The most important feature of Left Coast Horn Playing is that we work on our breathing every day. Not just an occasional taking of a deep breath or blowing into a machine but real work with real improvement.
1) Work on your breathing every day! Don’t assume you have figured it out. Work on it to improve it every day before you practice or play. Do it all the time!
2) We practice with a written plan on our stand and we follow the plan every day that we practice.
The plan may take ten minutes to execute for a young player or beginner or for a player who is so advanced they can accomplish something valuable in ten minutes, or twenty minutes for an intermediate student to an hour for an ambitious player doing a heavy workout.
Having a written plan that you work from every day means that you build upon your skills every day. A well designed practice plan makes your practice efficient and effective, not scattered, haphazard and inefficient.
3) After our breathing work every day we practice three things
The difference between a genius and a schizophrenic is that the genius tells the voices in his head what to say.
You can convince yourself of anything. If you tell yourself that you have a tonguing problem, or a weak high range or any other problem you won't get better by reinforcing in your mind that there is a problem. Simply think of it as a problem to be solved over time and you'll have success.
Exaggerate Exaggerate Exaggerate
If the exercises say FF or SFFZ we really mean it. If your neighbors call the police when you practice these then you are doing it right? If the dog whines, your teeth self clean and your canned food pops open then you are doing it right.
Hit the SFFZ notes really hard. Blast those puppies! Don't worry about tone color or musicality. Exaggerate!
The purpose of these exercises is to develop breath control and strength.
Make it Your Goal to Get Better Every Day
Even if you have off days you will be on a steady path of improvement.
Lastly
Find ways to really enjoy playing. How often do you take your horn out of the case and admire it. Imagine the knowledge and skill that went into producing the metals, the shape, the case, everything. Read about the great composers. Listen to a style of music you have never heard of before.
Your audience can tell if you are having a good time whether you're playing bluegrass with your family or the most serious opera.
OK, Really Lastly
A valid criticism of Left Coast Horn Playing is that we do not address musicality in any way on this site. Of course we care a lot about musicality and that's why we are willing to spend the time doing structured practice to be our best at it.
But we feel that musicality is best learned beside a qualified teacher. It is the most human part of music.
1) Work on your breathing every day! Don’t assume you have figured it out. Work on it to improve it every day before you practice or play. Do it all the time!
2) We practice with a written plan on our stand and we follow the plan every day that we practice.
The plan may take ten minutes to execute for a young player or beginner or for a player who is so advanced they can accomplish something valuable in ten minutes, or twenty minutes for an intermediate student to an hour for an ambitious player doing a heavy workout.
Having a written plan that you work from every day means that you build upon your skills every day. A well designed practice plan makes your practice efficient and effective, not scattered, haphazard and inefficient.
3) After our breathing work every day we practice three things
- Careful drills that are the same every single day
- Drills and exercises that increase your technique (higher, lower low, faster trills, cleaner slurs, etc.)
- Reading music to increase fluency
These are in addition to etudes, solos and concert preparation.
The drills focus on controlling the air and reducing manipulation of the embouchure. We use exaggerated hard tonguing, sffz, glissandi and other exercises to learn how to shape and control the air.
20 minutes of this kind of focused practice will be of more benefit than hours of noodling.
4) We are always working to expand our technique. We want to be practicing to higher, lower, louder, softer, etc. every day. If you play only what is as difficult as you played yesterday you get stuck in yesterday.
Focus on Your Breathing All the Time
OK, maybe not all the time. But frequently. 'All the time' is only a slight exaggeration. This is the crux of Left Coast playing. Focus a lot of attention on where you are putting the air in your body, which muscles are doing the work and how it is shaped when it comes out.
Focus on What Works and Attack Your Enemies
Focus on what works, don’t focus on what’s going wrong. If you need to improve your tonguing, don’t think I am bad at tonguing instead tell yourself Now I am going to sit up straight and take a deep low breath and work on improving my tonguing.
When you want to improve something set aside time to focus on fixing it. At the same time make sure you are doing what works - good posture, correct breathing, clean tonguing, etc.
Then try to figure out what is actually happening that is causing the problem. Be curious, be aware of what parts of your body are doing what and have patience.
No Negativity!
We are trying to train ourselves to be comfortable reliable players and that is tough to do if you are berating yourself constantly. When something goes wrong try to figure out what caused it and how to change it.
The drills focus on controlling the air and reducing manipulation of the embouchure. We use exaggerated hard tonguing, sffz, glissandi and other exercises to learn how to shape and control the air.
20 minutes of this kind of focused practice will be of more benefit than hours of noodling.
4) We are always working to expand our technique. We want to be practicing to higher, lower, louder, softer, etc. every day. If you play only what is as difficult as you played yesterday you get stuck in yesterday.
Focus on Your Breathing All the Time
OK, maybe not all the time. But frequently. 'All the time' is only a slight exaggeration. This is the crux of Left Coast playing. Focus a lot of attention on where you are putting the air in your body, which muscles are doing the work and how it is shaped when it comes out.
Focus on What Works and Attack Your Enemies
Focus on what works, don’t focus on what’s going wrong. If you need to improve your tonguing, don’t think I am bad at tonguing instead tell yourself Now I am going to sit up straight and take a deep low breath and work on improving my tonguing.
 |
| No matter what your enemies are, go on the attack! |
When you want to improve something set aside time to focus on fixing it. At the same time make sure you are doing what works - good posture, correct breathing, clean tonguing, etc.
Then try to figure out what is actually happening that is causing the problem. Be curious, be aware of what parts of your body are doing what and have patience.
No Negativity!
We are trying to train ourselves to be comfortable reliable players and that is tough to do if you are berating yourself constantly. When something goes wrong try to figure out what caused it and how to change it.
The difference between a genius and a schizophrenic is that the genius tells the voices in his head what to say.
You can convince yourself of anything. If you tell yourself that you have a tonguing problem, or a weak high range or any other problem you won't get better by reinforcing in your mind that there is a problem. Simply think of it as a problem to be solved over time and you'll have success.
Exaggerate Exaggerate Exaggerate
If the exercises say FF or SFFZ we really mean it. If your neighbors call the police when you practice these then you are doing it right? If the dog whines, your teeth self clean and your canned food pops open then you are doing it right.
Hit the SFFZ notes really hard. Blast those puppies! Don't worry about tone color or musicality. Exaggerate!
The purpose of these exercises is to develop breath control and strength.
Make it Your Goal to Get Better Every Day
Even if you have off days you will be on a steady path of improvement.
Lastly
Find ways to really enjoy playing. How often do you take your horn out of the case and admire it. Imagine the knowledge and skill that went into producing the metals, the shape, the case, everything. Read about the great composers. Listen to a style of music you have never heard of before.
Your audience can tell if you are having a good time whether you're playing bluegrass with your family or the most serious opera.
OK, Really Lastly
A valid criticism of Left Coast Horn Playing is that we do not address musicality in any way on this site. Of course we care a lot about musicality and that's why we are willing to spend the time doing structured practice to be our best at it.
But we feel that musicality is best learned beside a qualified teacher. It is the most human part of music.
Scott, you are truly bringing the best teaching techniques to young players! This stuff...this is what 60-90 minutes of my horn playing day is about...re-connecting with what I love about playing the horn: great sound with long phrases!
ReplyDeleteKeep up the fabulous work!
Sandra Clark
Co-Principal Horn
Toledo Symphony
and Scott Hartman's lowly 4th horn player in SJSU Orchestra in 1977...
Scott: I'm going to tackle your plan. It seems sound and you have made everything so clear. Thank you for this site.
ReplyDeletePatrick Audinet Sr.
San Jose, CA
Hi Patrick,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words and I hope everything goes well for you. If you have any questions send me a note at scottito@pacbell.net
Scott
There is a slight grammatical error in the next to the left paragraph where it says "we are willing to do spend the time". I think the "do" wasn't meant to be there. I'm not trying to be critical, just helpful. Feel free to remove this comment.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the correction, Marnix, just the kind of thing a spell checker won't catch!
ReplyDeleteScott