 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Bubalooy
Date: 2007-10-07 20:22
Just out of curiosity here. I know that often people warm up the amount of time that is available and all too often it is a very short time because life has us doing things that don't involve the clarinet sometimes. But, about how long do you play before you feel your playing at your best, 10 minutes 45? It probably varies from player to player but as I said I'm curious.
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Author: skygardener
Date: 2007-10-08 12:15
I feel I play best after about 1 hour or more. I also seldom 'warm up' I just open to the piece I am working on and start practicing the problem spots.
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Author: Robyn_765
Date: 2007-10-08 12:32
I normally play through scales, thirds and arpeggios for about 10-15 minutes, then swab the clarinet and dive into the "real"music. If I have longer than an hour total to play, I take longer on the warm up, but that doesn't happen often... It frustrates me to just start to play a piece because I always have to stop and dry my clarinet out once IT is warmed up anyway.
-- Robyn
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Author: OmarHo
Date: 2007-10-08 14:22
The warm up in my opinion is the best thing you can do for yourself. The point of the warm up is to exercise your reflexes that you use to play the clarinet (got that from a trumpet player). For example, I do tonguing exercises for 5-10 minutes in my warm up because none of the pieces I'm working on really involves rapid tonguing, so when I'm done working on those pieces and I come to a piece with rapid tonguing, I'll be all set to go.
But answering your question, when I have time, I take 45-50 min warm up. However, before rehearsals I usually don't have much time so I just try to focus on one or two reflexes (tonguing, finger movement, etc.) throughout the whole rehearsal.
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2007-10-08 16:18
I spend about ten to fifteen minutes. I run through (too quickly usually) all major and forms of minor scales slurred, play the arpeggios tongued. Then I play diminished seventh scales straight up and then, and then broken. Then I play major scales in thirds, and melodic minors in thirds. So when I'm done with that, I'm done with my warmup.
When I get back stateside I plan to either start incorporating dominant seventh scales/arpeggios, or to buy an edition of baermann III where it's NOT seperated by scale, but rather by type of exercise (returning scales for all of them, then broken scales for all of them, etc. etc. instead of all forms of A, then all forms of Bb, etc)
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: pelo_ensortijado
Date: 2007-10-08 20:18
getting up to practice early every morning.
i do 5 min breathing excercises.
5 min airsupport
5 min singing
15 min legato-staccato
10 min "long notes"
60 min scales, major and minor of all kind.
30 min arpeggios
then some etudes and some pages of the "mimár"(sp?) book until lunchbreak
and after that the pieces im currently working on.
music-school is great!!!! :D
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Author: nes
Date: 2007-10-09 07:01
i like the sound of that but to constantly want to warm up for that long is what i have problems with. i might warm up occasionly but ussually i jus slack off and dive into pieces. any suggestion on how to keep the right mind frame in order to start with warm up eevry time you play?
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2007-10-09 08:43
I don't warm up. I start imediately with whatever it is that I am going to play/practice. The level of my playing isn't affected (for better or worse) by (not) warming up, and there isn't an amount of time that needs to pass before I'm playing my "best" (as the original poster wrote). A lot of other things have to do with it, mainly if I have good ideas in that moment or not, since you (I) don't always have the best most creative and original ideas and sometimes will be better than others. I think it is different if you play something that you know in advance, as opposed to improvise (which is most of what I do). If I play something written then also I start imediately without warming up and sometimes it will be better than others, but it is the same in that I don't need to play for a while to play it the best I can.
It might take a minute for the reed to "settle" but that's it.
Post Edited (2007-10-09 15:17)
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Author: buedsma
Date: 2007-10-09 10:21
i notice that , with age , warmup is required to play the fast stuff.
To be realy warmed up , i need about 20 minutes , not for the reed but for speed around the throat G#,A,Bb and the pinky fingers , especially the left hand.
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Author: Liquorice
Date: 2007-10-09 10:28
Niclas- that sounds like an interesting warm-up. Could you tell us more about the content of your breathing exercises, air support exercises, singing and staccato-legato? (If you can fit it in between your busy practicing sessions, that is!!)
Thanks,
Robert
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2007-10-09 14:44
The series that makes me feel the most agile and "warmed up" is as follows:
Baermann
I pick a key and its relative minor and play _all_ the exercises in _both_ of them. I play the basic scales 5 times each with different articulations. I do the #2 arpeggios with 3 different articulations. I pick one diminished 7th chord to play for both of the dim7 exercises. I play the interrupted scales, the returning scales, the thirds, the sixths, the broken chords (legato style), and the dominant 7ths. I also play the section from "diverse chords" which matches the key signature du jour.
THEN I play about 6-8 lines from the staccato etude in back and about the same of the octave etude. I finish with the first page of the triplet study.
Takes around 20-35 minutes depending on the key.
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Author: MichaelR
Date: 2007-10-10 18:34
nes wrote:
> any suggestion on how to keep the right mind frame in order to
> start with warm up every time you play?
Among other things a warm up is designed to produce the right mind frame for playing or practicing. Concentrate on the breath, concentrate on the tone, concentrate on tonguing, concentrate on fingerig; concentrate on these so that your mind has only playing and music in it and your body has reviewed the physical things it does.
It's the transition from daily life to playing life.
--
Michael of Portland, OR
Be Appropriate and Follow Your Curiosity
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Author: pelo_ensortijado
Date: 2007-10-11 18:51
"Niclas- that sounds like an interesting warm-up. Could you tell us more about the content of your breathing exercises, air support exercises, singing and staccato-legato? (If you can fit it in between your busy practicing sessions, that is!!)
Thanks,
Robert"
Liquorice: lol. :D i actually have a lot of time of before i go to sleep. one must have some qualitytime with oneself without the presious-one in mind every second. its like meditation, makes me able to come back with the same concentration and happy thaughts the next day. :d
well... here is some descriptions:
breathing exercises:
lie down at the floor, put the metronome at 60bpm. breath slow in and out until one can concentrate on every muscle and making shure its filling the lungs maximum all the time. no tension.
then start breath in for 2 beats and out for 2. form the mouth so that its very hard to do this. still fill and empty lungs maximum. after a couple of minutes change to 1 in and 3 out. and after some more minutes 1/2 in and 3 1/2 out.
the reason for beeing on the floor is that otherwise one will faint!!!!!!
airsupport excersise:
this is for making the muscles used when breathing both flexible and strong. a often forgotten thing amongst woodwinds, atleast here in sweden. it makes me breathe both faster, stronger and more consistant.
start of without the clarinet. do sounds that only uses the air! NO other stuff should be involved. if something is moving to much, its wrong.
examples for this are: ha (like when laughing) with different accents, like HAhahaHAhaha or HAhaHAha. its suppose to be very loud. maximum power!!!
when the muscles are hurting. go over to form consonants. like. r, p t k. or something else painful. :D
singing:
just use maximum tone, power, sound. like opera or something. full ring! and then sing whatever for a great while. choir-warmups. tenor-solos. for example. that is great for the voicing and also the understading of music. playing clarinet is very much like singing!!!
legato-staccato
this is good for fast tounging. play 1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1 first legato then staccato. then move up one step. but in the same key. 2-3-4-5-6-5-4-3-2 and so on. this is both to get to know all scales very well aswell as excercising the tongue. and after a while one get very good at listening at mistakes when playing. one eliminating all wrongs between notes. and in the end it will be a nice staccato. i do this with the metronome at 70bpm so far. that is my speed when i can get really perfect staccatos. :D
hope it was understandable. i dont explain very well i think.
well. this works for me at the state of developement im on right now. dont know. but it may be good for anyone else to.... :D
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Author: brycon
Date: 2007-10-11 19:13
For what it's worth my warm up is very simple:
I physically stretch- neck, shoulders, arms, etc.
I improvise for 10-15 min. This doesn't mean jazz improvisation (although it could be if you'd like). With the improvisations I find that I am reminded of why playing music is so wonderful (for me, self expression and creativity), and whether I was in a bad mood or not, I am usually left feeling very motivated to practice.
I then work on something very basic and try to "master" it. This could be one octave of a scale, a specific interval, etc.
I find that this warm up activates my body, mind, and ear better than anything else I have tried.
I would stray away from doing long-tones, scales, etc. as a warm up. I do practice my long-tones, scales, etc. but this is practice, not a warm up. I think that doing the same scales, chords, etc. everyday gives a lot of monotony to your practice routine, and after a while you are not truly paying attention to the way the exercises are being played. Furthermore, it gives you the sense that this (set of scales, etc.) must be completed before I can begin to really practice.
I have been doing my warm up routine for four years or so, and I have found that it always leaves me motivated, engaged, and prepared to practice repertoire, exercises, etc. I think this is the goal of a warm up routine.
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Author: William
Date: 2007-10-12 14:28
As soon as my reed is moistened and rubbed down and the rest of my instrument(s) are assembled, just a few low and high notes and I am good to go. Not a fan of extensive warm-up, I spend hours in practice at home so that when I get to the job I no longer need to "rehearse" anything. Works for me.
Post Edited (2007-10-12 14:31)
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Author: Mike Clarinet
Date: 2007-10-12 15:46
I am not a pro or a performance student - just an amatuer. I try to play every day (rarely managed) but am happy if I manage to play 4 days a week. Apart from community band rehearsals on Friday evenings, when I do get to play at other times, I normally only have 30 - 45 minutes. To have some time to play some music (as opposed to long tones, scales etc), I have very little warm-up. 3 octave F major scale tells me if the reed has any chance of working that day, and then I try to play some music or practice some band part that is giving trouble.
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Author: InTheBassment
Date: 2007-10-17 00:38
i like to warm up with a stubbins longtone exercise at 1/4note=66, a page of Alberts scales, stubbins chromatic exercises, and kell staccato studies. if i practice for an hour and a half (i do this a couple times a day), i spend 45 minutes warming up every time. i just started doign this with my new teacher, and i've noticed my sound and technique improve a TON.
also, at my college, we're required to buy a work out wonder (WOW). I use that before and after i play to prevent injuries to hands, wrists, and arms. =) (that only takes like 5-8 minutes)
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Author: eac
Date: 2007-10-18 19:51
What is a work out wonder? If it can prevent injuries, I'd really like to know.
Liz Leckey
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Author: InTheBassment
Date: 2007-10-19 03:00
hrm... i can't seem to find them online... i got mine through my school (music school) when i go back on monday, i can try to find out how to get them
i don't really know how to describe it... it's looks like to claves attached with strings with a disk in the middle... that sounds crazy... umm... hrm
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Author: Alexis
Date: 2007-10-20 15:54
I wonder if there is a point where you should stop doing a warm-up and try to achieve a level of consistency when attacking the instrument 'cold'.
A singer will warm-up so as to not damage his/her instrument, but (unless the climate is extreme) I don't think we have those problems so much.
There are often times when I don't have time for a warm-up apart from a few notes. And I would like to think that if someone asked me to play something for them, I could just do it at a high standard without saying "sure, give me half an hour to warm-up"
Perhaps being dependent on a warm-up is actually an impediment to being a spontaneous performer.
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Author: Malcolm Martland
Date: 2007-10-20 15:56
I warm up with a few scales and arpeggios from memory for about 5 minutes - then I practice long notes - Saint-Saens Sonata movement 3 is brilliant for some of this with f sempre and pp sempre sections - nice to be actually playing something too. Then I get on with it - whatever the piece we are doing is. I am an amateur in a jazz/dance band and have lots of other things to do but IMHO you just can't beat doing at least 20 minutes or so every day to improve. Missing a few days is not too bad but missing a week and I feel I have to struggle to get back to where I was.
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