Lew Solof

One way to illustrate the importance of a warm-up is to think of a Karate

expert. Someone with a black belt in karate can take four of five guys out on
the street in an instant. Hes not going to say, Excuse me, I have to warm
up. But, when he practices, what does he do? He trains his body. He
nurtures his muscles. He gets his muscles ready to make those spur-of-themoment moves.

The trumpet is a physical instrument. The kinder you are to your muscles,
the more consistently responsive they will be. There will be times where you
miss a plane or it doesnt take of and you get to the gig two seconds before
it starts. If youve conditioned yourself properly in your practice, youre going
to be fine without warming up at all.

On the first job of the day, I never know what Im going to walk into. It could
be the easiest thing in the world, or it could be very, very hard. When youre
playing in a symphony orchestra, you know that today youre going to play
Mahlers Fifth, and three weeks from now youre going to play the Jupiter
Symphony, etc. You can warm up with a particular piece in mind. When
youre in the freelance world as I am you get hired for doing all kinds of
diferent things that require a lot of versatility on the spur-of-the-moment.

The first thing I do when I warm up is just buzz my lips for short periods of
time, maybe seven to ten seconds at the most, and I try to produce the
highest buzz that I can. If you cant get a high buzz, dont worry about it. Its
the intention of trying to do it one note higher than you actually can that
keeps the lips together. I buzz for maybe two or three minutes in seven to
ten second spurts, just getting used to the feeling. Then, I play some music
on the mouthpiece. I believe that the majority of practice should be musical
rather than technical. Instead of playing lip slurs on the mouthpiece, I might
turn on a CD that I like and just play along with it as if I have a trumpet in my
hand.

Most trumpet players know that some days you pick up the horn and your
tone resonates right away. Other days, you pick it up and you feel like
somebody stufed a cotton pillow into your bell! When you play the

mouthpiece, you dont hear whether your sound is stufy or not. You
automatically begin to ignore the mouthpiece sound and to conceive of the
sound that you really want. I try to play the mouthpiece this way for at least
15 to 20 minutes a day.

Then I do the same thing on the trumpet, slurring mostly, and staying away
from hard tonguing. The most important things to me are flexibility and the
resonance of the tone. I try to get a very liquid, fluid, easy type of feeling
even when Im improvising ideas. In other words, I dont strain.

After Ive done my basic work on the mouthpiece and trumpet, I do my scales
to build up my range. I start on a low F# and play a one octave major scale,
at a dynamic between mezzo-piano and mezzo-forte. Then, I take the
mouthpiece of my lips, reset, and play the G scale with the same relaxed
feel, then the A-flat scale, etc.

Why bother to take the mouthpiece of and reset? Lets say youre a trumpet
player who has a consistent high E-flat, and has trouble with a high E. Your Eflat scale comes right out, with no straining. Chances are, on the E scale,
where you know youre going to miss the top note, almost every note before
it will sound completely uptight. Youll be tense way before the high E; youll
be tense up on the F# or the G# or A of that E scale. Its ridiculous, because
if you were using some of those notes in a D scale, youd be completely
relaxed all the way up to the high D! The purpose of taking the mouthpiece
on and of is to try to match each scale to the one below it, to re-concentrate
and prevent tension.

Whatever your range is on a particular day, work where it feels comfortable.

Dont strain to push your limits. Ideally, you should practice in a very relaxed
way so that when you get on a job and see a high note and start to get tense,
part of the relaxation of the practice will stay in your mind.

Fundamentals:

Buzzing the lips in short spurts of 7-10 seconds for a total of 2-3 minutes
(work as high as possible)
Mouthpiece buzzing (more musical than technical-try improvising) for 15-20
minutes
Slurring-Max Schlossberg Daily Drills and Exercises (especially pages 6-8)
Arbans Complete Conservatory Method for Trumpet
Clarke Technical Studies
Scales (start with 1 8ve on low F# and work up chromatically-removing the
mouthpiece and resting in between)
Fundamental Suggestions:

When doing the range exercise, try to match each scale to the one below it to
re-concentrate and prevent tension.
Warm up according to the demands of the gig.
Train yourself on a consistent basis so that when the time for your regular
routine gets cut short, you can adapt.
Don't strain or push the breath.
Practice in a very relaxed way so that when you get on a job and see a high
note, part of the relaxation will stay in your mind.
Do not judge while playing.
Deliver your message first and evaluate it later.
Try practicing with a friend.
If you trade, you have adequate time to rest.
Jazz Suggestions
Try warming up by playing on a tune (play a short phrase and rest for 4 or 8
bars)
Play with the original recordings of the masters (not just the Aebersold playalongs)
-----------

Ryan Kisor's Trumpet Solo on 'Sheeryn's Waltz'

Bennett Heinz
Downbeat Magazine
October, 2015
TRUMPETER RYAN KISOR HAS RECORDED more than a dozen recordings of
his own, including The Usual Suspects (Fable 54267-2) in 1998. Kisor's
original composition Sheeryn's Waltz from the album features a lyrical melody
over a 56-bar form (ABA'). Much like Bill Evans' Twelve Tone Tune Two, Kisor's
one-chord-per-bar progression is built entirely with major 7th chords. The
bridge takes advantage of the lydian sound with many #4 notes found within
the melody.

The challenges presented by navigating this harmonic progression are

overcome by Kisor's use of three techniques. The first of these techniques
provides a strong melodic sense by outlining and surrounding chord tones.
For instance, measure 1 outlines 9-7-5, measure 2 includes 9-7, followed by
7-5 in measure 3 and 7-5-3-#4 in measure 4. He continues to tastefully focus
on chor tones in this manner without it sounding repetitious or mechanical.
A second technique involves an interesting combination of intervallic
movement, particularly on his longer eighth-note lines. Kisor utilizes perfect
4ths and 5ths, which creates complex shapes while still retaining a melodic
line.
In measures 13-15 we see the movement of a 4th between the E and B of the
Cmaj7 as well as the D to A and the G to C over the B flat maj7. There is a
movement of 4ths over the bar line in measures 29-31 between the notes E
to A, A to D, D to G and F to C. One final example to reiterate this concept
begins in the second half of measure 42. Between this starting point and beat
1 of bar 47, Kisor uses only three notes (C, G and D) over two octaves of the
instrument and four diferent chord qualities all by navigating between the
movement of major 2nds and perfect 4ths (with the exception of two perfect
5ths).
Another moment of interest occurs between the end of the first chorus and
beginning of the second. In measure 49, Kisor quotes the melody, a device
sometimes used to signal the end of a solo. Instead, he transitions into a new
motive leading into the next chorus. With pickups into bar 57, he explores
diferent groups of two notes a major 2nd apart.
Because one idea flows so clearly into the next, his phrasing, particularly with

the utilization of chord tones, large intervallic movements and rhythmic

motives, makes this solo seem efortless and connected.
[Bennett Heinz is a Chicago-based trumpet player currently pursuing a
master's degree in jazz studies from DePaul University. He holds a bachelor of
music in trumpet performance and jazz studies from the University of
Wisconsin-Stevens Point.]