DAILY WARM-UP EXERCISES
All of the exercises and patterns should be practised using different articulations. The actual techniques can be adapted to suit your particular instrument (tonguing, fingering, slurring etc.) but should basically be as follows:
- legato
- legato tongued, (soft tongued)
- staccato
bebop
All can be practised using straight eighths or varying amounts of swing
. An even tempo must be sustained throughout, this is much more important than speed. This means that instead of starting fast and slowing down for tricky passages, you should start at a slower tempo. Any awkward passages should be practised on their own until you can play them as fast as the easy bits.
Ideally you should already be able to play all major and minor scales and triad arpeggios in all keys. If you are already proficient in A, B and C then concentrate more on D. On wind and string instruments bebop phrasing can be played with or without the accents. On keyboard instruments, tuned percussion or any other instruments where slurring notes is not possible, accents are essential to imply the off beat character. When using this type of phrasing, any triplet figures should be played legato, slurring into the first of the next group of quavers.