“Don’t forget your home practice!” How often have we heard our bandmaster say this? But how do we approach it? What do we attempt to accomplish during the home practicing?
Home practicing is a very personal thing that should be done in private. Although it is different for everyone, there are some general principles to be followed that will make the time spent productive. To be most effective, practicing should be done on a consistent, regular basis, preferably at the same time and place every day, as regular habits are easier to stick to. Consistent practice every day is much more productive than longer sessions done sporadically.
Practicing should be an intellectual exercise as much as a physical one. Be analytical and critical of your own playing, listening for imperfections and things to improve. Practice things slowly so that each note has a good full sound, correct articulation and intonation. Once this has been achieved, the speed can be increased.
The amount of practice time varies greatly from person to person, due to available time and amount of ambition. As a general rule, half an hour is enough to maintain the present level of proficiency. More than half an hour gives a player a chance for real progress.
Whatever the amount of time spent in personal practicing, it should be done thoughtfully so that efficient use is made of available time. Have a goal! Think of the areas you would like to improve on, and then design a plan to help you approach them. This will give some focus to your practice time and help you measure your progress.
Daily practice should be divided roughly into five sections. It is easy to concentrate on certain aspects of playing and neglect others, so it is important to discipline oneself to work on all aspects of playing. The five areas are: Warm up, Technique, Lip Flexibility, Melodic (Tone) Production, Repertoire.
Warm up
The well-used analogy of an athlete warming up before a game is a good one. A brass player needs to warm up for the same reasons that an athlete needs to warm up before exerting himself. The omission of a good warm up can lead to damaging of the muscles in the embouchure. A good warm up prepares the lip muscles and the respiratory system for the demands that will be placed on them during practice or performance. There are many good warm-up routines available, one of which should be chosen and used each time before playing. Remember always to think about the sound you are producing. This is the time to make sure that you are doing all the fundamentals (i.e. posture, breathing, articulations, slurs, etc.) correctly.
An example of a good type of exercise to do in warming up is shown below. There are many variations that can be made to this --- make up your own to keep it interesting --- but always remember to do it slowly and accurately.
Long tones are beneficial for developing and maintaining a well-centered, full tone. Concentrate on maintaining a straight, steady tone, with no vibrato or wobble due to inconsistency in the air stream.
One of the greatest weaknesses in brass players is the failure to produce a full, well-supported and centered sound on each note. The warm-up is an ideal time to concentrate on this. The lips must always be supported by a straight steady flow of air.
Do nothing strenuous during the warm-up period, as that defeats the whole purpose of having a warm up. Do not spend a disproportionate amount of time on the warm up. Remember always to maintain balance in your practice period.
Mouthpiece Buzzing
Buzzing the mouthpiece without the instrument is an excellent means of warming up as it helps focus the lips and gets them buzzing. Buzz various things such as a siren up and down the register, arpeggios, and simple limited range melodies. Aim for a “rich” buzz with and without the use of the tongue, producing specific pitches accurately. This will help in producing accurate tones and clean articulations when the horn is used.
Buzzing the lips alone is also a useful exercise. Try buzzing a limited range melody such as “God save the Queen”. A good lip or mouthpiece buzz may not come right away. Stick with it and it will develop without too much trouble.
Technique
The area of technique covers many aspects of playing, all of which could not be covered in the average practice session. This is where refining practice habits is very important. There are, however, fundamental areas that must be worked on continually to maintain good technique and production.
The most important areas are scales and arpeggios, and articulation. In working on technique, the use of a metronome is invaluable (available at most music stores). Start each exercise slowly, at a tempo where each note can be played perfectly, and gradually work up speed. The metronome makes you maintain a steady pace, play note values accurately and helps measure your progress.
Do not just practice in the keys with which you are familiar. Challenge yourself with keys, where the third finger is used --- chromatic scales in the low register are particularly helpful in strengthening the third finger. Practice in all registers, trying to maintain a consistent sound from the low register to the high. Experiment with enharmonic fingerings to make difficult patterns easier.
Scales are important to maintain evenness and accuracy of technique, as well as improving sightreading ability through instant recognition of patterns already learned.
Articulation is another area of great importance. The attack is the first thing heard when playing a note, so its importance is obvious. In the Army, we play in very many styles which require different types of articulation. As has already been mentioned, it is important that each note be played as correctly and accurately as possible. This can only be done with a good start to the note. Good articulation is a combination of correct movement of the tongue, supported by a steady column of air. The tongue should work as a release valve for the air by pronouncing the syllable ‘too’ (tongue placed slightly above the upper teeth).
The air flow must be very steady and consistent. Often notes come out in a pear shaped fashion sounding like a ‘dwa’, as opposed to a straight shape, ‘too’.
Think of the air as always having forward direction. A good exercise is one out of Herbert L. Clarke’s “Technical Studies” book:
Try playing it slurred, thinking of keeping the air moving and maintaining a straight shape to the notes. After it can be played accurately and smoothly, try tonguing the exercise, ensuring that the air flow is the same as it was when played with no tongue. This might be compared to a long sausage being sliced. The tongue serves the same function as the knife, moving up and down to slice the sausage (air). The sausage never changes shape through the cutting of the knife, but stays constant, only separated.
Apply this concept to the Clarke study. All types of articulation should be practiced in this manner in all keys (legato, staccato, accented, non-accented, etc.). Make sure each articulation is clean and precise. You may be surprised at how hard at first it is to get through the whole exercise without any faulty articulations, but don’t be discouraged! Persevere until every note is perfect. This will result in fewer split notes and a much better sound.
Space does not permit a discussion of multiple articulations (double and triple tonguing) in this article. Don’t work on them until the single tongue is fast and accurate. Developing multiple articulations too soon may result in a lack of development of the single tongue.
In all areas of technique, have a goal. Don’t just whip through different exercises each day to appease your conscience in the vague hope that you are improving. Consider which aspects of your playing you would like to improve, select the appropriate exercises and work on them every day. Once again, start slowly and increase the speed as development warrants.
It is a good idea to keep a written record of your practice routine, i.e. what you practice and at what metronome markings.
Studies and Etudes
Studies and Etudes are an excellent way to apply the aspects of technique just studied to actual playing. It is a useful and enjoyable exercise to sight-read straight down the study without any stops. Once this is done, it should be rehearsed slowly and methodically until all the difficulties are overcome.
Lip Flexibilities
Lip flexibility exercises are good for improving slurring technique, smooth legato playing, and for building lip strength and endurance.
Lip flexibility exercises are ones in which you change notes without the use of valves. When going from the low register up (and vice versa), it may help to use different syllables: ‘oh’ for the lower register, working up to ‘ee’ for the higher register. The arching of the tongue in this way performs the same function as in whistling lower to higher notes, that is of compressing the air stream.
When slurring from note to note concentrate on keeping the air stream going, as if you were playing one long note. This will make for a smooth slur with no break in between, and ensure that the lips keep buzzing. If the lips stop vibrating, the slur will be broken, so it is very important to ‘blow through’ from note to note.
Melodic (Tone) Production
The majority of playing that Salvation Army bandsmen do is of a melodic nature, in hymn tune playing and in band work. Therefore it is important that every player has the capability to play melodic passages smoothly, with a good full sound and a sense of line, not just a series of notes tuck together. Each note should have a sense of direction leading to the next note, else it becomes static, going nowhere. This is important for all band parts from basses up, not just the solo cornets. Every player in the band should have a solo cornet tune book to practice the tunes from, keeping the above mentioned concepts in mind while practicing them.
Beautiful tone production is the prerequisite to all other facets of your performance. Without beautiful sound, there is no music!
Repertoire
This section of practice time can be devoted to band parts that need to be practiced at home, solos and other material that interests you. It is your responsibility as a band member to work on the band parts with which you have trouble. It is not the bandmaster’s job to teach these parts during rehearsal.
When working on repertoire, don’t dwell on the easy parts that you can play, and conversely, don’t just whip by the bits that you can’t. Work at the difficult sections slowly and methodically (again, with a metronome), isolating the problem and finding an intelligent approach to overcome it. Make sure, after you can play the trouble spots, that you can play them in context. It is of little use to be able to play a difficult run without being able to work into it or out of it.
There is a large repertoire of Salvation Army variation solos which are an excellent practice tool, whether you consider yourself a soloist or not. They contain melodic passages, articulation, scale work, flexibility, range and any number of aspects of playing that can be worked on in one piece. Besides, they are fun and challenging.
The practice room is the place to develop good habits. If you cannot play something well there, you don’t stand a chance in performance! Remember to practice in all registers, at all dynamic levels. Try to simulate performance conditions in practice, so that your lips will be able to handle it. Don’t expect to be able to play high, or loud, without practicing this way.
Get into the habit of doing things as well as you can, all the time. Don’t settle for anything less!
Don’t let the practice period become a drudgery. Always challenge yourself. Make your routine your personal challenge and look forward to the time with your instrument. Remember, your banding depends on it!
Recommended study material:
Arban - Complete Conservatory Method
Herbert L. Clarke – Technical Studies, Characteristic Studies
Charles Colin – Lip Flexibilities
Max Schlossberg – Daily Drills and Technical Studies
Some points to remember:
Practice slowly and accurately
Develop good habits in the practice room
Maintain balance in your practice period
Practice in all registers, at all dynamic levels
Blow the air through the horn
Use a metronome
Have a goal
Most of all, have fun!
- written by Steve Brown, a 26 year veteran member of The Canadian Staff Band