Excellent 1 minute Warm-up!

[Tim Jackson]

This is great and can be done without any sound - no need for instruments or mouthpieces. Don't even need to breathe deep! JUST ENGAGE THE MIND!

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

Dig out your book Also Sprach Arnold Jacobs. Take one minute and just read the Table of Contents. This is a wonderful one-minute "mini" lesson from the MASTER! Occasionally/monthly I read into the chapters. But I have found such value in just looking at these bullet points!

If you don't have this book, GET IT!

TJ

[Doc]

I'll look at mine today!

[bloke]

My "one-minute warm-up" (typically) is the first minute of a rehearsal.

I don't "warm up", though I DO - sometimes/often/mostly: when feeling better than I have been, lately - work on basic mechanical playing skills...but I start right in, and don't "warm-up" to work on those skills.

those who I hear "test" pitches - prior to entering on those pitches:
often, are those who tend to not do very well, when playing the first pitch of an isolated phrase (as "testing" is a symptom of worrying).
Hear the approaching music in the mind, engage the music, toss "concern" to the wind, and - simply - be in the music.

oh yeah:
It might be a good idea to develop the skill of playing well without "testing" (aka without "warming up") and with the instrument below optimum playing temperature.

an actual effective warm-up - and one which does not involve self-judgmentalism/criticism:
Walk briskly, just prior to sitting down to play music.

[erb]

Cute...

So theres a few kinds of "warm ups".

1) The "warm up" you do when noone is listening and you have a gig and sounds bad until your face is swollen and your horn is warm.
2) The "warm up" you do at the gig so noone hears your actual warmup and thinks your are warming up.
3) The "non-warmup" for players who don't need to warm up.
4) The "checkup" for players who dont respond to "horn temperature" or "chop swelling" to know whether they can play the gig
5) The "Buzz warmup" for people that buzz like they play and think thats enough.
6) The "I dont care" warmup for bloke.
7) The "symphony audition warmup" - ten minute warmup where you make sure you dont miss the first note of any excerpt.
8) The "oh crap theres a solo" warmup for when "oh crap theres a solo" in the gig.
9) The "my friends are here" warmup done onstage before the orchestra shows up. (not recommended)
10) The "my mom is here" warmup which is...well. also not recommended.
11) The "my DAD is here" warmup, which is VERY recommended.
12) The "Roger Bobo" warmup for space aliens and people that sound like space aliens to you, mere mortals.
13) The "Wind and Song" warmup which sounds like a combination of those things.
14) The "I didnt practice for my lesson warmup", which consists of drinking a soda
15) the "Im going to win this audition" warmup which consists of playing much louder than anyone in the warmup rooms before an audition.
16) The "Im already warmed up but just suck warmup", which consists of pretending to warmup in front of your teacher, when you already warmed up.
17) The "Im in a BERP cult" warmup (I actually heard this in a (see #7)).
18) The "Something has gone horribly wrong and Im actually practicing" warmup. ya....ya
19) The "Im a studio musician fix it in POST" warmup.... ick
20) The "Im just a doubler I dont even PLAY THIS THING!" warmup....

[erb]

However, this post mentioned Arnold Jacobs. and some book.

I dont find Mr Jacobs teachings to be particularly relevant to playing the tuba.
I did move to Chicago to study with him. I learned alot from that experience and I was a professional tubist after.

But, as much of heresy it is to say. I didnt get anything from him that I would pass on to another.
Im glad the industry has moved on. Nor did I learn much from his students who were my teachers.

He was a great man, he treated me very well and it seemed to help at the time.

At the end of the day, Im glad that mode of teaching is behind us. And Im a better player for it.

I miss him as a person as I will all his wonderful students.

[the elephant]

Well, alrighty, then.

[Nworbekim]

the more "practiced up" i am, the less warm-up i need

[Tim Jackson]

I see myself as a lifelong learner and always like to see concepts and hints on playing. I have often thought the blog would be even better if we could have more conversations about playing. I try to offer a few things here and there and am always amused and never surprised to be shot down. Always delighted to see some friendly feedback or better yet, see something that helps me and others.

Reading the table of contents to Also Sprach Arnold Jacobs does give me a little mental reminder of things I like to keep in the back of my mind when approaching brass instrument playing. It's just one more thing that might move me along. This is good for me and may have no meaning to some.

I offer this to the response above: "I don't find Mr. Jacobs's teachings to be particularly relevant to playing the tuba". erb

The writer might want to purchase the mentioned "some book" and see if you may have missed something during your exposure to Arnold Jacobs.

Disclaimer - Tim's one-minute mental warm-up suggestion is probably of no use to those who - know more than Arnold Jacobs, find no value in his teachings and thoughts on instrumental performance, and have totally mastered the tuba. If this is you, please offer a playing link and pointers so we can all benefit.

I studied monthly with Jake during my year in Chicago in the mid-70s. All I knew was it had a great impact on my playing. I know now, decades later, how much more I could have learned during that opportunity. I was so green - and, like most 20-year-olds, knew way more than enough to be dangerous. I just knew that my playing when way up at each lesson - it stoked the fire and I practiced for hours moving the concepts into my young green brain. Now, since I can't revisit that unique moment, I find great pleasure and usefulness in reading and studying the art of brass playing. I realize Jake's path is not the "end-all" but for me, it is one BIG leg on the table. And, even after sleeping and breathing the tuba for some 50 years, I still search and yearn for any bit of info or idea that can jump me ahead.

tj

[bloke]

I really do believe that there is a tremendous advantage to being able to play cold, as well as being able to play a cold instrument.
I also believe that there is an advantage to being able to do those things without some voice in one’s head telling oneself that they shouldn’t have permission to play well, because they haven’t “warmed up”.
Finally, I do believe that something like a brisk walk - to raise the heart rate and metabolism a little bit does - a lot of good towards focusing on playing, and more good than mindlessly going through some warm-up routine.
I’ve also found that “NOT thinking about playing while playing” results in better playing.
I had a brass-playing virtuoso friend who convinced themselves that they could not play at all unless they spent an hour every day going through this “thing“. That friend is no longer with us, and I miss them terribly. They did away with themselves. Sadly, I now see their warm-up neurosis as having been one of their symptoms.

[Tim Jackson]

My original intent for this post was to just offer a reason to think about some stuff I find helpful in my own playing. Not really intended to relate to any physical activity or required routine. Just some little helpful hints. I'm so old I've forgotten most of what I once knew - so the little reminders are good for me. I like to go back to the basics on occasion. Foundations of Brass Playing! haha

As far as a REAL WARM-UP...

I would very much like to just take the horn out and play cold! As a matter of fact, I have no problem doing this for my jazz tuba gigs, ensemble settings, a show, or whatever. I have the first edition of The Inner Game of Tennis and have studied extensively on the subject of mind over muscle. I do believe once you have done your homework/sheading playing is 99% mental - 1% muscle. I try to spend 99% on the mental but I'm very cautious to not F*#k up the other 1%. You can't think your way out of a pulled muscle.

On my stand at the moment are the Cello Suite #1, Bach Flute Partita, Bach Courante, Alec Wilder Encore Piece. Most of the other stuff is medium-advanced - but what I consider less demanding. After an hour or so I'm on to my F tuba rep.

It takes me about 2-3 passes on the Prelude/Suite 1 to hit what I call "the zone" The mental zone is pretty much there anytime but the lips seem to get really warm & pliable after the 2-3 passes. Maybe warm is not the word but the lips reach a state of flexibility and things start hitting with great smoothness - the way I want. So I'm not talking about batting a few softballs out to the left field.

At the same time, I do a lot of extreme range stuff. C5-6. Occasionally I get a little twinge in an embouchure muscle that reminds me - these chops are not made of iron and I must be responsible in my care.

I would really love to walk into church one morning and hit the Bach cello Prelude without any warm-up... and have all the fluidity I am capable of. But isn't this like an Olympic sprinter in finals doing the 50-yard dash without a little stretching and a little warm-up? Would a skilled Ballet dancer not do the same? Why do top athletes do the warm-ups?

On another note - I can walk in with my upright bass or electric and start the show with the hardest lick in the book. These hand muscles are different.

Back on tuba. I am practicing a good 2 - 2.5 a night and on what I consider extremely demanding material. In a perfect world, I would follow the weight lifting plan - heavy one day, light the next - giving the muscles a full 24 hours to recoup. I play hard every day - I'm getting old and have personal goals to reach with my tuba playing. I play almost every night "hard" and this doesn't mean the chops are always ready - I feel a little stiff the next day - not "loose" like at the end of playing the night before.

So, if someone is playing the Bach Prelude Suite 1 on a CC tuba original key flawlessly cold/without a warm-up in a manner that would be pleasing to the listener, please tell me a few steps I might take to get there without hurting myself. Please also relate knowledge of embouchure dystonia and the results of abusive behavior to the delicate muscles in the chops along with the helpful hints.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not an embouchure prude. I just know when I screw myself up - I'll have to lay off for a day or so. And... if you've ever studied dystonia in brass players - it is very scary!

Nothing like a little lip service!
Tim

[bloke]

<sidebar>

MANY have probably already discovered this, but I'm willing to offer a PRACTICING (not "warming up") technique that (and it's odd...) seems to work:

When striving to play with (seemingly to others) effortless facility on a large instrument (and I don't know why this works, but...) playing the SAME piece/passage/etude/excerpt/song/whatever at the SAME PITCH LEVEL on another easier-to-negotiate instrument (such as playing through something (that's just a bit unwieldy on a big B-flat tuba) FIRST on small B-flat tuba (or on an F or E-flat tuba, etc.) seems to inexplicably THEN render it MUCH EASIER to negotiate all of the difficult passages on the larger instrument.

THEORY:
I tend to believe that what's happening is that a person (simply) HEARS THEMSELVES DO IT, and - then - they can play it on a larger instrument (which - obviously - asks for more effort and more player precision to execute the same tasks) just about as easily.

</sidebar>

again...
I just don't have any "warm-up" tips, because that's just not something that I do.
If an instrument is absurdly cold, I might ACTUALLY warm it up (hold it close to me, while watching TV for a few minutes - prior to playing...or - if at a rehearsal/concert - do the same exact thing, but WITHOUT watching TV.

Today, my room was 80 degrees, so I turned on the air, went out and took care of a couple of minor errands, and - by the time I walked back in - it was 73 degrees...ie. easier to play at pitch. ...so is that "cool-up", or what WOULD this be called...??

[Tim Jackson]

Just wondering, if you played a difficult solo piece with the orchestra, your feature moment, out in front with your name in lights, would you walk on stage without touching the horn for a day or so and play the 2nd or 3rd movement of RVW?

tj

[bloke]

I would probably practice it, but I wouldn’t warm up… I would just practice.

Coincidentally, I did play the second movement to that concerto - that you mention - with one of my per service orchestras - I’m thinking during the first plague year - when everyone was shut down, and that orchestra - wisely - decided to continue playing.
Candidly, I didn’t run through it very many times - but did spend some time learning some quite gymnastic parts on some other programmed works - pieces that I’ve never before played.
Mrs. bloke asked me if I was sure I was ready to play the concerto movement. I told her it was fine, but she wanted to hear it anyway…
… so I found one of those nice piano accompaniments (that people stick on YouTube) that was at a good tempo, played along for memory (not only demonstrating that I had a committed to memory and could play through it very nicely, but also knew when to come in), and she said, “OK, good.”
Here: I’ll tag @groovlow, who’s pretty plain spoken and non-patronizing. He’ll tell you whether or not it sucked.
(The point being that if I got all warmed up over and over again and went through a bunch of “routines” and over-practiced it, got my mouth all sore, got myself all worked up over it, and everything, all of that mess wouldn’t have contributed in a positive way.)

Just wondering, if you played a difficult solo piece with the orchestra, your feature moment, out in front with your name in lights, would you walk on stage without touching the horn for a day or so and play the 2nd or 3rd movement of RVW?

tj

[bloke]

I would probably practice it, but I wouldn’t warm up… I would just practice.

Coincidentally, I did play the second movement to that concerto - that you mention - with one of my per service orchestras - I’m thinking during the first plague year - when everyone was shut down, and that orchestra - wisely - decided to continue playing.
Candidly, I didn’t run through it very many times - but did spend some time learning some quite gymnastic parts on some other programmed works - pieces that I’ve never before played.
Mrs. bloke asked me if I was sure I was ready to play the concerto movement. I told her it was fine, but she wanted to hear it anyway…
… so I found one of those nice piano accompaniments (that people stick on YouTube) that was at a good tempo, played along for memory (not only demonstrating that I had a committed to memory and could play through it very nicely, but also knew when to come in), and she said, “OK, good.”
Here: I’ll tag @groovlow, who’s pretty plain spoken and non-patronizing. He’ll tell you whether or not it sucked.
(The point being that if I got all warmed up over and over again and went through a bunch of “routines” and over-practiced it, got my mouth all sore, got myself all worked up over it, and everything, all of that mess wouldn’t have contributed in a positive way.)

Just wondering, if you played a difficult solo piece with the orchestra, your feature moment, out in front with your name in lights, would you walk on stage without touching the horn for a day or so and play the 2nd or 3rd movement of RVW?

tj

[bloke]

I pulled this post back up to admit that I now have to warm up - not so much myself, but this huge B-flat instrument I'm now playing, because - without warming it up - it plays out of tune (being that the front end of it is warm in the back end of it is cold).

Okay.. I have to play "something" to warm the instrument up, so what I've decided to do is sort of an "anti warm-up" (at least, compared to what most people seem to do when I hear them run through what many refer to as warm-up "routines").

I start by playing the major arpeggio that is one semitone above the open key of this thing: namely B...

... and I don't work towards a legato but touch each pitch relatively shortly by starting each one with the tongue. I go up in half steps until I'm up to about the key of F major or so -where most pitches require less tubing. The strategy is that I'm warming up all of the long tubing in the fourth circuit right away, rather than putting it off...and I'm working on playing arguably the more difficult-to-focus pitches right out of the box - just as one would have to do after sitting through a tacet movement and then coming in gangbusters in some key with a fistful of sharps (which is not an uncommon occurrence).

After that, I go down to the home key of the instrument - the open B flat arpeggio, and go down from there adding tubing again. After that I play all sorts of scales and probably arpeggios that are more legato than before until it feels like the instrument is warm enough so that it will play in tune and won't mess with my head with goofy part-warm/part-cold intonation tendencies.

If I do anything else - such as working on lip trills or long tones or whatever, I define those things to myself mentally as practicing, and not as warming up. I'm trying to improve those things, and not just use them to warm up myself or the instrument... and I'm trying to completely avoid the concept or the word "routine", because I'm trying to do things better than I "routinely" did them in the past. Again, I define this as practicing, and not as warming up.

When when the air conditioner is back on again in May, I may just pick up the instrument and start practicing (ie. striving to improve, and trying to avoid playing routinely), because it's probably going to be 70-something degrees in here rather than 62 degrees in here.

[kingrob76]

For much of my life I would simply do enough"stuff" to feel ready to play. Sometimes that meant 0 minutes, sometimes more. The more I had been playing in recent weeks, the less time I needed to be ready to go.

About 6 years ago my son, who just graduated high school this past June, took a serious interest in pitching. He played high school baseball and wasn't a star, but he learned to maximize his abilities and the value of "grinding". Being who I am, I made sure he learned from the best possible people and I intently observed everything he was taught. Not only did I learn a TON about pitching and coaching, I began to see parallels to athletic performance and musical performance, particularly tuba.

As tuba players, we are athletes. Playing the tuba is an athletic endeavor and should be treated as such from a preparation standpoint. Optimum results are achieved when a consistent routine is developed and executed on a regular basis. You have to warm up the muscles in the face in order to train the muscles. You have to correctly do repetitive actions to train the neurological responses appropriately and teach the body correctly. If a good rep is a +1 towards learning something, a bad rep is a -2 (pitchers and hitters need 1,000 good reps to learn a skill). Doing a daily routine - which isn't going to be the same for everyone - has incredible value over the long term. The soft tissue in the face benefits from "warming up" BEFORE leaving for a rehearsal or performance, just as a pitcher benefits from doing his line throwing an hour before a game.

[bloke]

Since it's three weeks out (and - per typical - many of the tempos are between 170 and 190 with bucket/cup/and/plunger mute passages) I decided it's time to work on the upcoming "big band plus strings" Valentines pops concert (where I'm covering the 4th/bass trombone book on the F cimbasso).

warm-up: none needed...The thing is "warm" in about ten seconds and - being much less conical - the tuning is pretty good when it's cold.

fun factor of these charts: infinity to the nth

my sound quality on this thing: candidly, IMPROVED - after spending so much time with the gigantic B-flat tuba

If I'm feeling drowsy, I'm not going to play/breathe particularly well.
The BEST warm up (if feeling lethargic/drowsy/tired or even slightly ill) is to go outside, and take a brisk half mile walk down the road to the highway and back to the house.

[peterbas]

.