the two practice rules where does this go
Hello my trumpet-playing amigos,
Hope all is well in your musical world, and you’re hittin’ all the right notes this season.
With this little email I thought I’d share two simple tips garnered from L.A. studio scene top-dawg, Charley Davis.
Chas. Davis
If you aren’t familiar with Charley, you’ve likely heard his playing if you’ve ever watched ‘The Simposons’ or ‘Family Guy.’ He played first trumpet on those shows for a good long while… and maybe still does. Maybe I should ask. J
Also, if you’re a big band geek like me, Charley was the lead trumpet player screaming like a banshee on Buddy Rich’s album ‘The Roar of 74,’ and can be found all over YouTube playing the absolute sh*t out of the trumpet (links below).
Aside from being one hell of a trumpet player (and all-around super cool guy), Charley is also a direct protégé of the famous trumpet teacher Bill Adam. And if you’ve ever heard of the ‘Adam Routine,’ Bill is the guy responsible for that infamous torture test.
Charley’s Basic Approach to the Instrument
I met Charley during my graduate studies in Los Angeles, and was fortunate to have been able to dedicate a portion of those studies to studying with Charley at his home in North Hollywood.
These lessons were pretty eye-opening for me as Charley was the first player I met who devoted so much time and energy to routine. And if you could boil down the Adam school of thought into one sentence it might be, ‘imagine the sound you want play and practice your ass off.’
This ran pretty much in the opposite direction of my bias toward a more minimilast approach which led to a few funny interactions with Chas.
For example, when I first called Charley to set up our initial appointment, we chatted a bit about my playing goals and experience. Then, he asked me how much I practiced, which at the time was about an hour and a half per day (which I thought was pretty good).
His exacerbated reply was ‘And you want to be a professional trumpet player!?! When I was in college I practiced 8 hours a day and could nail F’s above double-high C!’
God bless him.
The First Lesson
I’ll tell ya what, Charley wasn’t kidding about that whole practice thing. I don’t recall exactly how many times he asked me if I ‘needed to be somewhere,’ but that first lesson was over three hours of us playing back to back while his dog laid at our feet and howled along the entire time.
And while I am admittedly a much lazier trumpeter than Charley, he did impart on me two simple rules for governing practice time which have been extremely helpful to me every day since.
Two Solid Practice Rules
Here are the two rules that Charley used while playing his daily routines. I can only assume they prevented him from going insane:
- If you get a piece of it, keep going.
- If you miss three times, save it for tomorrow.
Rule Number One
To understand the first rule, it’s useful to know that the Adam Routine uses what is called the ‘spider’ approach to developing range. All that means is that you start an exercise on an easy note, and then alternate going one half step up and down from that starting pitch, moving in both directions from your meat-and-potatoes playing range.
It looks like this:
This ‘spidering’ out from a middle note is how many of the exercises are organized, and using Charley’s first rule, you would continue to each succeeding note so long as you ‘got a piece’ of the current.
It’s a great rule. It keeps things fun and encouraging because you get to keep moving. So if you’re working your way down into the pedals, and that last note wasn’t rock-solid (but you still got a smidge of it in tune), you can go ahead and try the next one down.
Plus, it prevents idealism and the insane thought that your playing is ever going to be perfect. Has anybody else here fizzled out barking up that tree?
Rule Number Two
The second rule (saving the missed notes for tomorrow) is equally awesome as it prevents those nasty little ‘F’ words of trumpet playing – frustration and fatigue.
It also reinforces that this whole trumpet thing is a process. And that process is far more important than any note.
You keep your chops fresh (a GOOD ‘F’ word!), your head clear and your attitude positive.
You’ll also conquer failure and learn to not care. This is a pretty powerful foundation for playing confidence.
One Additional Guideline
I’ll just add that if you want to make sure playing keeps getting easier, be sure to heed your playing mechanics while you apply these rules.
In other words, if you ‘get a piece of it’ by blowing your brains out – you don’t want to go down that road. Keep your attention on the little things like a floating posture, relaxed shoulders, and playing mostly that which you can without ‘blowing harder’ or cramming the mouthpiece into your face. J
Bring it back to the fundamentals of tone production I keep blabbing on about here at BTB and you’ll be in good shape over the long-haul with greater efficiency.
And for the record, these mechanics are the kinds of things that Trumpet Foundations, private lessons, and the upcoming Comeback Kit are all about.
Peace out my friends and happy trumpeting,
James (AKA Blackwell)
Here are some clips of Charley’s ridiculous lead trumpet playing. He also teaches online and if you want to get in touch with him I can shoot you his email.
The roar of 74
Buddy Rich – The Roar of ’74 (1974) – YouTube
Something (solo ballad)
Buddy Rich Orchestra – Charley Davis – Something! – YouTube
Peace out and happy trumpeting!