Efficient Trumpet Practice

“Incorporating rest into your daily practice sessions can transform your trumpet playing”

“Rest as Long as it took you to play the previous exercise”

Rafael Mendez,  Prelude to Brass Playing

“It is important to rest before the lips begin to feel tired… do not practice when tired”

Maurice Andre, Daily Exercises for Trumpet

“One of the most time-honored rules of practice is to rest as much as you play…overuse problems would disappear completely if students observed this simple rule”.

Frank Gabriel Campos, Trumpet Technique

“Play a minute, rest a minute”

Herbert L. Clarke, as said to many players

Do not try to force your lips into submission as it will not work!

Incorporating a system of resting into your practice can help reduce fatigue, sore lip syndrome and help increase endurance and range.

Some players rest at the end of a phrase, exercise or etude for as long as it took to play it. Some practice 20 minutes on with 20 minutes rest, some one-minute on one-minute off.  Each player needs to find what works best for him or her. Practicing to tiredness or even worse, to the collapse of the embouchure, is not an intelligent or efficient way to practice and only leads to a cascading set of problems for the trumpet player. Clarke always emphasized the need to maintain the elasticity of the lip, which is essential for good trumpet playing. If you feel that your chops are inconsistent, fatigue a lot, have trouble slurring and your tone is dull, you probably have an overuse issue.

Incorporating rest into your daily practice sessions can transform your trumpet playing.

It takes discipline to study the trumpet, the discipline to practice daily and also the discipline to practice correctly. If your not sure about how to go about resting, use the technique of resting as long as it took to play the last phrase.  Do this religiously for a month and then evaluate its usefulness for yourself.  Resting is an important component of SMART PRACTICE the quickest way to becoming a better player.