Coming back after time off
This post is for anyone who is coming back after taking time off, be it a short while or a long period of time. We all know that if you take more than 3 days off from the trumpet your endurance will diminish and potentially your technique will become uncoordinated or not dialed in. The second part of this statement is such a personal thing, for example my range never goes away no matter how long I take off but my multiple tonguing gets very sloppy after even 24 hours of not working on it. I think this is because that is my weakest area in my playing because of lack of doing it as a commercial player…
So to set the stage, I went to Europe for 16 days plus and played very little while over there on a pocket trumpet in a practice mute with my big mouthpiece. While backpacking around, I decided what was the point and to just enjoy the vacation and pay the price when returning home. I think it was the correct decision for several of reasons which should be another post all together.
Upon my return I was fortunate to have 5 days before my first rehearsal and 7 before my first gig. I think my ability to rebound after this time off so efficiently is attributed to two factors. First I know what I will suck at and how to fix it. Second I played a little for no more than 20 -30 min. every day to keep things well… not super out of bounds for me. Though the last 4 days of the vacation I was not able to play at all.
My game plan after returning was, for the first 3 days I would play for 1 hour of just fundamentals focusing on balance and not playing too loud. I knew I would need to, get my sound back and intonation consistency, fix my fingers, and re- coordinate my multiple tonguing. I knew that I would need to get back playing on Bb, and C, my big mouthpiece and lead mouthpiece. I also knew I would need to play Flugelhorn and some mutes. In my fundamental routine I would play both Bb and C and play both my GrX66.8C* and my Gr 63XES* to reacquaint myself with this equipment.
On day 4 I would add an additional hour of practice that was Smith Top Tones etudes on my big mouthpiece on Bb trumpet. I started from #1 and would play as many etudes from beginning to end as possible under tempo. This would average 5 etudes per day. I did this for 3 days, even on the 5th day back when I had a big band rehearsal for 2 hours. At this point I had been back for 6 days and was diligent and mindful about volume management and warming down. I also was aware of how my upper-lip felt at this point. On day 7 I had a gig and only did my fundamentals and played the 1 hour big band gig. It went fine, I survived and didn’t kill my face. Once again big picture thinking.
On day 8 I would start to add an additional hour of improvisation practice where I was learning tunes for a coming gig the next week. I kept everything the same as the prior few days.
On day 11 I would swap out improv practice for playing along with whole big band albums from beginning to end every other day. At this point I knew I was starting to get things back because I could do all of this. I then started incorporating D,Eb and Piccolo trumpet into my fundamental routine how I usually do. I would practice my top tones on Flugelhorn and muted trumpet to dial in that aspect of my playing. On day 13 I took a day off completely from trumpet.
On day 15 and 16 it was business as usual and by day 16 I was completely back the same as before I left.
I think that this process and having the confidence to do this is essential for a life time in music and being a professional trumpet player. I think that thinking about things in a mindful way and creating a plan that is right for your playing is the best path towards coming back from not playing. One last thought… I do feel that if coming back from an injury or an embouchure adjustment the process looks very different.
