Canadian Musician November / December 2019 | Page 30
BRASS
Paul Baron is one of today’s most highly respected lead and commercial trumpet players. He carries 40 years of experience in a wide range of
musical styles – from jazz to rock, big band to musical theatre, and TV jingles to movie soundtracks – with a distinctly bright and powerful sound.
As well as being a performing artist for XO Jupiter Instruments and Pickett Brass with his signature line of mouthpieces,
Paul is also an author, educator, and clinician. www.paulbaron.net.
By Paul Baron
Warmups for
Brass Players
I
Part 1: An Overview
think a smart warmup is essential for brass players for a number
of reasons. The first is obvious: we warm up to get the vibrations
and air working, and to set up our sound.
I actually have three different warmups, with some portions
consistent across all three. You might be saying, “Who needs three
warmups? Isn’t one enough?”
The easy answer is that we only need one warmup to get things go-
ing for the day; however, I wrote each with a specific purpose and for a
specific time of day as it relates to when the gig is, or if I’m not working,
how it sets me up for practice. All three are approached, as with all of my
practice sessions, in a holistic way, meaning that I am feeding the engine,
my chops and compression mechanism, with the fuel it needs to work
effectively and efficiently.
Another reason for a good warmup is to prevent lip injuries. A football
player doesn’t just run on the field at game time and expect to perform
at their peak ability or without the risk of injury. Playing the trumpet is
an athletic endeavor as well as a musical one. Some people might argue
and say that if we just hear the music, the chops will follow. Maybe, but
I like to think of it more like waking up our muscles and getting all our
tools in good working order. A painter or sculptor has tools they use to
create their art. I feel that the physical tools we warm up set us up to be
creative without having to worry about the tools.
I’ve been on tours where long travel and no time before a show pro-
hibits a good warmup. If I’ve been smart and diligent in previous days,
I can get away without a good warmup for a day or two, but it really
catches up and can make playing a lot more difficult. To reverse the
effects can take weeks.
The last thing I can say about getting in a good daily warmup is the
consistency in chops and playing. It’s a good way to wipe the slate clean
and ensure consistent playing and feeling in my chops. Most of my work
in the last nearly 20 years has been playing Broadway musical tours with
eight or nine shows a week for 52 weeks a year. When I was younger, I
found that bad habits, or at least inconsistencies, would creep into my
playing in such subtle ways that it might be months before the problems
surface in audible ways. At this point, it’s hard to get the chops back to
good working order while continuing the run of the show. When I’m
not fighting bruised or inefficient chops, playing for a living becomes
a lot more fun.
The Three Warmups
The first warmup is called the Morning After Warmup. This isn’t referring
to the morning after a big party, but rather designed to wipe the slate
clean of the heavy playing schedule from the day before. This warmup
helps reduce or remove lip swelling due to overuse and to get the chops
responding easily and efficiently with the least amount of effort. The
length of this warmup is the most organic and dictated by the chops. This
can take me anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes depending on lip swelling
and stiffness. I like to say, “It takes as long as it takes.”
The second warmup I wrote is called the Gig Day Warmup. This
warmup presumes the chops are not beat up from the previous day and
are not in need of the Morning After Warmup. I use the Gig Day Warmup
in the late morning to get the chops vibrating earlier in the day. This
warmup covers most of the range of the horn but unlike the other two
warmups, is more of a workout. It covers all articulations and gets the
tongue and finger coordination working, too.
The last warmup in my book is the Pre-Show Warmup. The time
of day is pretty obvious; this is done before the show. I wrote this as a
result of hearing younger players over-warming up, blasting all their
high notes and using up too much of their chops and endurance before
the show even starts. I was certainly guilty of this myself, thinking that
unless I made sure I played every note in my range, I didn’t trust myself
to be able to play them on the gig. As I matured musically, I came to
the realization that all I need to do is play a little gentle warmup and
some phrases or exercises I call “Chop Check.” These are telltale signs
to me that things are working, or an indication that I need to spend
some more time taking it really easy to get my chops responding in
the easiest and most efficient way.
The three warmups I do are for specific times of day and for specific
physical needs and will be explained in more detail in the next few
issues of Canadian Musician.
The full explanations and music notation for these warmups are contained in Paul’s upcoming book, Trumpet
Voluntarily: Three Strategically Designed Warmups to Combat the Demands of Today’s Trumpet Player, available
in late 2019 at www.paulbaron.net.
30 CANADIAN MUSICIAN