What we do as brass players is a very athletic activity. I suppose you could call us "small-muscle athletes." This does not necessarily apply to the size of our biceps (although it might), but rather the relatively small size of the lip, jaw, and other muscles we apply to create sound on our instruments. Any serious athlete has a daily routine of warm-ups and exercises aimed at preparing the muscles for activity, maintaining consistency, increasing performance, and building endurance. Brass players need to develop a daily warm-up routine for the same reasons.

My constantly-evolving philosophy of a daily routine is comprised of ideas, concepts, and exercises I have borrowed/stolen/adapted from my teachers and mentors. My recommended daily routine encompasses work in five basic areas: breathing, buzzing, long tones, lip slurs, and technique. The length of your routine needs to be proportionate to the amount of time you have to practice. If you currently do not have a daily routine, ten to fifteen minutes is a good starting goal for a warm-up routine.

Breathing
Start each day's practice session with a few short breathing exercises (we learn these in lessons). There are many exercises and tools you can use to assist you in thinking about your breathing. The exercise posted below combines breathing, relaxation, and low register study.

Low Register/Breathing Exercise

Buzzing
Continue warming up slowly by buzzing on the mouthpiece alone. Lip slurs, easy melodies, and long tones are all possible buzzing exercises. Buzzing can also be used during the rest of your practice time. Are you having trouble hitting the right pitches in a phrase? Buzz the phrase on the mouthpiece alone to see if you if are putting the right note(s) into the horn. Are you having trouble getting a legato phrase to sound smooth? Try buzzing it on the mouthpiece alone. In general, when buzzing on the mouthpiece alone, I recommend that you do not use tongue. Work for smooth, glissando connections between notes.

Long Tones
Underneath a big sound and a solid high range is a foundation built by practicing long tones. The ability to play loud or high with a good sound cannot be obtained any other way. Practice long tones at several dynamics-even extreme fff and ppp. However, the sound should never be pushed to the point of distortion.

Long Tone Exercise #1: "The World's Greatest"

Lip Slurs
At the beginning of the warm-up routine, start with easy lip slurs, then progress to higher/more difficult ones. The secret to a good lip slur is AIR! You've got to use more "fuel" to get over those bumps and hills in the road.

Lip Slurs 1
Lip Slurs 2
Lip Slurs 3
Lip Slurs 4
Lip Slurs 5

Technique
Technique includes things like: scales, tonguing, F-attachment/fourth valve work, slide/valve technical studies, and anything else not covered above.

Major Scales
Minor Scales
Articulation Exercise #1
Articulation Exercise #2
Vibrato Excercise