Honestly -- this is like a mini-Arban workout, all that is needed is a triplet-variation and a double-tongue variation (well actually there are a couple of triplet variations, but I mean triplets Arban style, like in the Carnival variations).

I am currently in the process of rectifying this colossal mistake on Niccolo’s part by writing these two variations myself. I’ll add them to the file as soon as I got them.

Download

File disclaimer: In this file I copy the excellent work of Erik Veldkamp -- So this is actually his transcription in my edition.

Reason: I want to add two more variations and give tempo-markings from Alisons version

DOWNLOAD: Paganini Caprice no. 24 -- theme and variations
(tip: hover over the little icon to the left of the link to see the music without having to download)

Listen

Use these links to hear a specific variation and see the score for it:

Theme -- Var 1. -- Var 2. -- Var 3. -- Var 4.

Var 7. -- Var 8. -- Var 9. -- Var 10. -- Var 11.

Or listen to all the pieces en suite:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCPTePoHbyM

Alison Balsom is playing on a C-trumpet, which means she is sounding two semi-tones higher than you will if you are playing a Bb-trumpet.

Also it’s worth noting that she seems to be using Timotei, thus venturing into a wild and hitherto uncharted territory in the field of brass tone-production

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrinmHmHZ64

Alison Balsom telling us how it can be done!

Download

(tip: hover over the little icon to the left of the link to see the music without having to download)

Bach Cello Suites 1.pdf

Bach Cello Suites 2.pdf

Bach Cello Suites 3.pdf

Click the image for full-size version

This is an exercise I got from Gerard that focuses on producing breath attacks.

Gerard is very occupied with the thought of ‘playing efficiently’ – getting the most out of the horn with the smallest effort possible.

Key areas in his mindset on this are precise intonation and light and fluid tonguing.

If you want to produce accents with the tongue only (and a lot of people do that), the tongue will no longer be light and fluid, but create a stop in the airstream.

This is not desirable. because clarity will suffer – and when clarity suffers you’ll start compensating by playing louder and using more energy.

It’s better to accent the note with air, whilst maintaining a smooth gentle tonguing. “Hitting the note without hitting” Gerald calls it.

‘Breath attacks’ are a part of this thought on tonguing, and can with benefice be practised on their own, later to be conjoined with actual tonguing.

A breath attack is simply a sudden increase in the amount of air you blow in to the horn at the start of the note

1959 was a great year in jazz – it was the amo. the year that ‘Kind Of Blue’ hit the shelves and totally renewed the way jazz was played.

Here’s an interesting podcast series about that year!

Also try hearing the video, Sergei is playing the 2. mov., III allegro in D from Haydn’s cello concerto -- and it makes a very nice trumpet-piece!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=si0ruyD8rqw

Legendary Cat Anderson

The Cat Anderson Warm-Up (CAW), also known as the 20 minute warm-up, is a warm-up routine that will make you sound better, last longer and lay a solid foundation for expanding your range.

This post is not yet finished!

This may sound as quite a promise, but it holds true – I can personally attest to that!

The following is my way of doing it – if you want the official version you should check out The Real Cat Anderson Method

Here is how to do it:

1. Set a metronome to around 60 BPM (or use the Cat Anderson – 20 min Warm-up acc. track that I’ve made – it makes the warm-up a little less ‘boring’)
2. Put your horn to your mouth and move your jaw a bit forward so that your lower teeth bites together with the upper teeth (teeth touching – but no tension!)
3. Blow a middle-staff G as soft as you can (pppp)
4. Hold it for 4-5 bars (4/4 time)
5. Breathe in through your nose, fill your lungs with air – but do not remove the mouthpiece from your lips, and maintain the protruded jaw (don’t attempt cycle-breathing, it’s not relevant here).
6. Blow another middle-staff G in the same way, and continue doing this for 20 minutes

That’s CAW in a nutshell! You should do this every day, or at least as often as possible.

Notes on the warm-up

Startin’ out

When you begin incorporating CAW into your daily routine, you’ll no doubt experience difficulties. It is not at all certain that you can do this for 20 consecutive minutes. According to the author of The Real Cat Anderson Method even seasoned professionals run into problems like this.

If that’s the case, do it for as long as you can – the instant you start to feel any discomfort or tension, that’s it – you’ve done enough for today! Pick it up again tomorrow, eventually you’ll be able to do it the whole way through

Keepin’ time

Instead of using a metronome at around 60 BPM, you can use my acc. track.

Play the soft G during the 12 measures of E-minor, and rest during the F-minor bars.

Click here to listen to the track

Play on A, rest on B (keep mouthpiece on)

Pressure

The whole idea of this exercise is to make your lips able to vibrate with as little pressure from the mouthpiece as possible (and as little airpressure as possible).

Try holding the horn with only one hand while playing. Now shift hands while still playing. If the note is not interrupted or interfered with by changing hands, you are on the right path

The protruded jaw-position

First of all – this only pertains to people with an overbite. If you have an underbite, I honestly don’t know what Cat would’ve told you.

You should protrude your jaw, so the lower teeth and the upper teeth ‘bites together’, however it is very important that you feel no discomfort in your jaw, and it is also very important that you do not use any force in the bite, the teeth should simply be resting on each other.

This way of playing the note has some very beneficial effects in this exercise, but it is in no way intended that you should also play this way in your other trumpet-playing activities.

The beneficial effects of the protruded jaw are as I see them:

• Because of the jaw position, applying pressure becomes ‘unnatural’
• Your embouchure (not you!) learns how to produce tone without any pressure
• By doing the warm-up each day for an extended period, this will carry over into your normal playing (but remember, the protruded jaw is for the warm-up only, not for regular playing)

Sound

You probably won’t produce a silken-smooth, alluringly whispering in the depths of your barely audible horn, entizing women and children round the globe to gather round and rejoice kinda tone. At least not on day one…

It’s much more likely that you’ll produce a cracking, bubbling, wheezing and constantly stopping sorta’ pitch. That’s quite OK, in this exercise sound is a ‘nice-to-have’ but it’s not important. You are training some very fine muscles here and thats’ the main point.

Fatigue

While still in the beginning stage,  you will probably feel muscle-fatigue after the warm-up. If so, it is important that you feel this in the muscles around you mouth, not in the lips. If  you feel tired in the lips, you are not doing it right.

Attack

You should use a breath attack, not a tongue-attack.

This means just start the tone without any tonguing at all. In other words go ‘pu’ rather than ‘tu’

Elimate distractions

You may be thinking ‘Cool! I can do a great exercise AND watch telly at the same time!’, if so, I urge  you to reconsider. I did it myself, and I noticed that the quality of the exercise drops dramatically. You tend to forget the jaw, you start pressing the mouthpiece against your lips etc… When occupied by something external, your body will start falling back to the way it always use to do things, and you cheat yourself from the benefit of this exercise. Besides, bloody telly is usually awful isn’t it?

Rather concentrate on making the tone with as little pressure as possible. This will shift the workload to the muscles around your mouth, exactly where the workload SHOULD be.

This post is not yet finished!