High range session

High range is always a mixed bag for some players. For me, it has always been my biggest struggle as a player, low range came much easier. The routine below is one I have been using a few times a week lately to get ready for the world premiere of a new concertino for amplified horn and bass clarinet with others. This is with my group Timepoint. Though, back to the routine.

High range routine

A quick note, with most high range work, there is more than just high notes in here. All about balance.

• Mouthpiece buzzing - Sirens on a BERP

• Clarke Setting up exercises.

• Bill Knevitt spiral exercise (from his Practice Routine book)

• Bill Knevitt major scale cycles (from his Practice Routine book)

• REST

• Beautiful Sounds (from the brass gym)

• Brophy Low horn exercise no.3

• Caruso thirds

• Brophy Low horn exercise no. 5

• Caruso thirds

• Brophy Low horn exercise no.5

• REST (5 min)

• High range attacks. I use the pattern from the Singer Routine at the start of the heavy routine.

• REST (5 min)

• Etude or solo material

For context, this is usually in my second session. I find personally if I do this kind of work in the morning I lose the flexibility I usually have and get more “locked in”. When it is busy it can always be a challenge to have a large scale view of the work we do.

That is it for this week, share, like, comment. Thanks for stopping by!

Clarke, Schlossberg, and Lip flips.

The session today is based around some of my favorites, Clarke, Schlossberg and others. This is a “primary session” so it is based around the nuts and bolts of playing.

The Routine

• Some breathing, your choice, I also threw in some constructive rest (Alexander technique) today.

• Clarke 3 - Play each one twice, once slurred, once tongued. Aim for keeping these as soft as possible.

• Schlossberg - No. 13 Quarter = 40 try to not telegraph which way the slur is about to go.

• Schlossberg - No. 20 Half = 60 Legato tongue

• Schlossberg - No. 64 Quarter = 60 mf only, Final note down two octaves (harm 2)

• Schlossberg no.62 - First two lines, as fast as you can do them clean. All lip slurs, as written and down the octave. Once slurred, once tongued.

• Schlossberg no.59 - As written, fast as clean. One time slurred, one time tongued.

• Brass gym - Lip flips. Major third, Perfect fourth low, octave (on 1 side of the horn only), perfect 5th low.

• Flutter tongue scales in the low range. (can’t flutter?)
  

That is it.

Comment, share, leave a like, and thanks for stopping by.

Gekker and Schlossberg for control and ease

The session today makes use of Chris Gekker’s book Endurance Drills for Performance Skills and the Schlossberg book again. If you don’t have the Gekker book you could find similar approaches in Clarke, Shuebruk, and Nagel. I just really like the Gekker book, it is also a nice way to take a step back from the Clarke book and let that refresh itself.

Once we hit our stride this becomes a back and forth of technical and flow/flex. Also pay close attention to the concepts of the Gekker book and what is being worked on, spoiler, it isn’t speed.

The Routine

• Breathing exercises - Flow but focusing on expanding the breath (so instead of working to in for 1 out for 1, work your way up to something like in for 16 out for 16 with a metronome at 52 bpm. Great one to use a breathing tube with)

• Schlossberg no.6 down an octave. This is just so we start on Harmonic 4 instead of 8.

• Schlossberg no.12 (as written)

• Schlossberg no.21 and ascending on the Bb horn.

• Gekker no.1 going as high as can be controlled. No tension or straining in the Gekker exercises.

• Schlossberg no.15

• Gekker no.3

• Schlossberg no.25 (same was as in the Schlossberg session starting on the harm 4 C)

• Gekker no.7

• Schlossberg no.52 (following procedures from the Sclossberg session)

• Gekker no.10

• Etude of choice, I’d go with Kopprasch or Kling, something focusing on articulation and moving around the horn to reinforce what we worked on.

That is it. It is a focused session and heavy work. If you start losing the ability to keep it in control, jump to the etude after a 5 minute break and call it.

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.

A mixed bag session

This session is another one I hit every so often, or version of it. Details below

If you haven’t seen I have started a project related to this one called “practice logs”, it is a project where I am aiming to upload one of my sessions a day. I am trying to make sure those sessions are similar to these. For days like yesterday when I was in rehearsal all day, there may end up not having an upload since no one wants to read a list of rep I worked on with measure numbers. The button below will take you there.

The Session

• Breathing and light stretching, incorporate breathing exercises into stretching.

• Bodet Daily Exercises no.1 - Follow instructions, go only as far as is controlled plenty of time to work on the high range.

• Bodet Daily Exercises no.3 - Follow instructions, max 15 minutes, same thing with range, go only as far as necessary. (I recommend transposing the exercise down a fourth. Or play as written, your call.)

• Break (5 - 10 minutes)

  • Stretch, setup practice logs for the day, goals, etc. Make the time active.

• Clarke Setting up drills Group 1

• Laurie Frink - An Integrated Warm-up - Part I

• Break (5 minutes)

• Brass Gym - Lip Flips

• Brophy - Technical Studies for solving… - Low register exercises 1 - 4

• Etudes

• Lead sheet work (couple tunes)

Another short and sweet one. I usually use this one in the morning (or one similar looking) I find it nice and straight forward, and it works well for me.

Happy Horning.

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