The Daily Five
This is the daily routine I utilize to keep my lips in shape, and to bring consistency and accuracy to my playing. The 5 steps stay the same, but I will vary the different exercises within each from day to day. This keeps it more interesting for me, and also helps to warm up my brain and my reading.
It gradually and steadily addresses five aspects of our trumpet playing, helping us to develop and maintain the following fundamentals:
1) Breathing:
Strong and consistent breathing is essential to playing a brass instrument. We have to practice taking deep, full, breaths, and learn how to push that air properly through our horn.
2) Buzzing:
We create a sound on trumpet by buzzing into a metal mouthpiece. If our buzzing isn't strong, it's impossible for us to gain control on the instrument, and make a proper sound.
3) Tone Quality:
Our goal is to create a rich, full tone that is consistent and in tune on each note that we play.
4) Range:
We want to continually work on increasing our ability to play both higher and lower on our instrument. It's also very important that we learn to play these notes the right way, without hurting ourselves.
5) Finger Dexterity:
In order to play at faster speeds, we have to train our fingers to move quickly, remembering to use the tips so that they move as efficiently as possible.
It gradually and steadily addresses five aspects of our trumpet playing, helping us to develop and maintain the following fundamentals:
1) Breathing:
Strong and consistent breathing is essential to playing a brass instrument. We have to practice taking deep, full, breaths, and learn how to push that air properly through our horn.
2) Buzzing:
We create a sound on trumpet by buzzing into a metal mouthpiece. If our buzzing isn't strong, it's impossible for us to gain control on the instrument, and make a proper sound.
3) Tone Quality:
Our goal is to create a rich, full tone that is consistent and in tune on each note that we play.
4) Range:
We want to continually work on increasing our ability to play both higher and lower on our instrument. It's also very important that we learn to play these notes the right way, without hurting ourselves.
5) Finger Dexterity:
In order to play at faster speeds, we have to train our fingers to move quickly, remembering to use the tips so that they move as efficiently as possible.
The entire warm-up should take approximately 20 minutes total, but we can make it fit into whatever time we have, even if it's only 5 minutes before class starts. We can adjust how long we spend on each step, but it's important that we touch on all of them.
Click the button below to see an introductory warm up that introduces us to the exercises that make up the 5 steps:
Click the button below to see an introductory warm up that introduces us to the exercises that make up the 5 steps:
**Remember to rest as long as you play. This is just the warm up. Additional practice examples for each step are linked below:
1. Breathing, Mouthpiece Buzzing, & Lip Flutters: 2. Long tones: 3. Flow Study: 4. Lip Slurs: 5. Technical Work:
1. Breathing, Mouthpiece Buzzing, & Lip Flutters: 2. Long tones: 3. Flow Study: 4. Lip Slurs: 5. Technical Work: