Hello, TPIN'ers!

On this topic of "Routines," I must say that a practice session devoid of some sort of routine is likely to be not focused on building something -- it is liable to be lacking in goals -- a rather formless and haphazard use of valuable time.

Dr. Donald S. Reinhardt had us do some sort of routine every day of the year (he had his 7-day routine which would help keep it from getting too old too fast). He told us that brass playing consisted of about 8 things that we needed to spend time with daily in order to keep those playing points alive.

His routines generally included:
something tongued,
something slurred,
something high,
something low,
something loud,
something soft,
some multiple tonguing,
and some embouchure compression (squeakers).
He also encouraged some cantabile (sustained) playing daily (like the Concone studies) and a good amount of "just blowing" on days without gigs.

Here's an idea for a topic: "The Warmup Wizard." Ever hear a guy warm up and think to yourself, "Man, this guy must be  awesome," and then in the heat of battle you discover that the only time he sounds good is during his warm up? To me, that is the danger of having a limited scope in your plan for development. Those guys play the same thing every day and apparently don't push themselves much beyond what they already know.

And I'm proud to disclose to you folks that I really sound rancid during my warm up!!! Reinhardt said that all a warm up needs to be is the process of getting your chops back to the state they were in yesterday when you were feeling good playing. Not 2 hours of a routine that you can't live without. A 4 or 5 minute session so that you're ready to play whatever your gig/rehearsal demands.

Enough out of me for today, maybe, eh? Take care, folks!

Rich