What DSR routines do you do daily?

[BeboppinFool]

For many years I've stuck with a few drills that have always given me good results, but I confess that I may not always push myself quite as hard as I might possibly be able to.

For example, since I came back to trumpet, my daily regimen often starts with the Prologue of the 5 Cheek Puff Routines. I definitely do this on days following days that were not terribly brutal on my chops, adhering to the difference between Babying It In vs. Knocking It In. I strive to take the Cheek Routines up to the G, and most days the G's come out like gangbusters . . . other days I can get the E's but the G seems a million miles away.

Almost every day since I've been back on trumpet I've done the Pivot Stabilizer (I'm able to do the entire thing these days . . . for the last month or so the G's have almost always been there) followed by the Track Routine (always as far as the quintuplets starting on 2-leger-line C, sometimes as far as the sextuplets starting on E, and for the last couple weeks sometimes starting on the G with varying degrees of success).

I'd say that 80-90% of my days include Embouchure Compression Drill III, which on trumpet I'm still only going up to G's, but until I talked with Chris LaBarbera over the phone, I was doing 8 repetitions of each line. I've recently started doing less repetitions (even though Chris said 3, I'm doing 5) and have started attempting the High A Routine when all the G's have been responsive.

In the last several months I've been doing the Interval Studies and occasionally do some of the 10 Test Drills (the Chromatic Range Extension drill, Augmented Fourths and Tetrachord Plus One page).

Of all the drills that helped me the most, I'm surprised that I don't do the Form Studies (all 12 articulations) more often. I used to only get to that once in awhile at the end of the 10 Test Drills, and all the E's came out, which I found amazing considering my "newness" back on trumpet.

I rarely use the Spiderweb Legato Tongue Warmup, and occasionally use Warmup #57. Back in my bass trumpet days, I think I did the entire Warmup #57 every day for years, and had fantastic results . . . it is not my first choice these days on trumpet, and I usually only do it when I have limited time to practice, or if I want to get in just a little practice earlier in the day before playing a gig or grueling rehearsal that night. (Ever noticed how rehearsals are often more brutalizing than gigs?)

There are so many of the DSR drills that I have in my notebook that I do occasionally, but the ones I've mentioned above are the ones that seem to help me continue to improve . . . slowly but surely. I'm not in such a big hurry as I used to be after all those years as an "injured musician" from overdoing it on the trumpet in my wild and crazy (read "stupid") youthful exuberance. I'd rather get better slower and avoid those tremendous setbacks from overdoing it these days.

What about the rest of you? What DSR drills do you continue to use daily?

Rich

_________________
Rich Willey
www.boptism.com
5 Mountain Heritage Place, Candler, NC 28715
828-665-3864 / Fax 503 214 7155
Hear my recordings free: www.mp3.com/RichWilley

[ This Message was edited by: BeboppinFool on 2002-09-25 22:59 ]

[Wilktone]

Where can one obtain copies or complete descriptions (with advice on *how* to use these exercises, of course)? Some exercises discussed here I recognize from the "Encyclopedia...," but others are unfamiliar to me.

Thanks!
Dave
_________________
wilktone.com

[hairy james]

Doc had dozens and dozens of drills and routines to correct practically any problem a player might be having. What kind of saddens me is that I see guys like David and Frank on here who are genuinely interested in finding out about these routines and learning more about the pivot system, but as I've said before without a personal consultation from someone who really knows the "in's and out's" of the pivot system some of these routines can do more harm than good. As a matter of fact I think I'm going to start a new topic " How can we help players who have no access to a pivot system teacher" I think that this is something that that we Reinhardt guys should "kick around." After all, If we really want to keep Doc's work alive we need to share it with as many players as possible. Chris

[ This Message was edited by: hairy james on 2002-09-26 01:53 ]

[spanky]

harry,

i'm going to see rich this weekend. but lately he's been eating worms, so i'm not sure how this is going to go .

i wish it was a little closer though. this trip will probably be about 2 1/2 hours one way. but after listening to rich play at the clinic, that fat sound he has sounds worth it.

[bgibson]

Rich;
I'll be discussing this on the video for the 2002 Reinhardt convention that I am preparing.
I start every day with the cheek routines and have been doing these for the last 20 years.
My daily "routine" consists of Doc drills primarily compression drills.
Just started back on the "Elasticity Routine" (THANK YOU DAVE SHEETZ)
How many times have we all forgotten about various drills and then re-discover them at a later date? Then we realize that those "new" drills still work.
Some of the Doc drills I assign my private studentsare the F Spiderweb, the trio of daily calisthenics, track routine, stabilizer,flips and Concone.
I wish the Manual was still in print.
WEG

[BeboppinFool]

[walter]

I asked a friend to store much of my sheet music for me many, many years ago. It's been so long that I don't remember if it was in the 70s or 80s. All of my Reinhardt materials were included in this pile.

Guess what? I got back only a fraction of what was stored ... and none of what I got back included Doc's stuff. So the only connection that I had with Doc's materials was what was still stuck inside of my head.

I read the names of the various routines here on the Forum, and although many of the names are familiar, the particulars of how they were done have disappeared from my aging brain.

The one routine that has remained with me, mentally if not in practice, is the Spiderweb. I have found myself wandering away from it, only to come back to it. Sometimes this absence has gone on for many years; afterall, my life has had many twists and turns, many not involving the trumpet. However, I've learned that I really can't stay away from the trumpet for long without feeling that I'm ignoring my soul: my very essence.

Following 9/11, I went into one of my periodic, chronic depressions, in which my trumpet playing suffered. Fortunately, as I was getting back into being serious about the trumpet, the Reinhardt Forum started up. Old, long-forgotten ideas that I remember from my Doc days have resurfaced.

The Spiderweb is like a meditation for me. I've modified it from what I originally learned from Doc. Most of these modifications that I've made came from my study of exercise physiology. I went to Chiropractic school back in the 70s, learning much anatomy & physiology; then worked with a number of athletes, learning some concepts of exercise physiology that weren't available to Reinhardt. Although I don't claim to have anything close to Reinhardt's knowledge and understanding about brass playing physiology, I hope that I can stand on Reinhardt's shoulders, and someday contribute to his work.

In reading this thread, I was disappointed to read that many of the materials that Doc gave to his students may be kept private, except to "official" Pivot System teachers. I personally believe that Doc's teachings and memory will best be served by open access to what he learned and taught. Documenting his teachings, especially now, when many of his students are still alive, will be important in maintaining not only Doc's legacy, but seeing just how valuable his contributions are.

Restricting access to Doc's materials will result in a false orthodoxy: what Doc really taught &/or meant. I briefly alluded to this type of thing happening when I responded to one of John Mohan's threads on Herbert L. Clarke's tonguing. In particular, I brought up what happened historically in the creation and development of the Bible. This book, which is a bizarre compilation of some of the oldest texts within Western Culture, has suffered from well-meant manipulations. Many of these manipulations are well documented and well known to serious & honest scholars. Still, we have 21st century religious "experts" who are sometimes ignorant of, &/or sometimes blatantly and arrogantly manipulative of the development of some of the most influential materials to have affected our culture.

Am I overstating my case? Well, nothing that Reinhardt discovered, then passed on to his students, will ever be raised to the level of religious ideas. In fact, if all that Doc ever passed on were completely lost, I think that it would eventually be rediscovered. This happens constantly in science. It just means that Doc wouldn't get the credit [thanks to his "loyal" followers], and many players who would benefit from Doc's work would remain ignorant. There is ample precedent in religion and science.

Let's hope that this Forum lives up to its potential to pass on great ideas.

walter

[Wilktone]

Can some of you Reinhardt student's post some more descriptions and instructions on these exercises? I was talking with Chris (AKA Hairy James) yesterday and discovered that what I thought was the Pinwheel Routine wasn't quite right. What's this Spiderweb Routine?

Some of these exercises remind me of a kung fu B-movie (I'll counter your Pinwheel with my Spider style!).

Dave
_________________
wilktone.com

[hairy james]

Dave,

Call me and I'll explain any exercizes you need. I don't have to tell you how long it would take for me to type them all here, right?. Hows Mr. Tripple 'G' coming along?
You know it cool to call me late if you're up, just ask Rich.

Chris

[ This Message was edited by: hairy james on 2002-10-18 16:06 ]

[bulos]

I do the stabilizer and track routine daily but nothing seems to bring me around as well or quickly as Doc's pedal routines!
_________________
Marquis de Sade: "In art, one has to kill one's father."

[hairy james]

Hey paul,

Thats pretty f***in' funny.

See you on the Claude Gordon forum.

Chris

[BeboppinFool]

[hairy james]

You know Paul it just occured to me, those are not Reinhardt pedal exercises that your practicing, you're reading the track routine upside down.

Or are you just trying to piss us off and get yourself banished to the newly created "Stevens/Costello" Forum?

Hey, we might even make you the moderator.


Chris

[bulos]

Rich
I was not trying to start trouble merely decrease the tension around here with a little levity. If you couldn't see the humour in that post I actually feel for you, nevertheless, I thought a forum was a place to exchange ideas in healthy discourse but you my friend have turned this particular forum into a police state........plus you went out of your way to be insulting towards me when you thought I broke your precious little rules (actually I didn't see it that way when I sent that orignal post concerning MF Fans problem) and I said nothing so I guess this is where you and I part ways...............
Paul
_________________
Marquis de Sade: "In art, one has to kill one's father."

[BeboppinFool]

[bulos]

"Who's backing you up on this, Paul?"

Rich I don't need anyones "backing" I know when someone is venting in my direction and frankly you should be ashamed of yourself, your behaviour was reprehensible and you acted like a jerk towards me. Enjoy your "forum" and sayonara.

[hairy james]

Hey Rich,

Thank you for standing up for Doc.

Sayonara,

Chris



[ This Message was edited by: hairy james on 2002-10-20 03:38 ]

[Wilktone]

In my own playing and teaching (trombone) I've been a big advocate of Buddy Baker's "Tenor Trombone Method" for routine work. In case you're not familiar with this book (this being a trumpet forum), I'll describe it briefly.

I like this book for its completeness and for its easy modifcation to fit a particular student or circumstance. It basically offers a suggestion for practicing that includes, in this order:

1. Long tones
2. Legato scales and chord arpeggios over the entire range
3. Flexibility studies
4. Stacatto scales and chord arpeggios over the entire range
5. Multiple tonguing
6. Warm down

The method is designed so that the trombonist can cover most of the technical issues that arise over practice sessions of various time lengths. It is also designed so that certain scales and exercises are played over the long term, rather than try to hit everything in just one day.

Did Dr. Reinhardt have a similar routine he suggested to his students? How did he advocate warming up and attacking these various technical issues? I imagine that his suggestions were very personalized, but was there a basic routine that he modified for each student? If so, what did in entail? Was there a particular order to this routine?

If he didn't have a set routine could one be developed that wouldn't go against the principles of the Pivot System?

Dave
_________________
wilktone.com

[PhattyRoses]

since it's been a little quite around here lately, I thought I would bring this topic back to the top and let you all know what I've been doing lately. I'm taking fairly regular lessons with Dave Sheetz and this is what he's having me do:
Daily trio of Calisthenics

Warm-up #57 until I feel warmed up

Pivot stabilizer (open horn only) all 8va

Track routine (open horn only) I'm usually able to get through to the high
F start (I'm a trombone player) and, when I do, I try to add the Bb above that.

Four caterogies of buzzing drill (I think this is what it's called...I'll have to check my sheet later to be certain). Basically, it's where you buzz into each note of a Bb concert major triad up and down and when you get the mouthpiece on the horn you crescendo for four beats and then decrescendo to a whisper for four. Then later on you augement the same drill by playing it the way I just described, then by playing it by setting your embouchure firmly before placing (you breathe first) and then place the mouthpiece and play the drill...after a few more days you play it the same way but place the firm embouchure to the mouthpiece bu this time breathe through your nose and play the drill...after a few more days you play the drill three times through each time with the above mentioned approaches but then play it again but this time with normal mouthcorner inhalations. This has been a really great drill for me to work on.

Elasticity routine (what a great exercise this is for getting the lip trill going!)

the Pivot manual (one section each day out of the trombone manual)

the form studies (I may soon change this to the advanced form studies drill that was recently posted)

the double and tripple tonguing drill that is outlined in the encyclopedia

the concone studies 8va ( I usually do a couple a day)

Every once in a while I'll do the compression buzzing routine, which is the one where you buzz into four concert Bb's, take a rest, and then move up chromatically in the same manner up to high Bb. This drill REALLY makes my chops feel strong the next day.

Let me say that I have been so impressed with all the things I've been learning. I find that if I focus on my mechanics in a thoughtful way (ie the way Reinhardt teaches), I can really get some things going when I move on to the music.

[BeboppinFool]