Beginning of the Lesson

I begin every lesson, group or individual with a warm-up.  There are many purposes for a warm-up.  It physically warms the body up, ready for playing.  In a group setting the warm-up helps the players come together as an ensemble.  Some students may be late, and the warm-up serves as a time when they can get their instruments ready and join in without missing any new learning.  Psychologically a warm-up signals the beginning of the lesson, the time for non-related chat is over, and we need to get ready to work.

The warm-up I do is different for different levels of playing, but is always geared towards tone.  For brand new beginner players, I get them to hold long notes.  This works of their stamina and tone, as well as reinforces the notes they’ve learned.

For 2^nd years to about 4^th years I do a warm-up based on the “tonalisation” exercises in the Suzuki Method flute books by Toshio Takahashi.  These exercises again work on tone, but also focus on tonguing and changing octaves.

For advanced players I do a warm-up based on the tone exercises by Trevor Wye (who in turn bases his exercises on those by Marcel Moyse).  These warm-ups include different registers and also dynamics.

The warm up you do depends on your instrument or your goal for the lesson.  You might do some rhythmic games or vocal exercises.  Brass players will need to get their lips buzzing with lots of low notes, while drummers might do some stretches.  Your warm ups might be based on something from a tutor book (as mine are), something you’ve made up, or something you’ve learned from someone else.  The important thing is that you take the time to signal the start of the lesson and that the class begins to focus on their playing.