The Kevin Thompson Warm Up
Kevin Thompson
For me, warming-up at the beginning of every day is essential. Consistency in my playing only started to come when I started being consistent and thorough about warming-up every day. If for some reason I have to go into a heavy rehearsal without having warmed up, I will feel and sound very uncomfortable, and my embouchure will not be back to normal for at least a week.
I have heard other musicians say that they can easily play in top form without warming up if they've been playing in the last day or two. This doesn't work for me, but everyone is different. I suspect these people are the exception, and most of us, like athletes, need to condition and prepare our muscles daily for the rigors that we put them through in playing a brass instrument.
Here's a basic outline of my warm-up, which I vary somewhat from day to day, to keep it from getting tedious. As you can see, the main focus is on lip slurs, which I believe to be extremely beneficial for all players.
The patterns for the lip slur exercises can be repeated many times more than written before going to the next position.
By the way, these are not my original exercises. I've picked them up (and modified some of them) over the years from method and study books by Remington, Stamp, Marsteller, Steiner, and others. The other main component of my warm-up, which I haven't included here, is playing a couple of Bordogni (Rochut) vocalises every day.
All the lip slur exercises use the usual 1st to 7th or 7th to 1st position patterns. Valve instruments: you know the corresponding routine with the chromatic descending valve patterns.
About Kevin
Kevin Thompson leads a busy life as a professional trombone and euphonium player: he is currently a member of the Hong Kong Philharmonic, and is an internationally renowned euphonium soloist.