Today is a busy day and I don’t have a lot of time to practice. But I need to stay in shape. Because of my schedule I can only allot 15 to 20 minutes to get myself warmed up to today. That’s all I have time for. I don’t have the ability to practice my solos and to work on my next recital repertoire. But I don’t want to get out of shape. I want my lip to stay in shape. If I can keep my embouchure in shape, then the next time that I can practice my rep, I will be prepared.
This is how I get a full warm up for my practice session even though it will only be 15 minutes long. You really can cover all that is necessary in 15 to 20 minutes. When you do have the time for a longer practice session, this is still a great warm up routine. It will get you going, and get you ready to practice whatever else you have on your agenda.
But for today, 15 minutes is all I have. So, let’s get started.
Scales
The first thing I’m going to do is to practice my scales with Taffanel and Gaubert – the love of my life (my flute life!) Because I don’t have a lot of time, I’m only going to practice the flats today using Taffanel and Gaubert’s #4. If I had extra time, I would play all the way through flats and sharps, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. I am going to play #4 at a tempo that works for me but pushes my fingers. Using the metronome is always a great way to keep me on tempo.
Now, even though I’m doing this in a truncated period of time, I still must make sure that I am playing correctly and listening to my fingers. I always use all those articulations when I play Taffanel and Gaubert. It is very important that we wake up the tongue. The tongue is a muscle. Playing all those different articulations makes that muscle work.
Arpeggios & Tone
After scales I like to move into arpeggios. Today I’m going to play through Reichert’s 7 Daily Exercises #2. Now I like to practice Reichert by tonguing all the way through. Strangely enough, when I practice this arpeggio exercise like this, I count it as tone practice as well. Why? Because I think that when I tongue really short focused ta’s, then I have to make sure that the tone is focused in a tiny little package. It forces me to get a fabulous sound in a short period of time.
The longer you hold a note, the more you adjust your embouchure, and you fix things, and it can sound better and better. But if you can tongue and make that tone to be the tone you want in just a split second, then you know you are on the right track. So, I will tongue all the way through all of these.
Harmonics & Tone
Next, I want to work a little bit more on my tone. My next exercise is for the lip playing harmonics. I am going to play Reveille with harmonics only. In this exercise I only finger the low C, and I play the tune with that fingering. This makes my lip be in motion. I can concentrate on making the lip do all the work. It is a great way to work on flexibility with the lip.
Tapers & Long Tones
For the last few minutes of my short but important practice session I will work on long tones with tapers. I think if I am out of shape, my tapers are rotten. So, I like to consciously practice tapering all the time. Because I want this to be a 15-minute warm up I am not going to play from a high B, all the way down to low C. I will only play one octave. But I want that taper to be as smooth as silk. I want to taper down to nothingness.
Now there are reasons to do short tapers, and to learn how to do them in one beat. But right now, I am going to do long tone tapers as if I have all the time in the world to taper that note.
I have just finished my 15-minute practice and I feel nicely warmed up. In only 15 minutes I am not going to progress in my repertoire. But my lip will not go backwards! Then when I do have the time for a full practice, I will be ready to make good use of that session because my lip is in shape still.
If time is a problem for you, do not skip practice. Keep yourself on that 15-to-20-minute warm up schedule. You will cover everything necessary from tone, to articulation, to your fingers. This a fantastic way to get warmed up and stay in shape.
Have fun!
DoctorFlute
Watch me demonstrate this idea:
How to Warm Up in 15 Minutes – FluteTips 152
Always Warm Up Musically – FluteTips 144
What to Do in a 30-Minute Practice Session – FluteTips 119
30-Minute Practice Session Using Mozart Concerto in G
