Warmups

[stylites]

I normally can warm up in about 15 minutes effectively, but some players need more time, some less. How about all of you?

[Penguin]

It varies for me. It depends on the weather (don't ask me why), what condition my chops were in before (morning chops, cuts, etc.), and other factors as well. I can usually be ready to play in 10 minutes. But, to prepare for a good long day of rehearsal, my corps takes an hour to warm up together.

[Dave]

Unless it's 6am, it takes me about thirty seconds.

[SCV06]

Like Penguin, it depends on what the weather is like. For isntance, right now in Phoenix it's wet and cold, so my lips take longer to warm up. It takes me a good twenty to thirty minutes to warm up, and it bothers me b/c the director for my band program gives us two minutes to warm up. It's ridiculous...I'm not even going to get into it!! Grr!! :)

[splitter]

Usually takes me about 30-45 minutes to feel happily "warmed-up." However, I include in my warm-up all the things that I should do every day - like all my scales, lip-slur/flexibility stuff, high/low notes etc. If I'm running late to rehearsal, I can warm up effectively in about 5-10 minutes, but I'm not very happy about it.

[Guest mafields627]

Usually takes me about 30-45 minutes to feel happily "warmed-up." However, I include in my warm-up all the things that I should do every day - like all my scales, lip-slur/flexibility stuff, high/low notes etc. If I'm running late to rehearsal, I can warm up effectively in about 5-10 minutes, but I'm not very happy about it.

I read somewhere that if it takes more than 15 minutes to get warmed up, it then turns into practice. For me, there is such a thing as overwarming up. In high school, we would take 45 minutes to warm up and I was shot by then. But, i could do 10-15 minutes by myself and be fine.

[marksmenbari]

Like Penguin, it depends on what the weather is like. For isntance, right now in Phoenix it's wet and cold, so my lips take longer to warm up. It takes me a good twenty to thirty minutes to warm up, and it bothers me b/c the director for my band program gives us two minutes to warm up. It's ridiculous...I'm not even going to get into it!! Grr!! :)

it's always wet and cold here (seattle), when i'm warming up outside in the weather i use a plastic mouthpiece. i keep my metal one in my inside coat pocket and switch to it when my chops are ready to handle it.

my plastic one is made by allen and looks sort-of like a jet tone. it's old, and i've been told that they aren't made by anybody anymore.... it's no good for performance work but it's great for warming up or jamming with my high school's alumni band at homecoming games up in the bleachers :)

[spcbrass]

As long as it takes to pick up a contra play a low c and put it back down again! ^0^

My chops are usually pretty warm all the time no matter what. Still I'll take about 10 min on my own or so just to make sure they are "awake" Sometimes even your chops can be sluggish in the morning!

Shawn

[Mike_Bonfig]

I read somewhere that if it takes more than 15 minutes to get warmed up, it then turns into practice. For me, there is such a thing as overwarming up. In high school, we would take 45 minutes to warm up and I was shot by then. But, i could do 10-15 minutes by myself and be fine.

I would wonder if the "being shot" after 45 minutes of warmup was because you were overplaying during the warm-up - no personal offense intended by this statement. However, it has been my experience that many times when people complain about being spent after a warm-up, it's one of two things. Either they're not playing enough on their own to build endurance, or they're overplaying the warm-up which is intended to be less "chop" and more "air".

Personally, I'm a huge fan of a long warm-up, especially when playing in a hornline. To me the warming up of the ears is just as if not more important than the warming of the chops. Certainly, the more you play in general, the faster you can warm-up individually, because your muscles remember where they need to be and you are used to breathing properly right away.

[kimelabari]

I like to go 15-20 minutes with lots of low tones...it also depends if I played the day before. If that is the case, it takes me less time to warm up. I good brass instructor will be able to tell how the line is doing.

I had a brass instructor that had a book of exercises 1-12 and it didn't matter if everyone was warm, he went through the WHOLE book. Soon people started to show up later and later to rehersal because they didn't want to such a long warm up.

Kimela