How Do YOU use Chicowicz Flow Studies?

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amoss1s
Posts: 50
Joined: May 22, 2018

by amoss1s »

I’ve been using the first flow study with my band students as a warm up/ long tone exercise, and would like to incorporate them into my daily practice. Given the time I have to practice, it seems impractical to play all seven sequences of all ten flow studies. If you do use them for your daily practice, how do you all use them? How do you balance time and application? Thanks!
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CalgaryTbone
Posts: 1460
Joined: May 10, 2018

by CalgaryTbone »

I'm not sure if they are exactly the same, but I've been enjoying the trombone version that was recently published. With the opening exercises (the slow legato arpeggios), I do the odd numbered ones one day and the even numbered ones the next day. I'm sure you can figure out something similar with the exercises that you are talking about, whether they are the same as the ones I'm referring to or not.

Jim Scott
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dwcarder
Posts: 53
Joined: Jun 27, 2023

by dwcarder »

Back when I was in high school I went to a trombone day held by a local university. I distinctly remember the warmup handout I got because I memorized it from using it every day after that. I did so at the time because I figured the professor must really know what he was doing, and that handout must represent the pinnacle of warmup achievement.

Only much later (note, I never had any formal instruction and am "only" a community player) I realized one side was right out of Chicowicz and the other side was lip exercises from Remington. I tend to and still prefer my Remington book. Now 30yrs later I am now using the flow studies again daily though as I try to double on trumpet. Maybe 10-15 min a day.

For both approaches though I really didn't treat it mentally as a warm-up, it was a deliberate practice with a specific goal of improvement in tuning, tone, and control through and across each partial.
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musicofnote
Posts: 367
Joined: Jun 03, 2022

by musicofnote »

When I studied with Edward H. Tarr, he passed out to his students what he called "The Chicowicz Flow Studies". It turns out, these are just a very abbreviated version, but they have served me well for years now.

https://5d832781b3df5.site123.me/free-trombone-music