3: Guided Practice Lessons

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This book is intended to support a one semester Brass Techniques course of 12-16 weeks, meeting twice a week. The presumption is that students spend 3-4 weeks on each of four brass instruments, developing familiarity and technique on trumpet, horn, trombone, and euphonium/tuba. Any instrument may be the starting point, and the structure of these activities allows for homogenous or heterogenous groupings.

The Guided Practice Lessons serve to guide students through appropriate practice approaches as developing brass musicians. The intention is that the Guided Practice Lessons serve as an example of a 10-15 minute practice session that should happen between in class meetings. Students are encouraged to mix and match similar activities using the Guided Practice Lessons as a guide. For lessons with a video, students can play along with the video to pace their lesson.

To develop the fundamentals and embouchure to be a consistent brass musician, it is imperative that practice occur every day. Shorter practice sessions daily will be more effective at developing and maintaining muscle control and strength than longer sessions on a more sporadic basis.