If you followed my recommendations for practice over the holidays, posted in Holiday Madness!, then you are feeling comfortable and in control of your trumpet playing. Maybe you don’t feel at your peak, but you know just a little tweaking of your daily routine (mixed in with some extra practice time) will get you back to the peak of your abilities in no time. What’s that? You didn’t follow my advice? You haven’t played in 5 days? 6 days? The truth be told, neither have I.

So what do you do now? You had all the best intentions, but the holiday craze has brought you down to your knees: like when the bully down the street has your arm, bent and twisted behind your back, and you know this is no innocent game of “Mercy”. How do you escape the death grip that all that time off holds on your trumpet abilities? It isn’t easy, and the thing you will need the most is patience. You may be anxious to get back to playing: dreaming of tackling a difficult new solo, or learning some new excerpts, but you can’t give in to that desire right now. The first thing you have to do is rebuild. That is what I am going to do, and I will write daily posts about what I am doing to get myself back into shape over the next several days. If done well, I will be back and playing at the top of my game very soon: not tomorrow, or the next day, but perhaps by next week. The same will be true for you too. It all depends on exactly what you do, and how your body responds.

Now I am off to do a little work of my own. I am going to start with some lip bend exercises, then jump into my version of the Caruso exercises. I’ll be back to give more details later, but my main concern for the next few days will be wholly based on rebuilding strength. I’ll keep you posted. For those of you that took my advice and kept your playing consistent over the holidays, sit back and bask in the glow of having done the right thing. As Eric Cartman of South Park fame would say, “I hate you guys!”

§ One Response to Best-laid Plans

• Tim says:

  December 30, 2005 at 11:49 am

  I’ve actually managed to practice everyday this winter break. There were a few days where I would only do some lip bends, long tones and Stamp warm-ups, but most days I got in 11/2 to 3 hours per day. Even though I work full time and go to school, I found an unfinished floor at work where I can practice. I can only be heard in the elevator, I work nights so nobody cares. It’s probably the only wafer fab in the world that has Magnifiicat, the Hummel, or the Debutante for elevator music.