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Thread: Playing with limited warm-up time

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
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    Vinton,VA
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    Playing with limited warm-up time

    I need advice from those of you who solo or play in small ensembles, duets, etc. Up to now, my playing has been in our community band with plenty of warm-up time. I'm now getting into duets with our church choir director (trombone). Our first is in a couple weeks, with more to follow regularly I'm sure. Sunday morning Church will not allow me my usual opportunity for warming up. I'm leading a Bible study class from 9:45 till about 10:40, with Church starting at 11. We're playing the offertory, the Anthem, and the postlude. My plan at this point is to warm up at home before leaving, about 15-20 minutes. Then I'll have about 15 minutes after Bible study class to do a little more. And I'm assuming the offertory (2 fairly short, simple tunes) will help me stay ready for the longer, more involved anthem. That is only about a 10 minute break between the two. And the postlude is about 20-25 minutes after the anthem. So, other than following this schedule and keeping my MP in my pocket to keep it warm, do you have any other suggestions/advice? And we'll probably do a tuning note before we play.

  2. #2
    What you described sounds pretty good. If your horn is cold after a gap in playing, and you're playing with a fixed-pitched instrument (organ or piano), you might need to push the tuning slide in a skosh for a couple minutes of ensemble playing. If you're playing with just other brass instruments, and they're all equally cold, then never mind.
    David Bjornstad

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  3. #3
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    Sounds like a good plan Roger. What David mentioned is spot on too with the horn going sharp when it cools. When I have to do similar playing in church I'll sit in the first row with my horn on my lap with my hands on the horn to help keep it warm. Unobtrusively I'll bend over and blow some air through the horn with all 4 valves down in attempts to keep it warm. But... if you're singing in the choir you can hardly do that.
    Rick Floyd
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  4. #4
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    When I am playing something like a church service where I may play the Prelude right before the start of the service, then sit for 20-30 minutes, I usually pick my horn up several minutes before I play again and blow through the mouthpiece (being careful to not make much noise or sound a note). I will do this for a little bit to try and get the horn heated up.

    I have a somewhat similar situation as you do/did. I am playing a solo with our band in April at several different schools (on different days). Most of these are early in the morning, so the band gets there, sets up, and not much time to warmup at all. I am playing a technically hard solo (fast, high, low, and repeat), so on our band rehearsal days, I always warm up for at least 30 minutes each day before rehearsal (I actually do this even if I am not playing a solo, I just like to be well warmed up always). What I do on those days we play at the schools where I may only have 5 minutes to do a quick warmup, maybe not even that much, I get up early at home and play for 30 minutes before I leave for the gig. So, very similar to what you, Roger, do. I find that I am not nearly as "cold" when I arrive at the gig site after having played some at home. Then my solo is usually 2-3 pieces down from the top of the program order, so I really play with gusto on those opening pieces.

    David's advice above is also right on target.
    John Morgan
    The U.S. Army Band (Pershing's Own) 1971-1976
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  5. One thing I do that's simple is to carry my mouthpiece in my pocket, and maybe hold it in my hand to keep it warm. That helps, it's not as good as getting to blow a few notes, but it helps. Also a mouthpiece with a plastic rim doesn't feel as cold as a full metal piece.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
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    Vinton,VA
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    Thanks, folks. At least I'm playing with the trombone, no piano or other instrument. A tuning slide attached to a bell. He can match me if necessary.

  7. #7
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    And thankfully not singing in the choir. But my duet partner is the choir director, so I'll let him worry about that.

  8. #8
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    I would not obsess about warming up with a trombone. Or worry much about a euphonium. Certainly in the circumstances being described.

    I do definitely warm the instrument up (and keep it relatively warm) by breathing into it regularly (but not in a way that ends up being obvious to the audience). Now a tuba is an order of magnitude different. In similar circumstance with a tuba, I'm breathing into the tuba (and through each of the valve circuits) on pretty much a continual basis as I'm sitting there.

    And if you're in the common situation in such venues of playing with an out of tune piano or organ of some sort, or a choir that isn't singing in tune or is tuned to some odd pitch, then "tuning" is a concept that hardly applies. Every year I play in a small and particularly odd group at a Christmas "concert" and "sing-along" for one of the (let's say, not very high end) senior "living centers" in the area. The piano almost certainly hasn't been tuned in over 50 years and won't play a reasonable scale or chord of any sort. We try to avoid playing with a pianist, but sometimes don't succeed. We also have an eclectic group of musicians from middle school age to 70s, and with instruments that include an unpredictable mixture of high and low brass (mostly well played), flutes, maybe a guitar, a viola, at times a marching baritone, a couple of saxophones (who are very good), and at times some "handheld percussion". I know this is hard to visualize. But the audience enjoys it anyway.

    You often have to work with what you've got, and compromises must be made. Just do your best to make your own part work.
    Gary Merrill
    Wessex EEb Bass tuba (DW 3XL or 2XL)
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  9. #9
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    Sage advice. Thanks.

  10. #10
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    Just a follow up on my original post. My duet was this past Sunday and things went mostly fine. I managed the offertory fine as well as the anthem. But I blew up the first few measures of the postlude. I recovered, but was damned embarrassed. I think that I was so focused on the anthem, that after it was successfully played, I relaxed, knowing the the postlude was the easiest of the three. So I guess I lost focus at the beginning of the postlude and didn't breathe adequately and garbled the heck out of the first few measures. And this was the easiest of the three!

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