How to build trumpet endurance: there is no way round playing more

Endurance comes from playing more and from being pushed past the point where you would normally stop, and I don't know another way round it.

There is no way round it

The thing about endurance is that there is really no other way than doing it and playing more. We can mess around with all the gimmicks we like. We can discuss efficiency. But it is one of the only parts of the instrument that I really think is down to just doing a lot of it.

If we never push ourselves to the point where we can't play, we are not going to grow much.

Why a hard gig does more than a week of practice

A player told me about a long concert where the chops had gone with the hardest tunes still to come, and asked how to think about that.

Imagine putting yourself through that much at home. You would bail. And you would never get any better.

Stamina feels like a problem because the only time we notice it is when we are doing the most demanding thing we ever do. If you did that every day, you would condition yourself to it. In fact you would have to go even harder, so that the gig could be easier.

You get pushed that hard very rarely. So there are two ways to take it. You can sit there and moan that it is too much. Or you can say, we are going to get through this, and tomorrow I will be stronger than I have ever been. You probably get five times better doing a gig like that than you would practising for a whole week.

I have been desperate for the conductor not to call an encore so many times. But it is always after those periods of adversity, two, three or four days later, that you really start to see results.

There is a limit. If you were doing this four days in a row, things were falling apart and you were physically hurting yourself, I would say ease off.

A marathon you can measure

My favourite endurance practice is something we used to do at college. Put the metronome on, start at one of the early studies in the Arban and play through them one after another, with a very short break between each. We used to take no break at all and go until we completely broke.

There is a lot of tonguing in those studies, and that is deliberate. Tonguing is good for you. It makes sure you are playing correctly while you work on your stamina.

If I was doing it on my own, I would go as far as I could and write the number down. If I got further the next day, great. Now you have something you can really gauge.

Some things I would keep in mind:

• Do it three times a week if you really want to improve.
• Give it its own session, later in the day. If you do it at the end of a practice session, you are not testing it properly.
• Breaking is good. It means you are making progress.
• Don't judge anything straight afterwards. This is a do it and then wait thing.
• Tomorrow might feel a bit bruised and uncomfortable. That is okay.

Be smart about it. If it starts having a negative impact on your playing over the long term, think again about whether it is a good idea.

Make practice more like the gig

There is a reason so many people can do things in the practice room but not on the gig. It is very difficult to replicate that environment at home.

If I have a gig coming up, I play the music out of my speakers, really loud, and play along. It is the closest thing I can get to the real experience. I don't always come out of that feeling great mentally, so be a bit careful that you don't hate yourself afterwards.

When the chops go on the gig

Once things are falling apart, I try to play smart. I look for every opportunity to leave a unison to the other players. In the breaks, the horn comes down. Little things like that eke out 10%, and you keep finding it from somewhere.

It is rare, and I wouldn't like to do it, but the horn might even go down for 10 or 12 bars. I would rather do that than miss every note I am playing.

Then ask yourself what you learned. How could you have been smarter? How will you deal with it next time?

One thing to try this week

Once this week, later in the day, put a metronome on and play through the early Arban studies one after another until you can't go on. Write down the number you reached. Then leave it alone and see how you feel a few days later.

More trumpet advice

• What to practise at home on the trumpet, and what you only get from playing with people
• Double tonguing on the trumpet: it is usually an air problem
• Playing the trumpet in tune: use the slides, but it starts with your ears