of what time I have available to look after my basics, and this reminds me of Denis Wick’s phrase 'money in the bank'. I love this as a concise reminder of what we need to do. We should do our best not to live in 'playing debt’, as I believe that’s where injury and fatigue for both body and mind can plague our music making.

So, you’ve had time off and are now fully rested: it’s time to get stuck in again. With the world opening back up there has been an explosion of playing opportunities so we want to be ready to ‘spend the money’. Everyone has their favourite basics books and routines, if you have something that works, that gets the air moving through the instrument and prepares the flexibility then use that; maybe explore some new patterns and keys in which to do these. Play around with it, wake up the brain, dive into a new study book to work on your sight-reading whilst building stamina back up. When coming back to the trombone, I use short sessions, 10 mins on, 10 mins off or something similar: gradually increase that and before long you will be back in shape.

Some days your warmup will take longer, some shorter, due to several factors. How much playing you did the night before, lack of sleep, dehydration and so on. Be aware of your body and how you feel, be prepared to give your warmup longer than you think it needs. Remind yourself that 30 minutes of focussed practice will yield better results than 90, half concentrating, looking at social media every 5 minutes. We know these tips but even writing them down here is prompting me to listen to my own advice (it’s not my advice by the way, I was given it years ago). If I have a free day to give over to practice, I allow 30–40 minutes to warmup (I enjoy using the cello drones) then onto some basics. I will dig out some studies and find melodies to work on, also something with some dexterity in various registers. This can form the bulk of my session, before adding some solo pieces. I also try to allow some time for related instruments (contrabass, tenor and even tuba…). If you would like to know more detail, then drop me a message.

You never know when someone will need an extra player, so keep things ticking over: it's all 'money in the bank'... then off you go and get spending!

As ever, please do email in anything you would like me to address or babble on about to president@britishtrombonesociety.org or find me on Instagram @th_minsh ◆