Hello! Over the weekend I participated in the Brass Explosion Festival Band thingamajig. Here's some advice from tubist Hidehiro Fujita (hahaha he's really cute and funny. Not in terms of looks, but yeah.) and trumpetist James Morrison (kay this one is like REALLY FUNNY. every sentence he says is a joke, but he makes lots of sense. and can speak really well.) both really pro players.
Starting Out Right
What should we do to improve our playing?
Why? During normal breathing (when we are not playing out instruments), the percentage of lung usage is 20%. But obviously when we are playing, the most important thing is AIR. (and perhaps MOVING AIR, hence the name Winds) Hence we need 100% of our lungs to be filled.
How?
Do the following exercises (lift up your hands and draw a circle when breathing in, put back down when breathing out)
Breathe in 6 beats, breathe out 6 beats.
Breathe in 8 beats, breathe out 8 beats.
Breathe in 4 beats, breathe out 4 bests.
Breathe in 2 beats, breathe out 4 beats.
Breathe in 1 beats, breathe out 4 beats.
Breathe in 1/2 beats, breathe out 4 beats (repeat)
Breathe in 1/3 beats, breathe out 4 beats (repeat)
Breathe in 1/4 beats, breathe out 4 beats (repeat)
We also need to practise pp (pianissimo) playing, mp/mf playing and ff playing.
Why? So that your lungs and neck and don’t know what are FLEXIBLE. : )
How? (Do this everyday)
Use one hand to hold the wrist of the other arm. Place at back of head. Lean to the right and to the left. Switch hands and repeat.
Stretch your neck. :) Like tilt your head up and down and left and right.
Pretend you are lifting weights and lift your hands up and like, well, pretend to be carrying heavy weights.
3. Warm-up
Why? So that you can prepare your embouchure to play.
How? Do the warm-ups you already know daily. Warmups help you to improve FASTER.
Why? I forgot heh.
How?
Play with your mouthpiece (perhaps with piano aid): CDEFGFGFEDC, DEFGAGAGFED, etc. (go up by one note and do sequence)
DO THIS EVERYDAY! :)
Basics
Every minute counts
If you practise 5 minutes less, that’s a lot of minutes in a mouth, and a year. Don’t waste your time when you get to practise. There’s a difference between 90% and 100% practice. Strive to be a 100% player! :)
We shouldn’t term practice as practice if you have a bad impression of practice. Whether something is termed as ‘practice” or not, obviously you are still practising it when you are playing it. There’s essentially no difference between playing and practising, and so don’t “practise”, PLAY!
Air is free
Breathe all you want. :)
Who are you?
You are the radio conveying the music made by the composers. You give a voice to the music so that people will hear it. When people hear good music coming from radios, have you ever heard them say “Hey that’s a good radio!”? Well the answer is no. It is the music which is good. So we are merely the players playing out the music so that others can hear them. :) Obviously you can have other interpretations of what it means to be playing an instrument, but this was James Morrison’s (famous saxophonist (is that what you call it?), trombonist, trumpeter, pianist, tubist, euphoniumist (hahaha), cornetist, flugelhorner (hahaha), and all other brass instruments. :) ) interpretation.
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