Whisperroom

Hey all,

It has been awhile since I wrote anything, I did make a rather large purchase recently to improve my quality of life as a musician, and well… allow myself to practice properly again.

Long story short, I live in a condo, horns are loud, neighbors can only be so understanding… oh ya, we have all been at home for a year, and realistically at least for me up here, the end isn’t obviously in sight.

So I got a 4848 Standard WhisperRoom to practice and record in. I’ll give a post later that goes more into it, but here is a quick video showing it in action, hindsight should have busted out my dB meter, but I didn’t. The video cuts to the chase and just shows how much more my neighbors will let me continue to be here…

Oh ya, this also means I can stream again, so doing that again on YT.

Breathing device videos

Working with air

If you have followed my practice sessions, you know I generally incorporate breathing, what brass player doesn’t? It is so critical to what we do, it is also full of habits. To help me with those habits I make use of various breathing devices in a focused way as a bridge between conception and playing (read the book Song and Wind)..

I have been fortunate to work with some of the best breathers out there (most of them studying with Jacobs at some point, or one of Jacobs' students). Breathing devices can be complicated, or simple depending on how we use them. What they do allow us to do is introduce strangeness into our air, and provide a means of visual information and feedback. We can then use that information to inform our playing.

Since everyone doens’t have access to the same resources I am slowly releasing videos that deal with the use of various breathing devices that I use and have been with me for awhile.

The first two are below and more are on their way.

Happy practicing.

(My youtube channel - feel free to subscribe as I am planning some other videos on playing beyond breathing)


In the grind with Arbans

Summer work

I love the summer, you can get really deep in your playing and we tend to have more time to really pull things apart. For me it is more of the same honestly, Arbans, Schlossberg, etc. BUT the fun part… more of it!! Below is my current regime for the AM.

Summer lesson deal. I am also running a deal on online lessons right now Learn more below (it is a pretty solid discount, and limited space) (40% off single lessons, 50% off bookings of 4)

LEARN MORE

The Session

Arbans (any missed note is isolated and attacked 2 times on air and 3 times with tongue)

  • First studies: 1 page a day. (Different keys or pick a key of the day, play in all registers)

  • Flexibility: 16/17/18/19. Down an octave.

  • Syncopation: 1 page a day (Play in all registers)

  • Chromatics: Pick 2 or 3 exercises. Play those in all registers back to back. So you should get one exercise in 3 octaves, rest between each exercise, but not registers.

  • Slurring or legato: no.13, 14, and

  • Intervals: no.1 Pick a few lines, play all variations

  • Double tonguing: Pick 5 or 6 exercises

  • Slur and double tongue: Pick a few exercises (remember you can take them into different registers)

  • The Art of Phrasing - Pick one or two

  • Kopprasch players choice.

That is it. It is a slog, throw on a movie or something if you need to.






Basics session

Back!!

Now that the Ghost Opera has finished I am back to some what of a normal schedule (as much as a freelancer can say) so I am hoping to be back sharing sessions. Below is the basics one I did today after a few days off.

Summer lesson deal. I am also running a deal on online lessons right now Learn more below (it is a pretty solid discount, and limited space) (40% off single lessons, 50% off bookings of 4)

LEARN MORE

The session

The goal: Get back in touch with the buzz and air relationship after time off

  • Breathing exercises - your choice, I did some basic flow work.

  • Buzzing - Sirens and simple songs

  • Buzzing with Incentive Spirometer (in the inverted position)

  • Long tones - 10 beats @ 60BPM, five beats up, five beats down, 5 beats rest between.

    • I did C major, a minor, G whole tone.

  • Lip Flexibility - Pick something easy

    • Remingtons moguls

    • 4 - 5 - 6 -8 - 6 -5 - 4 (All fingering combinations including B horn)

    • 2 - 4 - 8 - 4 -2 (All fingering combinations including B horn)

  • REST

  • Lead pipe buzzing - 4 times, lead pipes second harmonic

  • Clarke no.1 slurred and tongued

  • Clarke no.2 slurred and tongued

  • REST

  • Concone no.1

  • Concone no.2

That is it. This is a simple session, the goal is connecting the air and the buzz after some time off. Shouldn’t be hard, should be nice and focused!

The commercial drill

So there is a sporting event today. One thing I love to do when watching something full of break and commercials is what I call the “commercial drill”.

Here is how it works

Tools: Horn, metronome, random number generator.

When the commercial begins grab your horn and get to town. Set the random number generator to have a range of say 42 - 136 this is your tempo range. You will also want a way to pick note duration (quarter, eighth, triplets, sixteenths, quintuplets, etc.), and scale.

  • Hit those randomizers, when you get your results play the scale up one octave, down two, up one. Then break right into the arpeggio to cover the same range. (do various articulations)

  • Rep the scale a few times with different note duration. You can do beat division on each note, or play the scale in that pattern.

Do this until you hit all 12 major and minor scales.

Now you have done all your scales, you feel great. But now what, there are more sportings going on. Time to up the anti. Interval time. Using the same setup as before just add one more way to pick a random interval, I use thirds through tenths. Get your scale, your intervals, and for fun let’s just go max range. Start from the bottom and work all the way to the top of your range (Singer style)

Repeat the above using the outcomes until you guessed it, all 12 major and minor scales.

More sports? More fun!

Now we are going to do non-standard scales, pentatonic, Limited transpositions, whole-tone, diminished, etc. You get the idea this is all about fluency and breaking the normal habits we all have

That is it, happy sporting watching and happy scales.


A session on the road

Just not while you drive…

I am currently up in Edmonton right now, taught a masterclass yesterday and Timepoint has a show this afternoon. Which leaves the always somewhat complicated playing away from home scenario. For context this was my morning… in an AirBnb with a practice mute. I have a few “warm and fuzzy” sessions I like, this is one of them.

Play everything BIG, not sound wise, tone wise, even with the mute, find that big phat sound.

The Session

  • Soft buzzing, really soft, find that spot where are and sound meet and dance around on it.

    • mostly simple tones, move slowly, soft, and phat.

  • Louis Maggio - Warm up A (Max 15 min)

    • Extend it down, LOW. Always a big phat sound, don’t move past the note until it is exactly how it should be (hense the max 15 min.)

  • Expanding intervals from the best note (15 min max)

    • I start on a G and play it several times, long tones. Then expand up a semi tone and copy the sound, Then return to the note and move down a semitone. Do things like:

      • Play the non-best note for a quarter note, slur back to the best note, slur back to the other note.

      • DON’T GO PAST A NOTE UNTIL IT IS TOTALLY EVEN

  • Slurs into scales. (Up and down)

    • I did this in a recent practice log here is how it works.

      • Start on Harmonic 2, go up the horn ala the Farkas lipslurs.

      • Reaching the top (for up version (harm 16 or 12, and bottom harm 2 for descending) Switch to the scale pattern to return to the starting note.

      • Scale Pattern all slurred (adapt it to work if you only go to harm 12):

        • Descend 1 octave, small fermata on the pitch,

        • Slur up to the Dominant (so if we are on F horn series C to C, slur up to G) then descend 1 octave. small fermata on the pitch.

        • Slup up to the Tonic (C for F horn series) descend 1 octave….

        • etc. So if you only go to harmonic 12, you start the pattern doing the scale from the

        • note: you don’t always need to do Tonic-Dominant. Work your ears.. do things like… Subtonic slurred way back up to supdominant, etc. You are working on intonation in chord resolutions, so, do that in many ways.

You are done… again this is a road session, it is quick, it works on some crucial parts of playing, but also gets some sensitivity into the chops right away.

Share, comment, like it is greatly appreciated.

Practice session - General morning

Today’s session is another mixed bag. It isn’t based around anyone book, it is “practice aid heavy” but that is alright. It is also going to be a pretty quick one, so lets go.

The Session

  • Breathing exercises (5 min)

    • Inhalation with a Triflo

      • 4 reps with each ball

    • Peak flow meter 8 reps going for target

  • Long Tones (pick 4 pitches, do them in all octaves with hairpins)

    • Do these with a tuner or pitch visualizer for stability

  • Scales numbers are scale degrees

    • 1-5-1-5-1-9-5-9-5-9-1-3-5-8-10-12-10-8-5-3-1 (in 16th notes, various articulations, pick several scales)

    • Major Pentatonic scales over 3 octaves

    • Whole tone scale from G over the entire range of the horn slurred and tongued

    • 1 octave descending scales with flutter tongue, going over the break

  • Lip slurs (recorded and reviewed.)

    • Farkas style

      • Play the quarter note version that starts on middle C (or Harm 5 of whatever valve combo you are using) complete the exercise. Take a deep breath and do the 8th note version from the bottom (harm 2)

  • Etude

    • Kopprasch no.13 with repeats

      • As written and down the ocatve.


That is it, another quick and focused one, the next post will be some insight into why I don’t have a set routine. So until then, happy horning.