My Approach: "Air is King!"

As I have mentioned in my last post, the air, the tongue and the lips are all the main factors in development on a brass instrument.  If they are working in perfect balance, then playing feels easy – I’m sure we can all think of those very occasional days, that seem ‘mystical’ in some way, where everything just feels easy, effortless.  This is because, unconsciously, everything is in balance.  Making this happen consciously is the difficult part.  We often focus too much on different aspects of our playing, sometimes our lips feel tired, so we focus on them; or we think about the fact that the tongue affects pitch and we haphazardly alter things, experimenting, and this doesn’t work; or we worry about our breathing and we end up over-analysing (Arnold Jacobs used to say that we can cause “paralysis by analysis”).  Whatever it is, we must find that balance.

To find the balance in our playing, we must step back and return to our Fundamentals – air and sound (or as Arnold Jacobs used to call them “Song and Wind”).  There are many resources, articles, books and videos that talk about the development of each of these.  Most of them share similar themes and all have their merits.  However, it is the simpler approach that we must take.  Breathe well and we play well, it really is that simple.  Good breathing means less effort and less effort means better sound and better sound means good music.

I start each day by revisiting my fundamentals.  Craig Morris (one time principal trumpet of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra) wrote an article on his own blog (livmusic.com) about his daily routine.  He had names for his different types of practice, he called his Maintenance or Technical practice his “Skill Set” (quite an accurate name) and his warm-up he referred to as his “Foundation” practice.  I think this is very appropriate – we start with the very foundation of our playing (the air and the sound) and get this right, then we can build on everything else.

For me, then, my Fundamental, Foundation, Warm-up is more about approach than material.  I focus on getting the air moving, in as relaxed a manner as I possibly can.  This is important for all brass players, but I feel that due to the nature of soprano writing in modern literature, being relaxed is absolutely essential.  Tension will cause us to lose control, which is a disaster on a seat where every note is heard and we stick out like a sore thumb, whether we like it or not.

I always start with some breathing work.  This could be explicit exercises (off the instrument) or blowing through the instrument (not playing) or playing something easy on the instrument, such as long notes, flow studies and/or air attacks, or a combination of all of this.  The inhalation must be relaxed and the exhalation should be equally relaxed.  Inhale so that the chest fills up and exhale from the front of the mouth (this will naturally engage support musculature), keeping the chest up (a la Claude Gordon).  I focus on this during all of this work.  I will spend 5 minutes on this, sometimes less, sometimes more, depending on how long it takes to get things co-ordinated.  There are days, and periods of time, when this takes a while to initiate, especially earlier in the morning.

Following this I will do some pedal work.  I have developed a good pedal range over the years (since I started seriously exploring it c.10 years ago) and can now reach triple pedal G on soprano cornet (the equivalent to triple pedal C on trumpet) which is where I work down to, steadily, in warm-up.  I use semi-Claude Gordon-style exercises.  For me, the blowing the last note part is important so that the support muscles, used for the high notes, can be developed.  I do this, EVERY day, and have done, on and off, for the best part of ten years.  The benefits are second to none.

I then work upwards.  I have used a variety of material over the years to do this.  I have explored scales, chromatic exercises, arpeggios, James Stamp, Chicowicz and Claude Gordon material.  I always seem to find the Chicowicz Flow Studies (also Pierre Thibaud’s material) and Claude Gordon’s material (and similar) to be of the most benefit.  I tend to switch between the two.  Claude Gordon is great for developing power of the air (or Wind Power as CG himself calls it).  Flow Studies (a la Chicowicz) are great for ensuring the air is relaxed.  This is important.  I choose the material, and stick with it for a period of time, depending on the current focus – i.e. developing power/stamina or developing maintaining a relaxed approach.  Whatever material I use, I always work up as high as I can, focussing on the same quality of sound, same movement of air, same relaxation.  Usually I get to around E above high C (I often stop at high C if I have a rehearsal or a performance to concentrate on).

I am always modifying my warm-up, and main practice routines, but do tend to follow a trend of this pattern – air moving, pedals, working upwards.  However, my approach is always the same – use the air to ensure a full, warm, relaxed sound.  During warm-up, I am also conscious of the effect of the tongue.  As I work higher, I develop the feeling of where the tongue goes.  I then use the feeling I have learnt throughout the playing day, whether that is in private practice or performance.  The feeling of the tongue is also continuously developed in private practice through lip flexibility exercises and any material that moves up and down the range, such as Herbert L Clarke’s Technical Studies.

I hope I have explained my approach well enough that others may get some benefit, I always find that reading someone else’s approach helps me with mine, even if it is just a minute detail.  If this offers a little help to just one person, then it will be worth the effort to write it down and publish it.

Feel free to leave a comment and look at the other articles on my blog.

Happy Sopping,

John.