How to Practice----- Ray Mase This practice routine has some ideas on practicing, particularly when not playing for someone regularly. 1. Maintenance (20-30 min.) In this part of your practice, try to briefly "hit" as many aspects of playing as possible. By doing a routine similar to the one shown on page two, you can clearly evaluate what needs to be worked on and what doesn't. Don't get bogged down in this part of your practice--play many different things briefly, and use this information as the basis for what will be done in part 2 of your practice. 2. Specific Technical Practice (60-90 min.) Assign specific technical studies for a reason. Put a date on assigned material, and do it regularly for 6-10 practice sessions. Keep a record of your assigned materials in a notebook, with the date. Try to jot down some comments on your practice in this notebook. Go on to new material after 6-10 sessions even if the material is not perfected. Set modest goais for yourself and achieve them. Setting big goals tenés to be frustrating. Improvement at anything is done in small steps---not big leaps. 3. Musical (30-45 min.) Remember that Nos. 1 & 2 are done for a reason--to perfect a technique that will allow us to express ourselves musically in an effortiess way. ‘lechnique should be improved out of a need to have more resources to use musically--not just for the sake of improvement. An enormous vocabulary is not useful unless we can express thoughts more concisely by having it. Play easy material regularly and beautifully---without technical considerations. If an Arban song or Concone study can be done in this way, then more difficult material--like solos and orchestral excerpts--will also be able to be played easily with practice. Make technigue a natural expressive tool, not an end in itself. Play with others as often as possible. Music is a social and communicative art and we should relate musically to others easily. Making music requires more flexibility and thought than practicing, and needs to be done regularly.Maintenance---Based on ten weeks wk. wk.7 Ray Mase rechnical #4 odd l#2even Schlossberg #24 #40 #78 #27 a3, #81 Practical (supplement. #5 ST & DT onCind, #9 (oncina Shuebruk: Graded Lip ‘Trainers Bk.3 BK.3 p.8 i p.77#54p.78#6* -#54-5 #96 ger Scales fron| Arban p. Schlossberg| Supplement: Nagel :Speed| #4 **Articulad lc studi mn. vueNOTES ON PRACTICING Constantly monitor your weaknesses and strengths, adjusting your practice accordingly. Focus on what you need to inprove, without neglecting general fundamentals. Refer to Claude Gordon's Brass Playing Ts No More pi Than Deep Breathing for basic physical principle: performance of trumpee Suggestions f ra practice routine . . . 5-20 minutes per section Herbert L. Clarke Technical stud. Ease of execution and a feeling of relaxed strength are the priorities here. Never strai. you might feel occasional fatigue but you saould feel ss if you could play all day on these studies. Play slowly enough to finish each exercise perfectly. Keep the little finger of your right hand out of the “octave key" on the leadpipe, even you usually play with it in, use this book to exercise true finger extension, to keep your hand loose and strong. Goncentrate on Studies i through 8, at least cne a day. in addition to slurring them, practice single and "K" tonguing, Strengthening the tongue in this fashion will make all playing ore limber, relaxed, and flexible. And when ” articulations are truly mastered, any multiple tonguing will be easy. Relaxed execution in all keys will also be learned, Above all, strive to gonnect with a secure, relaxed manner of playing, estaSlishi base for all subsequent demands. Some of the most significant benefits from this kind of practice come after many, many repetitions and years of exposure Building a kind of reflexive nemory is always our goal in Practicing, which cannot be rushed and must evolve naturally, 2. beng tones. These include single notes and sustained exercises that end with a long tone. A useful way to practice these is to hold the last note until all air is gone. then Sduseze the last bit out. Feel the stomach muscles clench; this s he only way to dynamically engage the torso imiscles used in trumpet playing. Practice pedal tones in this fashion, too. Pedals require very deep breathing and will do wonders for the embouchare, stimulating a wider area of upper lip vibration and encouraging the lower jaw to come forward a bit. This will help upper register power. Don't overly pucker the lips to produce these notes and don't "bark" from pedal C downward, trying to get these pitches in tune. Intonation will correct itself with patient practice, and playing these tones too loudly will forfeit many of the benefits. Try to imitate the sound of a baritone horn. This method works well with the Claude Gordon Syst! Approach to Daily Practice, Mex Schlossberg's Daily Dr mes Stamp's Warmups and Studi: The long tone studi 7 Robert Nagel's Trumpet Skills will fully test one's control o: dynamics. John Glasel's Relaxation Techniques (3 volumes) and Carmine Caruso's Musical Calisthenics are entire methods of