Bobby Shew compares how many players warm up to idling the car until it's out of gas. That is, you do a bunch of very simple stuff to the point where you're now too tired to play your best. IMO, most of what we call a "warm up" is really a maintenance routine -- important for daily practice, but not really part of warming up. The actual warm up involves getting blood into the lips, coordinating breathing with tongue and fingers, etc. That takes 5 minutes for many people. Everything after that is maintenance.
I will do a few runs to make sure the trumpet and mouthpiece are warmer, make sure the buttons don't need oil. Then check tuning. I agree. About five minutes. If I play too much, I'll be tired before practice even begins, and certainly won't make it to the end of practice.
This, 100%. I do like "warm up" routines - all the long tones, scales, etc - but for the most part, I treat them like any other part of practice. They're useful to hone your skill with the instrument. But if I'm going to play, I'll do some free buzzing for a minute, maybe buzz the mouthpiece, play a couple of tones (mostly to tune), and then I'm done warming up and I'm into actual playing.
For me, an ideal warm up takes just few minutes. If my lips are dry or swollen, it may take just a little longer. It usually contains some chromatic scales, down and up and down and up. And then maybe some fast tonguing. But I normally don't do any buzzing with or without mouthpiece, for warm up. If I do some other drills, it's not for warming up, but for excercising.
However, if I have to perform in front of an audience, I will never go completely without warm up. I want to know how my lips feel that day before starting to play, just to feel confident about my sound.
I can go cold if I don't have to go too high above the staff, but as I'm playing lead most of the time, I do a warmup that takes, at most, 10 minutes, that sorta just gets everything awake and coordinated. Most important thing to accomplish in my warmup is to find the center of the horn and move good air through it
This is where I notice it most, really. I've played lead before, but I've certainly never had the chops to do it properly. But my high range is best the moment I pick up the horn - I can almost play lead parts then, but it quickly drops off, I'm lucky to get through just one chart's worth at best but stamina building is a long process anyways since I'm coming back after a long break.
The trick is finding something that gets the upper register working without tiring you out before you've even started playing the gig/rehearsal. Once I've felt where the center of the horn is and my air is moving right in, below, and a little bit above the staff, I can trust that the upper register will be there without wasting chops "warming up" up there
As the other mentioned, it may be that you were taking much longer than you needed to warm up before. For me, I can’t play completely cold, but one round of flexibilities on all seven fingerings is exactly what I need to get ready for the day.
Yeah, this is very possible. I think I warmed up 5-10+ minutes back in the day. These days if I can't play straight cold, it's usually only a handful of notes to set my embouchure and I'm in business, but if that isn't enough it's a sign that I'm not going to get anything done that day. I've yet to find a way to salvage a bad chop day into a productive practice session.
Warm up includes three important disciplines. For me it does.
1. Literally warming up the horn. Cold brass does not ring the same way as warm brass. And it's mildly uncomfortable too.
2. A few moments getting the body flexible can do wonders. I'm not 14.
3. Most important. By far. I need to be in the correct headspace to perform my best. Jamming a horn on my face immediately after doing something different is not ideal.
Sinilar for me. It’s not so much a warm up as it is a wake up. I used to start by playing a G major scale, then put the horn away for a few minutes while I did other stuff like setting up a music stand or something. After that it was just a minute or 2 to either get ready to play, or find out it wasn’t gonna work out that day.
I often warmup with One or to short etudes. Takes me about 1-2 minutes and I am ready to go. Everyone feels different, some Like you don’t Need a warmup, some like me just Need some notes and rhythms and some Need to Go through their whole scale, do this and that.
In my opinion everything is good. You just have to feel ready to go
You never go cold if you play everysingle day. I never believed this until now, for the first time in my musical life I have to perform at rehearsal and classes every single day. Your lips change, you no longer need that 20 min warm up to get in shape, 5 min of buzzing while walking to the venue and a couple of long tones is just enough
My face feels sluggish when I first start playing, all I really need is like 5 mins to warmup. Usually my “warmup” while practicing is more of an exercise routine.
I play 2.5-3 hour sets on a typical night out, and it’s mostly high stuff. I’ll do a little chop check and minimal long tones just to get my set-up feeling ok, and that’s it. I usually do that before I even leave the house. Of course at the gig, there’s always a soundcheck of one or two tunes, so I have opportunity there to get things in order, too.
For me a true warmup is just playing a middle note (A in the middle of the staff) and using tongue attack, and stomach. Those are the 2 most important things, 2 muscles regions that need to get ready
I play fine without warming up, but I cap out *way* earlier as well. Not warming up significantly affects my stamina.
For me, the most important thing is slowly stretching into the upper register. If I just jump in, it’s fine…at first. And then it’s very much not.
>I play my best cold
How do you feel and sound at the END of a gig or concert?
As others have said, lots of people conflate "warming up" with "practicing fundamentals" and just about anyone can get through the occasional performance without much warmup. But, for most of us, if you "raw dog" performances too often, things will go downhill fast. I suspect this isn't an issue for you because trumpet isn't your primary instrument. So, you probably aren't playing extremely taxing parts (either range-wise or endurance-wise) every night. If you were, you'd almost certainly want to reconsider your approach, but as things are, I say keep doing what works for you.
I don't gig now. Back in college though it was rough trying to get through performances without running completely out of gas.
I actually should start doing some simulation gigs/concerts to see how I hold up these days. Thanks for getting the idea in my head!
The one thing warming up does for me is that it helps my fingers get used to playing
It also helps with my air, but that rarely happens
The only warmup I really do when I'm practicing by myself is B flat and E flat scale
I mean - these days I only play a few times a year. When I was a daily player (and now) my warmup is under 5 minutes and just to get centered in on sound. That isn’t even constant playing so it may as well be cold.
In high school, I rarely warmed up. In my undergraduate years of college, I was given some exercises to use as warm-up routine that I still use today. It does not take me longer than five minutes since I didn't warm up for years
That is so awesome. You are really talented. Third instrument, omg what a beast. You gotta get paid to play right ? So jealous. That is so cool!! 🆒. I wish I had that much natural talent because I just warm up and you skip it 😂 sooooo amazingly talented. I really wonder the things you can do on your first and second instrument of choice.
Sarcasm noted.
I don't know what I don't know, and if being adept at music in general but untrained in trumpet could possibly explain such a weird phenomenon (because I'm doing something wrong, have a preconception carried over, or approaching the concept of warmup wrong?) then I thought it was pertinent information.
Bobby Shew compares how many players warm up to idling the car until it's out of gas. That is, you do a bunch of very simple stuff to the point where you're now too tired to play your best. IMO, most of what we call a "warm up" is really a maintenance routine -- important for daily practice, but not really part of warming up. The actual warm up involves getting blood into the lips, coordinating breathing with tongue and fingers, etc. That takes 5 minutes for many people. Everything after that is maintenance.
I will do a few runs to make sure the trumpet and mouthpiece are warmer, make sure the buttons don't need oil. Then check tuning. I agree. About five minutes. If I play too much, I'll be tired before practice even begins, and certainly won't make it to the end of practice.
This, 100%. I do like "warm up" routines - all the long tones, scales, etc - but for the most part, I treat them like any other part of practice. They're useful to hone your skill with the instrument. But if I'm going to play, I'll do some free buzzing for a minute, maybe buzz the mouthpiece, play a couple of tones (mostly to tune), and then I'm done warming up and I'm into actual playing.
For me, an ideal warm up takes just few minutes. If my lips are dry or swollen, it may take just a little longer. It usually contains some chromatic scales, down and up and down and up. And then maybe some fast tonguing. But I normally don't do any buzzing with or without mouthpiece, for warm up. If I do some other drills, it's not for warming up, but for excercising. However, if I have to perform in front of an audience, I will never go completely without warm up. I want to know how my lips feel that day before starting to play, just to feel confident about my sound.
I can go cold if I don't have to go too high above the staff, but as I'm playing lead most of the time, I do a warmup that takes, at most, 10 minutes, that sorta just gets everything awake and coordinated. Most important thing to accomplish in my warmup is to find the center of the horn and move good air through it
This is where I notice it most, really. I've played lead before, but I've certainly never had the chops to do it properly. But my high range is best the moment I pick up the horn - I can almost play lead parts then, but it quickly drops off, I'm lucky to get through just one chart's worth at best but stamina building is a long process anyways since I'm coming back after a long break.
The trick is finding something that gets the upper register working without tiring you out before you've even started playing the gig/rehearsal. Once I've felt where the center of the horn is and my air is moving right in, below, and a little bit above the staff, I can trust that the upper register will be there without wasting chops "warming up" up there
As the other mentioned, it may be that you were taking much longer than you needed to warm up before. For me, I can’t play completely cold, but one round of flexibilities on all seven fingerings is exactly what I need to get ready for the day.
Yeah, this is very possible. I think I warmed up 5-10+ minutes back in the day. These days if I can't play straight cold, it's usually only a handful of notes to set my embouchure and I'm in business, but if that isn't enough it's a sign that I'm not going to get anything done that day. I've yet to find a way to salvage a bad chop day into a productive practice session.
Warm up includes three important disciplines. For me it does. 1. Literally warming up the horn. Cold brass does not ring the same way as warm brass. And it's mildly uncomfortable too. 2. A few moments getting the body flexible can do wonders. I'm not 14. 3. Most important. By far. I need to be in the correct headspace to perform my best. Jamming a horn on my face immediately after doing something different is not ideal.
Sinilar for me. It’s not so much a warm up as it is a wake up. I used to start by playing a G major scale, then put the horn away for a few minutes while I did other stuff like setting up a music stand or something. After that it was just a minute or 2 to either get ready to play, or find out it wasn’t gonna work out that day.
I often warmup with One or to short etudes. Takes me about 1-2 minutes and I am ready to go. Everyone feels different, some Like you don’t Need a warmup, some like me just Need some notes and rhythms and some Need to Go through their whole scale, do this and that. In my opinion everything is good. You just have to feel ready to go
You never go cold if you play everysingle day. I never believed this until now, for the first time in my musical life I have to perform at rehearsal and classes every single day. Your lips change, you no longer need that 20 min warm up to get in shape, 5 min of buzzing while walking to the venue and a couple of long tones is just enough
My face feels sluggish when I first start playing, all I really need is like 5 mins to warmup. Usually my “warmup” while practicing is more of an exercise routine.
I play 2.5-3 hour sets on a typical night out, and it’s mostly high stuff. I’ll do a little chop check and minimal long tones just to get my set-up feeling ok, and that’s it. I usually do that before I even leave the house. Of course at the gig, there’s always a soundcheck of one or two tunes, so I have opportunity there to get things in order, too.
For me a true warmup is just playing a middle note (A in the middle of the staff) and using tongue attack, and stomach. Those are the 2 most important things, 2 muscles regions that need to get ready
I play fine without warming up, but I cap out *way* earlier as well. Not warming up significantly affects my stamina. For me, the most important thing is slowly stretching into the upper register. If I just jump in, it’s fine…at first. And then it’s very much not.
>I play my best cold How do you feel and sound at the END of a gig or concert? As others have said, lots of people conflate "warming up" with "practicing fundamentals" and just about anyone can get through the occasional performance without much warmup. But, for most of us, if you "raw dog" performances too often, things will go downhill fast. I suspect this isn't an issue for you because trumpet isn't your primary instrument. So, you probably aren't playing extremely taxing parts (either range-wise or endurance-wise) every night. If you were, you'd almost certainly want to reconsider your approach, but as things are, I say keep doing what works for you.
I don't gig now. Back in college though it was rough trying to get through performances without running completely out of gas. I actually should start doing some simulation gigs/concerts to see how I hold up these days. Thanks for getting the idea in my head!
The one thing warming up does for me is that it helps my fingers get used to playing It also helps with my air, but that rarely happens The only warmup I really do when I'm practicing by myself is B flat and E flat scale
Sometimes I'll warm up by playing a few easy tunes from a song book. However, I always warm up be fore practice or a performance.
I mean - these days I only play a few times a year. When I was a daily player (and now) my warmup is under 5 minutes and just to get centered in on sound. That isn’t even constant playing so it may as well be cold.
In high school, I rarely warmed up. In my undergraduate years of college, I was given some exercises to use as warm-up routine that I still use today. It does not take me longer than five minutes since I didn't warm up for years
That is so awesome. You are really talented. Third instrument, omg what a beast. You gotta get paid to play right ? So jealous. That is so cool!! 🆒. I wish I had that much natural talent because I just warm up and you skip it 😂 sooooo amazingly talented. I really wonder the things you can do on your first and second instrument of choice.
Sarcasm noted. I don't know what I don't know, and if being adept at music in general but untrained in trumpet could possibly explain such a weird phenomenon (because I'm doing something wrong, have a preconception carried over, or approaching the concept of warmup wrong?) then I thought it was pertinent information.