First notes of the day

[JLivi]

I have been working through the Schlossberg Daily Drills book and when I look at the first few long tone exercises I realized that I much prefer to have my first note of the day be an F in the staff. I like to get a few notes in before I attempt a low Bb.

What do you like your first note to be?

[baileyman]

The F above. Then stretch it down.

[ghmerrill]

The Bb in the staff. Why move the slide if I don't have to? Likewise, on a valved instrument I just blow the "middle" open horn note. This is making me feel that I'm kind of insensitive -- since I've never bothered to think about it previously.

On a flute, I blow the C. Hmmm ... Maybe most people just blow the common "tuning note"?

[norbie2018]

F above the staff. I try to maintain that general feel (at least in the corners) for all registers.

[Bach5G]

F in staff.

[ithinknot]

The F above. Then stretch it down.

Somewhere around there, and then down and up. Never understood the idea that high range might need "warming" into... if you start quiet. Very high and loud from cold seems like a bad idea.

Occasionally, if I'm particularly tired or dehydrated I have the "wanting to blow away the cobwebs" feeling, in which case a bit of forte in the middle register or a quick blast into a practice mute, then back to the usual high, quiet, bring it down from above.

[Mr412]

Pedal F. There's nothing like low pedal tones to get the blood flowing. I work up from there, through all the low pedals and low trigger notes and on up. Sometimes I work down to a double-pedal Bb as well. OBTW: I play bass.

[harrisonreed]

Low Ab. I also like doing Ab down to Eb on the F side, and back.

[BGuttman]

I was given a warmup by my teacher and the 1st 4 notes were F in the bass staff in 1st position, same F in 6th position, F bottom of the bass staff in 6th position, and Bb bottom of the staff in 1st position. 4 long tones. Then I had to branch out into other exercises.

[atopper333]

Would be F in the staff for me. Long tones in F major up the scale then lip slurs.

[WilliamLang]

Low Bb here - the first Schlossburg exercise is always my first note of the day

[Doug Elliott]

For me, historically it has been middle Bb, D, F, high Bb, double high Bb (for a couple of years every day). Back to middle Bb. Now it's whatever the first note of the gig is. I rarely play anything before.

Why do many bass trombone players think "middle Bb" is on the second line of bass clef? Nearly any time I ask a bass trombone player to play middle Bb, that's what they play

[JLivi]

Low Bb here - the first Schlossburg exercise is always my first note of the day

I've been trying to "challenge" myself to start with Schlossberg #1 instead of 2 to get out of my comfort zone.

Those long tone exercises have been great coming back from winter break for me and all my private student. I don't think the students will tell you that, but I find a lot of value in running through 3-4 of them to get the acclimated to the horn again.

[Mr412]

There was a notable trumpet player (I don't remember his name) some years back who advocated that we (and by "we", he meant trumpet players and high low-brass players) think too low in warm-ups. He went on to say words to the effect that we should start higher but not think of it as high. Just think of it as a normal starting warm-up note. And that we should - over the years - start out higher and higher, but continue to think of them as a normal warm-up notes. He thought that was a way to build range without struggling - as a lot of players do. Maybe it was a spin-off of Bruce Lee's the art of fighting without fighting. The art of playing high without (thinking of it as) playing high.

[ghmerrill]

Why do many bass trombone players think "middle Bb" is on the second line of bass clef? Nearly any time I ask a bass trombone player to play middle Bb, that's what they play

Because it's in the MIDDLE of the bass clef staff? And it's an octave above another Bb they're commonly asked to play, and an octave below another Bb they're commonly asked to play. I try to avoid using any descriptions like "middle Bb," "high Bb," "low Bb" because I normally don't have a clue what the convention is in using those phrases.

[AndrewMeronek]

Why do many bass trombone players think "middle Bb" is on the second line of bass clef? Nearly any time I ask a bass trombone player to play middle Bb, that's what they play

Annoyingly good question. For me, "middle" Bb is Bb3, sitting on top of the bass clef. And yes, I play bass trombone as well as tenor. The absolute range is pretty much the same.

[AndrewMeronek]

For me, historically it has been middle Bb, D, F, high Bb, double high Bb (for a couple of years every day). Back to middle Bb. Now it's whatever the first note of the gig is. I rarely play anything before.

Ditto.

If there is a proper "first note", I'm usually blowing that and a few quick lip slurs into extreme ranges for maybe 10 seconds, then put the horn down and a few minutes later a "first note" of a chart does feel a bit better. It's just to get the blood flowing into the lips.

[BrassSection]

Low brass Bb. Habit from my junior and senior high school daze. I’d unpack my baritone and play a 2 octave Bb scale up once, that was my daily band warm up. About once a week do a 2 octave up and back down Bb chromatic scale.

Trumpet is my main practice horn, first note is whatever key the first song scheduled for is in. Always work on the keys of the week scales to keep my brain semi functioning. If I’m using chord sheet, my brain defaults to bass clef. If I have “real” trumpet music, I use the correct trumpet nomenclature treble clef note name. That’s usually for once or twice a year ensemble event. Several ensembles I was on first trumpet by default. Mixed it up one year, I took tuba, and the tuba player took first trumpet part. End of first practice his chops were failing above C. Last time he ever volunteered to take the trumpet part again!

French horn I have practiced playing a notated on the chord sheet F long enough as concert F that I can do it without thinking, and ditto all the other notes. Again, on the rare occasion I am with real music, I do as the Roman’s, er I mean French do.

[Kdanielsen]

There was a notable trumpet player (I don't remember his name) some years back who advocated that we (and by "we", he meant trumpet players and high low-brass players) think too low in warm-ups. He went on to say words to the effect that we should start higher but not think of it as high. Just think of it as a normal starting warm-up note. And that we should - over the years - start out higher and higher, but continue to think of them as a normal warm-up notes. He thought that was a way to build range without struggling - as a lot of players do. Maybe it was a spin-off of Bruce Lee's the art of fighting without fighting. The art of playing high without (thinking of it as) playing high.

This!!! 100%

[ghmerrill]

Annoyingly good question. For me, "middle" Bb is Bb3, sitting on top of the bass clef. And yes, I play bass trombone as well as tenor. The absolute range is pretty much the same.

So many of us are tools of the elite keyboard pounders -- who have dictated what "middle C" means for centuries -- and so, apparently infected many of our minds with what pitch the "true" middle Bb is. I say "Throw off the chains of the keyboarders." To shamelessly borrow from Marx (this will be a first), we must "Throw off the chain and pluck the living flower." (Was Marx really that heavily into botany? I digress.)

As soon as I get a few other things out of the way, I think I'll be starting a Gofundme site to support this revolutionary movement. I hope that you all can support me in this historic effort.

[ithinknot]

There was a notable trumpet player (I don't remember his name) some years back who advocated that we (and by "we", he meant trumpet players and high low-brass players) think too low in warm-ups. He went on to say words to the effect that we should start higher but not think of it as high. Just think of it as a normal starting warm-up note. And that we should - over the years - start out higher and higher, but continue to think of them as a normal warm-up notes. He thought that was a way to build range without struggling - as a lot of players do. Maybe it was a spin-off of Bruce Lee's the art of fighting without fighting. The art of playing high without (thinking of it as) playing high.

This!!! 100%

Yup, you can find versions of that general idea from Watrous, Reinhardt etc etc. Even if range building isn't the objective, there's a simpler justification... it's not a given that anyone plays high correctly, but they probably can't easily play high entirely incorrectly. Conversely, most of us could probably play a low Bb with any mouthpiece and jaw placement imaginable, after which, good luck.

Of course, if total stability is a given, then you can do whatever you want. Or, as Doug suggests, not do anything. I'm nowhere near that point on a trombone, but on the instruments I play for real money, I get it. I arrive, I play.

[tbdana]

Middle Bb, the one our pianist overlords told us it was. Then down to F, back to Bb, up to D, back to Bb. Repeat down the positions.

I'm not a lion who leaps from a dead sleep to chase down a gazelle. My first notes are warmup notes, and I'm very careful about my warmup. For me, the first 5 minutes can mean the difference between feeling like I can play anything in the world and feeling like I can't play two notes in a row. I prefer the former.

So my goal for early notes is to gently stretch and warm the muscles like a marathon runner would, not play psychological range tricks, or test my range, or exercise. Exercising the muscles (range, speed, flexibility) comes after stretching/warming, for me.

[baBposaune]

First of all I want to start by saying there is no "right" note to start your day. Whatever works for YOU is right, and it might need to change occasionally depending on your individual situation.

I did Christian Lindberg's warm-up for a while which he says should start on F in the bass staff. It was fine and I could still use it, but I found a different approach that works better for me so I'm sticking with it.
I've done the Thomas Cramer warm-up, Michael Davis' 15 and 20 minute warm ups, and others. By putting together something that works for me and is essentially a hybrid of what some players use seems to do the trick.

I'm not going to bore you people with how I start my day but I want to leave you with a thought. Not even sure who I got this from but it was definitely a well known brass player and teacher. The advice is: "Always start your first notes of the day in your comfort zone and work outward from there." This has worked wonders for my playing.

[timothy42b]

I'm not going to bore you people with how I start my day but I want to leave you with a thought. Not even sure who I got this from but it was definitely a well known brass player and teacher. The advice is: "Always start your first notes of the day in your comfort zone and work outward from there." This has worked wonders for my playing.

You could combine both ideas - always start in the comfort zone but gradually work the comfort zone higher. Probably a good bit of the comfort zone is more mental than physical?

[baileyman]

The F above seems to require a set that works for any higher note and can stretch to the bottom and back. It's the "and back" part that is key. It's easy to relax into a different set on the way down and then get stuck on the way back. So, as someone said, starting low can be on a set that just won't climb. Though it is a good test to start low and stretch it to the F, a check on muscle memory--did you land on the effing set? Well okay then.

[baBposaune]

I'm not going to bore you people with how I start my day but I want to leave you with a thought. Not even sure who I got this from but it was definitely a well known brass player and teacher. The advice is: "Always start your first notes of the day in your comfort zone and work outward from there." This has worked wonders for my playing.

You could combine both ideas - always start in the comfort zone but gradually work the comfort zone higher. Probably a good bit of the comfort zone is more mental than physical?

Nope, purely physical as far as the chops are concerned. The comfort zone of each individual is their comfort zone, and like I said that might be variable once in a while. I like starting on low B-flat and playing chromatically down to E in 7th, slow half notes with a half note rest between, then start on B-flat again and play slow chromatic half notes ascending up to F in the staff, then move on to middle B-flat (the one below middle C!) etc. I want to set my air and embouchure on the low end of the middle register so that my chops gradually "wake up." Everyone's comfort zone might be different so if starting on a different partial works for you in terms of physical ease, then go for it.

It's really not mental, I've worked with different warm-up ideas, starting on different partials and have over the span of my playing life figured out where my comfort zone is; the place where I can feel at ease in tone production and start sounding good sooner. I repeat, the "feeling of ease" is where my comfort zone is, I don't need to "gradually work it higher." I'm going to get into the upper partials within a minute or two anyway so what's the hurry?

As to the variability of where to start, if I start the day with chops that have been overworked the previous day I might start in pedal B-flat but I'll get right back to my normal starting register the next day if it's comfortable again. A good warm-down after playing helps me stay on track, too.

[Mitchwolberg5]

Don’t know why but I always seem to start on the middle A and noodle around from there.

[musicofnote]

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[sirisobhakya]

I used to start with tuning Bb. However someone once told me the first note should be the note you play less or least often, so your lips will get to “feel” that rare note. I now normally start on B (natural on the top of the staff) or Gb (in the staff), but sometimes back to low Bb.

[BrassSection]

Forgot to mention on Sundays the first note I play is whatever the first note of the first song is that I am going to play. I don’t do any warmups before practice…the practice run thru the set list is my warmup. Since I’m improv basically, I don’t always play a song the same every time we do it, practice session is when I figure out what I’m gonna play for the day. What I play depends on what other players are there for the day. Have some rotation, not all keyboard or guitar players play the same style.

[harrisonreed]

I used to start with tuning Bb. However someone once told me the first note should be the note you play less or least often, so your lips will get to “feel” that rare note. I now normally start on B (natural on the top of the staff) or Gb (in the staff), but sometimes back to low Bb.

The note we play least often?? That's it! I'm starting my warm up on high G5!

[GGJazz]

Hi all.

I am a bass trbn player . Apart from some short periods in which I like to make changes , I start from the F , 4th line bass clef.

Besides this , the main thing I I am aiming for is having a full , rich , resonant , steady tone , from the first note of the day on . First note have to sound as all the others notes of the whole day .

To me , tone quality is the most important thing .

Regards
Giancarlo

[sirisobhakya]

I used to start with tuning Bb. However someone once told me the first note should be the note you play less or least often, so your lips will get to “feel” that rare note. I now normally start on B (natural on the top of the staff) or Gb (in the staff), but sometimes back to low Bb.

The note we play least often?? That's it! I'm starting my warm up on high G5!

I can’t even reliably reach Ab4

[VJOFan]

I always used to start on the fourth line F, but this page influenced me to try different things.

The routine now is 30 seconds nose breathing, 10 seconds free buzz and then a beautiful Bb that usually becomes the first phrase of the Tuba Mirum solo from Mozart’s Requiem.

That’s a great start for me.