Do you still practice?

[tbdana]

Questions for those who have been playing trombone a couple decades or longer:

Do you still actively practice?

Are you still trying to get better, or are you just practicing to keep what you've got?

How often do you practice, for how long, and what are your goals?

I'm 68 years old, and I've been playing since 1964. But I took 30 years off of playing, and started up again 18 months ago, so I am still practicing every day to get better. I have been focusing on exercises in order to be able to play the entire horn from top to bottom with as much facility as possible. I'll hit a few etudes now and then, or play along with a Jamey Abersol volume. But mostly it's just exercises for air, range, speed, and flexibility. Boring stuff. Like lifting weights. It's all about the muscles, not the music.

Am I the only one who still does this at such an age?

[VJOFan]

I’m a bit more sporadic than what it sounds you are doing. I practice when I know something is coming up (even just a night subbing for a rehearsal group).

When I do pick up the horn I play Charles Colin Flexibilities, the O. BLUME 36 studies and some a Bordogni. As time and face allow I’ll play other music or shed the actual stuff I’ll be playing if it’s available.

I think playing is like weightlifting too. In lifting, you are either getting stronger or weaker, there is no maintenance.

For trombone one is either improving or deteriorating.

In my case I tend to climb up the same hill over and over, but am on a micro level trying to get better.

[Bach5G]

I try to practice every day. Tenor and bass trombone and guitar. A pretty good day would be an hour on each.

On trombone, I try to work on fundamentals with an emphasis on high range on tenor. But mainly an hour or so of basic chops work. Trying to keep what I have and maybe a bit of improvement. Maybe work on stuff I’ll be performing.

I’m trying to significantly improve on guitar.

[Doug Elliott]

I didn't take 30 years off. The longest I have ever not played is 3 weeks, and I do that sometimes now still.
I never practice the horn, but I'm always practicing in my mind, whether I'm just hearing music or teaching.

[GGJazz]

Hello all.

I really love to practice !
I am blowing on the trbn from when I was 13 , and I started to play professionally at 17 .

I enjoy practicing , whether it' s technical stuff or tunes , etc . I can say that nothing bores me...

I play between three and five 40 minutes' sessions , along the day ( and the night , because my home' studio is downstairs , so I can play also at 02:00 am , while others are sleeping) .

About half the time of my practice routine is spent improving things I am not yet fluent on.
Currently , my goal is to make better solos on tunes as W. Shorter "E . S . P. ", "El Gaucho" ; or Bill Evans " Walking Up" , "Very Early" ; or J. Coltrane "26-2" , "Giants Steps" ; or T. Monk " Introspection", " Off Minor " , etc . I find these chords progressions very challenging .

On the horn , I am always aiming for better tone , better articolations ( faster and cleaner ) , stronger ranges .

Of course , the amount of time I can practice depends on the musical commitments I have :the days I am teaching ( 3 every week) I can practice between 1 1/2 hour and 2 hours ; when I have a gig , or a recording session , etc , I just play 15 minutes before leaving home , that' s all .

Also , I try to have a day completely off , almost every 3 weeks .

Looking back at my playing , i find that I am doing better almost every 4/5 months .

Regards
Giancarlo

[chouston3]

I am trying to get better after taking 15 years off. Right now, I am going through a curriculum of studies and actively trying to get better.

The older pro musicians I know mostly just maintain. They don't bust it to get better anymore. Many of them are bored with playing the same things over and over again. They are bored with playing with the same musicians. But they never seem to want to learn something new or pick up a different style. They just want to complain and act superior.

I practice because I don't want that to be me. If I realize it has happened, I will go learn a new skill.

[CaptEquinox]

For me — and I think a lot of other brass players — there’s always that physical vs. artistic thing that practice pertains to. Keeping your chops up (efficiently), but then asking yourself, “what am I trying to do musically? What new thing can I learn? How can I make everything easier?” I like the process itself, so I find myself identifying with GGJazz above.

[harrisonreed]

I practice around an hour each day. It is either for upcoming rep, or more frequently, rotating to a different horn (of my four, 36H, 3B, large tenor, bass) each few days.

[WilliamLang]

I practice everyday, and I enjoy it personally. Always looking to get better to help pass that info along, or to give a better recital than the one before.

[blast]

I still practice. Mostly maintenance and looking at rep coming up. The new young players coming in to the orchestra are simply amazing, so it's important to keep up.

[Savio]

I still practice everyday. For me it's just because I like it. Simple as that. To explore and listen the sound. Better? No I don't think so but it's kind of part of me and I can't be without it. Practicing wisely? Sometimes but sometimes I find my self thinking about what to eat at dinner when I play a Bordogni etude. In july I go camping with the family and leave the trombone at home. Tried to bring the mouthpiece one time but received complaints.

Leif

[Bach5G]

One thing that concerns me is that if one lets playing slip away it might be difficult to get it back. I took three weeks off in late Set-Oct and I am only now feeling like I am back to where I was.

[Geordie]

I still practice. Mostly maintenance and looking at rep coming up. Snip

I don’t play in an orchestra but this describes what I do. Still working on a more reliable upper range in particular. I use backing tracks sometimes to play stuff my other outfits don’t do. I enjoy practice in the main. A day or two rest helps me, like any situation involving physical activity.

[WGWTR180]

If you don't you sound worse than you think you do.

[WGWTR180]

I still practice. Mostly maintenance and looking at rep coming up. The new young players coming in to the orchestra are simply amazing, so it's important to keep up.

YES!

[SamBTbrn]

I have a student currently who is 72, a decent player (community bigband and wind Symphony) who practices an hour or so each day.

He started taking lessons a year ago because he was having problems playing above normal high F and also moving from his low register into the high register. He also wanted to learn how to play better improv solos in the band.

I can't describe how impressed I am with how much progress he has made in the year. Now he can play up to the high C with relative ease and a great sound, and his improv is coming along nicely. So much so that he is not afraid to ask if he can play solo's with the band.

I think the key is, he has very clear goals that he wanted to achieve and we set specific studies for him to achieve them. I don't think anything changes from when you're young. Practice with no goal and you stay flatline, but with a goal and the right exercises you will always improve. The hardest part is to come up with the goal that will keep you improving.

Just my thoughts,
Best
Sam

[Jimprindle]

After 65 years of playing, 50+ professional bass trombone, I know how to play the thing. I stopped thinking of it as “practicing” to learn (unless I have to work on some difficult parts) and more as performing or playing music. After fully retiring from professional work and private teaching 8 years ago my 1-2 hours a day is maintenance and playing things I like.

Regarding the idea of “playing” I think the English term belittles what musicians do. The Spanish term is tocar, to touch implying that musicians are touching music intellectually and soulfully.

[tbdana]

After 65 years of playing, 50+ professional bass trombone, I know how to play the thing. I stopped thinking of it as “practicing” to learn (unless I have to work on some difficult parts) and more as performing or playing music. After fully retiring from professional work and private teaching 8 years ago my 1-2 hours a day is maintenance and playing things I like.

Regarding the idea of “playing” I think the English term belittles what musicians do. The Spanish term is tocar, to touch implying that musicians are touching music intellectually and soulfully.

I like your take on the Spanish verb, "to touch," but I think it also means to perform.

Hey, I think we did some sessions together a million years ago at Saban when it was on Ventura Blvd.

[baBposaune]

About two years ago I began to get involved with some higher caliber ensembles in San Diego. I do practice nearly every day mostly because the level of musicians I play with is high and I never want to be heard as the "weak link" in the section or group. The rep demands polishing the tricky parts to make 'em sound easy out front. When I lived in Orange County, Calif. and worked mostly in LA I had to always bring my "A Game" if I wanted to be asked back or get referrals for other gigs.

The groups I currently play in perform more challenging music which in turn motivates me to practice more now than I did when I was in my 40s. Like Joe Alessi says, "Fear is a great motivator." When I'm on stage I want to feel relaxed and comfortable knowing that I will play up to my potential. Only practice can accomplish that for me.

[dbwhitaker]

I practice nearly every day because I want to improve. If I didn't think I could improve I would probably quit playing because I'm not very satisfied with my current skill level. I'm a mid level amateur that started playing 5 years ago after a 40 year break. I felt totally defeated by the trombone when I quit playing as a 20 year old after 2 years of college as a music major. At least I'm enjoying it now.

I try to practice every day but with a full time job, rehearsals three nights a week, and "a life" I miss some days, and it's a very rare day where I spend as much time practicing as I would like. I'm also not certain that I make the most effective use of my time. I'm a fan of Brad Edward's lip slur book and because I can never play even the simplest ones perfectly I often spend an entire practice session with that book. I expect to retire in about a year and plan to increase my practice time then.

I've taken a number of one, two, and even three week vacations and they are always a big set back to my playing. I wish I knew how to recover more quickly from those.

[AndrewMeronek]

I still practice, and honestly since I got laid off, I practice a lot better. I have been looking at my trombone practice not just as musical practice, but as part of life maintenance, kind of bundled into my goals for exercising and diet. In subtle ways, good exercise and eating positively influence my musicing, and the music keeps me more sane.

[MStarke]

I practice almost every day. I do actually enjoy it - latest a few minutes after I got started. I keep myself motivated by practicing a broad range of instruments and trying to improve on all of them. One thing I really want to manage is to get more music into my practicing. I do a lot of basic technique, range, scales, patterns, long tones, but very little actual music. Especially getting at least 10-15 minutes of improvising integrated would be great. But somehow I neglect that part... On the other hand: This way I generally have very stable and reliable technique nowadays which carries me through many situations. Also I belong to those people who do not feel comfortable putting the horn away for longer than one or two days...

[dukesboneman]

I try to practice every day, however sometimes life gets in the way
I`m always trying to improve.

[johntarr]

At 61, I still feel that I have much to learn. Unfortunately, I spent many years using my valuable practice time mindlessly going through the same routines I learned in university and graduate school.

Currently, I am making great use of the Brad Edwards material so I can combine working on fundamentals and weaknesses along with musicality. There’s no reason to keep doing the same lip slurs over and over, why not play music?

Now, with a teaching job, I play all the main brass instruments except the horn. This sometimes makes it hard to practice trombone because my chops get fatigued. To counter this, I try to make all of the playing I do with my students, a form of practice.

Another reason I practice is to hopefully stave off cognitive decline. There is ample research showing that playing an instrument is good for the mind, if one is learning new things and challenging oneself. Playing what you already can is less beneficial so there’s another reason to branch out from playing the same things over and over.

[Fidbone]

Yes!

[imsevimse]

Questions for those who have been playing trombone a couple decades or longer:

Do you still actively practice?

Are you still trying to get better, or are you just practicing to keep what you've got?

How often do you practice, for how long, and what are your goals?

I'm 68 years old, and I've been playing since 1964. But I took 30 years off of playing, and started up again 18 months ago, so I am still practicing every day to get better. I have been focusing on exercises in order to be able to play the entire horn from top to bottom with as much facility as possible. I'll hit a few etudes now and then, or play along with a Jamey Abersol volume. But mostly it's just exercises for air, range, speed, and flexibility. Boring stuff. Like lifting weights. It's all about the muscles, not the music.

Am I the only one who still does this at such an age?

I practice every day. Mostly to maintain skills but also to improve.

I started on trombone in the year 1975. Studied to become a musician/music teacher and went to music college 1884-1988. Worked as a musician an teacher tot 13 years. I held up completely with practice between 1996-2000 and played very sparse the years 2004-2008. I held up because of studies to be a computer engineer. It was needed to do a switch in my carrier to get a more steady income, to get a fulltime job.

What I work on
I want to better do circular breathing, tounge better/faster, have a better high range on tenor and a better low range on bass. I work on how to Improve my level of improvisation on tenor and bass. Mostly I practice without sheets but when I have more time I play minus-one records both classical and jazz. I also like to add a bit of trumpet, cornet, flugelhorn, french horn and tuba. I have minus one records for those instruments to but only elementary and intermediate level stuff. My goals are to be able to play them in a community orchestra and to be able make multitrack recordings using all.

I'm better now on all instruments compared to when I was working as a musician and music teacher, but I have fewer gigs, but that goes for nost here. There are fewer jobs now for musicians.

/Tom

[timothy42b]

I play every day, mixing trombone exercises with physical (mostly mobility) ones. At 71 both seem important. I continue to slowly improve at trombone practice; if that improves performance at rehearsal or concerts it isn't obvious. That remains a mystery I guess.

[TomWest]

I practice every day, an hour and a half. I should be practicing now instead of goofing off looking at my iPad.

[aoemusic]

No, I don't really see much reason to practice. Too much practice just takes the fun out of it!

[Bach5G]

.

[BGuttman]

Being forced to retire from active playing and confined to a nursing home I still like to play. I don't do aggressive practice like I used to, but when I can I'll do a brief warmup, then an exercise or two from Cimera or Mantia, and then go to my current project: reading C treble clef. I have a bunch of Fake Books (although I primarily use 3) just reading songs. I have difficulty with some manuscript which slows down my learning some of the songs (especially the newer ones) but the reading exercise does make me happy. I like to do about an hour a day of this. Finding an indoor place to practice is challenging, but during the warmer months I can play outdoors. I've discovered that I have a fan base here and other residents listen in. I've managed to do a Taps Across America program that adds about a half hour of patriotic songs to the Taps, and 1 or 2 one-hour long concerts indoors for the residents. Could I play my old haunts? probably not. But this lets me keep playing.

[tbdana]

Bruce, we gotta recruit you some more musicians into that nursing home. Get you a quartet or something, or another trombone player at least so you can play duets. And entertain the masses. I've never known a nursing home not to want music. If I wasn't 3,000 miles away I'd be over with some duets a few times a week.

[hugheddy]

Hmm? Do I still practice? Did I ever practice?

Hello, I’m Hugh Eddy, a 63-year-old trombonist working in NYC since 1982. Yesterday, New Year’s Eve, I did what I usually do, played the Nutcracker at NYC Ballet. The first Nutcracker I played was 12/31/1982 and I was 21—about 20 years younger than my next youngest section mate, Ron Borror. Yesterday, 12/31/2024, I played my 1,400th-or-so Nutcracker and I’m about 20 years older than my next oldest section mate, Nick Schwartz. Oh, how time flies!

During most of my playing career I also worked a full-time desk job in healthcare IT. Often my practice time was simply warming up before a show as I would have spent the day working at some NYC hospital. Maybe for me the lack of practice time was a good thing? I’ve always liked the visceral feel of playing trombone and not doing too much of it may have helped keep it enjoyable.

Now, I’m at a crossroads. I’ve taken a one-year leave of absence from the Ballet beginning once this Nutcracker run ends on 1/5. Excluding the pandemic it’s the first time in 40 years that I have zero trombone obligations.

Will I practice? I hope so, but time will tell. I’m joining the forum and posting this for two reasons. 1) maybe this little confessional will shame me into practicing. 2) I want to have the user rights to view Sesquitone’s valve drawings in the ‘rotor direction’ thread.

Happy New Year everyone!

[baBposaune]

No, I don't really see much reason to practice. Too much practice just takes the fun out of it!

A wise music teacher said:

If you practice, you get better.

If you get better, you play with better players.

If you play with better players, you play better music.

If you play better music, you have more fun.

If you have fun, you want to practice more.

If you practice more, you get better...

[Blatboy]

I’ve been blowing air through this insane piece of plumbing professionally for about 35 years now. I’m a multi instrumentalist (I get paid for those instruments too.) I have many analogies, but certainly the trombone is the most high maintenance lover of all the instruments in me wheelhouse at the moment. Use it or lose it. Trombone is an athletic endeavor… a full body experience… and should be treated as such. Especially in matters of the chops and breathing.

Ok, now that I’ve said that bit of blow-hardiness…. (Pun intended) I’m always annoyed by blowhards… especially when I find myself doing it.

Yes I still practice. It is, for the most part a maintenance routine… actually it is a selection of maintenance routines. For about 20 years I did the same routine that touched all the bases I needed. I was playing a whole lot of gigs and I did fine with it. I never had serious self imposed chop issues and kept getting hired. That said, once I started mixing warmup routines up — for the first time in my adult life I started to really feel I was improving from my 1-1.5 hours in the morning. Not that my soloing was improving (from the routine) nor my repertoire but I was playing my solos and my tunes more easily and with more, er, goodiness. A lot of approaches that, say, I thought were too over the top (let say Caruso) I never did. But, with my new outlook i spent a month or what have you deep diving into the Caruso method. Then I just added it to my routine. As part of a, er diversified warmup portfolio, I love the Caruso method! Same thing with Marstellar, David Vining warmups… a myriad of scales and arpeggios, and some exercises of my own creation. Then I came up with a system to randomize what approach I would do each morning, because I can’t come up with a system and stick with it. Last thing I want to do in the morning is make decisions…. It started with dice (hats off to Sam Burtis) and then I wrote a computer program that spits out a random routine for me in the morning. (On a 1980s vintage computer. I think it's glorious.)

Anyway, the routine is what I try to do. I do not always do it, but I’m fairly consistent. The more consistent I am the better I play my gigs and the happier I am. Ok happy is a relative term, but let’s not go there.

TMI perhaps haha. Happy New Year!