Teaching

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Dear Owen,

Please can you advise me on some new material to practice? All I have at the moment is a few solos and my band music and would like to have something else to get my teeth into. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks, Tom

Hi Tom,

The only material you have to practice at the moment is repertoire and I would advise getting hold of some tutor books. These books are there to improve your playing and as a result make the repertoire easier to play.

The 1st book I think you should get is the Arban Tutor. This is one of the largest tutor methods and covers many different areas of playing (tonguing, scales etc). If you are able to purchase more then I would advise the John Ridgeon “How Brass Players Do It” and the Herbert L Clarke “Technical Studies”. John Ridgeons book is all lip flexibilities which should be a large portion of your daily practice. Herbert Clarke’s is a very clever book that combines breath control with finger dexterity, endurance, range and embouchure development.

Once you have these books at your disposal you are then ready to sit down and organise a suitable practice routine. The size of this will of course depend on how much practice you do although it is the quality of your practice and not the quantity that will bring results.

Here are a few tips for you;

Practisce in several short sessions i.e. 20 to 30 mins. Always stop before you want to – never tire yourself out.

Rest as much as you play. Never abuse your lip.

Always take a big breath – use your air to save your lip.

Treat your routine like a blue print. It will give you direction and will help constructively and systematically build your playing. Aimless blowing can often become very dangerous.

Make a list of all the elements you would like to work on, such as

• Long Tones
• Flexibilities
• High Range
• Low Range 
• Mixed Articulation.
• Dynamics
• Finger Dexterity
• Tone and phrasing
• Band repertoire
• Solos

Then asign alongside each element how much time you would like to spend on each one. By the end of your session you will have covered some excellent material in your practice and it will have flown by you far quicker than getting too bogged down with just one or two different things. Here’s an example of a routine.

Session 1

• 0 – 15                            Warm up
• 15-20                            Long tones

Session 2

• 20 Flexibilities

Session 3

• 10 Clarke Technical Studies
• 15 High Range 
• 20 Low Range 

Session 4

• 10 Mixed Articulations
• 20 Repertoire

Session 5

• 5 Intervals
• 10 Scales and arpeggios
• 15 Slow melodies
• 20 Dynamics

 Session 6

•  5 Flexibilities
• 5-10 Clarke Technical Studies
• 10-20 Repertoire

This can easily be reduced if you require less practice time. If on the other hand you wish to spend more time practicing then this is also very easily done.

Best Wishes

Owen