Warm up and Cool Down
In this free lesson, I have included a couple interesting and helpful posts which will more fully explain the importance of a regular warm up and cool down.
The video speaks of my daily routine of warming up with chromatic scales; first starting at the bottom and gradually adding octaves as I ascend. The benefit of chromaticism is that each note is only a one half step from the previous note and this very gradual increase is almost unnoticeable.
Due to the minimum distance between notes, only a minimum amount of embouchure change should be made. Each day I ascend to a predetermined top note which is usually about a third higher than I will be playing that day. Once I have reached that note, I retrace my scales back down to where I began, which is another example of my “Bell curve” philosophy.
After my warm up, I begin practicing all the additional material I need to cover that day.
After my practicing, the next step is to cool down and to do that, I have recently found that playing on a larger mouthpiece, in this case a trombone mouthpiece I am able to relax the embouchure very quickly for a speedy recovery of oxygen in my lips.
Check out the instructional video and supplemental material on this site.
You will also be able to play along with the same recording I use every day during my warm up.
