Wednesday, June 16 – 8:00 am
WARM UP: Jim West
Recital Salon
Erin Beave, Reporter
Jim West, professor of trumpet at Louisiana State University, presented warm-up sessions designed to explore various approaches to a trumpet player’s first notes of each day. The first topic was a series of exercises to produce the maximum physical efficiency with the minimum amount of effort. The session began with some simple exercises designed to produce maximum physical efficiency with minimal effort. Most of the opening exercises were based on the teachings of William Adam, focusing on warm-air tone concepts and finding the “resonant center” of the tone being produced. West then moved on with new approaches to some of the Max Schlossberg exercises, with the focus still on tone, but adding a legato articulation. While discussing tonguing, West compared these exercises to Tai-Chi, emphasizing minimal tongue movement, thus practicing rapid tonguing at a very slow speed. One extra benefit West was able to add to this series of exercises was raising the percentage of clean “first attacks,” also referring back to the concept of finding the resonant center of the sound.
Key thoughts presented in the session included maximizing production while minimizing effort, finding the resonant center of the sound early in the day, and discovering (and raising) an individual’s personal threshold for range, speed, volume, and control. The last few minutes of the session were spent exploring a variety of techniques designed to expand the playing “bubble,” as he called it, using basic fundamentals and incorporating skill development through simply warming up properly. West’s comprehensive delivery of the information coupled with his dry wit made the early start time both informative and entertaining.
