David Cooper's Horn Warmups

This video is my take on horn warmups! I describe what I do every morning and why I do it and my concepts on sound production, articulation and air.
Note! This routine might not be for everyone! We are all at different levels and what works for one player might not work for another. Please check with a teacher before you try this routine. If you feel it isn't helpful, you're welcome to take what you want and leave the rest. This is just meant to be a suggestion and merely what helped me become more consistent.
I have written out pdf's of this warm up available on
www.cooperhorn.com
This video was filmed and edited by Tobias Griesbach in Berlin in May 2018

[@spynomis]

Some time-stamps to help guide our practice: 0:43 - "Golden Sounds" 8:24 - "Lips, Mouthpiece. Horn" 23:33 - "Pitch Bends" 34:06 - Emptying Water from the Horn 34:55 - "The Snake" 46:51 - "High Notes - Interval of the Week" I am so very grateful for this resource! I find myself coming back to it every so often when I want to make sure I am continuing to improve the fundamentals of my playing.

[@carolinaroot3492]

Thank you!!

[@FhornPatrick]

Yes, David!! Would love to see more videos from you!! There is a lot of need for young horn players to learn and develop and they are coming to youtube for the answers. Please feel free to reach out if you ever need anything! P

[@Tkibbs14]

I second this!! We need more orchestral horn players to show different approaches to warm ups and show that there's not only one way of doing things. Everyone has their own warm up and I think it's good for young players to be exposed to all kinds of knowledge to horn playing. Accessibility is well needed

[@davidcooperhorn]

Ok! I'll take you up on it! Send some ideas of topics and videos!

[@FhornPatrick]

@@davidcooperhorn Hey David, I sent you a message on instagram. Cheers.

[@superpucc1]

FhornPatrick and even not young horn players😁

[@cullenmalachi3326]

you all prolly dont care at all but does any of you know of a way to log back into an Instagram account..? I stupidly lost the password. I would appreciate any assistance you can offer me.

[@aj6291]

This is wonderful, will def do it. Perfect timing uploading this, trying to get back to the horn and this is superior help thanks so much, ur such a horn hero!

[@RandoManOfWonders]

David Cooper: "I always finish off with 3 pianissimo F#'s for as long as I can hold them." Me: "Tchaikovsky? Is that you?"

[@danielmoore1734]

How have i not seen these videos! Thanks so much, David! You are a champion!

[@kkr203]

Thanks David! Thank you not only for the exercises but also demonstrating them. Also, giving insight in-between each is great!

[@mik3855]

Very good and helpful video Maestro. Thank you!

[@FourfuxAche]

Thanks for the showing your warmup, some very nice nuggets in there, much appreciated.

[@trich_official]

I’m in a college orchestra and my lessons teacher is in a professional orchestra and, ironically, he’s teaching exactly what’s in this video!

[@alexsandr5]

Hi, David! Great training system! Thanks for sharing!

[@jorgehorn]

Thank you very much Master David, I liked it and I felt comfortable warming up with you, greetings from Argentina.

[@ChrisCastellanos1]

Hey man, this is great! I'm happy to see you put your warmup here on youtube. Young players, professionals everyone in-between will benefit from this!

[@philipdungey8229]

Chris you are everywhere! I have been loving playing horn and came across David's warm up -- after about 2/3 through my lips were tingling so much haha

[@jorgecarrera5565]

Really interesting, I'm going to show this to my colleagues in Mozarteum, here in Venezuela, Thanks a lot!

[@davidecitera]

Thanks for this Video David! It’s very helpful for everybody!!

[@jennamcbride-harris2395]

Fantastic-thank you so much for sharing this. I look forward to experimenting with many of these ideas over the next few weeks. I also so appreciate your enjoyment of the horn that comes through the video so clearly. It’s given me a shot in the arm in the midst of this quarantine. Grateful!

[@davidcooperhorn]

Jenna McBride-Harris thanks so much Jenna!!! I'm so glad you enjoy playing these and so happy to share my love of the horn!!!

[@constanzadougall5996]

Thanks for sharing this!

[@martinhackleman2717]

David, thanks for sharing! Some really good stuff!

[@caitlinrbrody]

Thank you so much for this awesome video!!! Really great to warm up with you!

[@davidcooperhorn]

Thanks Caitlin!

[@rickdynes]

Dear, Maestro Cooper as a Frank Sinatra impersonator who studied Tuba a long long time ago, I often look to the very Top of Classical Brass playing for touchstones of inspiration, standards of controlling wind-flow...sound, craft, artistry, poetry, invention, ideas, concepts, evaluation, mechanics, algorithms, commonalities, Vision...I have a long way to go to reach my goals certainly... and yet (with today's Critical knowledge accessibility) I really have great Hope moving forward😊 Thank You So Much, for this Wonderful video!!

[@myroslavvoroniuk5588]

Good lesson! Thanks David. Hello from Lugano 🇨🇭

[@MatthewWright001]

I did a lesson with David back in 2017ish and used variations of his warm up the entire time I played through college. It rocks!

[@davidcooperhorn]

[@marcelosilva277]

Sounds good Professor David you are The Best

[@TheSpasenie]

Thank you very mach! Some of this i will try it tomorrow!

[@jadelozard32]

Thanks for uploading this it really helped me do my warmups

[@joseantoniodeabreu]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us! I will never forget that once we meet casually in the subway in Berlin, I was totally impressed by your simplicity!!! Best wishes, José António de Abreu

[@davidcooperhorn]

José António de Abreu I remember that! Great to meet you again José!

[@isaacgeorge6388]

This is gonna help me SOOOOOO much as a high school player. Thank you Edit: especially when I get my braces off soon

[@ninaknific6677]

Lips - Mouthpiece - Horn is my favorite. It really boosted my playing! I have been on the same horn for about 17 years now. I took a break, and now I know my horn better than I know the back of my own hands. “Magic happens” is right!

[@davidcooperhorn]

Nina Knific Whoohooo Nina!!! Thanks for sharing your experience with this exercise!

[@user-yy7ui8ed6t]

It hels a~~~~~lot for me. Thanks David!

[@derekhayes8209]

Thank you for your video, recommended by my teacher. Your approach inspires and motivates me. Generally, your exercises remind me of Julie Landsman/Caruso method. Look forward to more videos. Hope you keep safe and well at these extraordinary and difficult times due to the virus

[@davidcooperhorn]

Hey Drew! Oh no! Sorry to hear that this was tiring! Everything in moderation. If you only want to do one octave, that's fine too, it's all about what feels good to you. I tend to not want to take the mouthpiece on and off the face in between the same note and the next note for consistency to feel the slight change between the different pitches. I do not press hard, simply contain the lip with the mouthpiece. Let me know if this helps!

[@xdcamthom5476]

hi David I recently decided to take on Nocturno by Strauss and i listened to your recording and your warmups helped me a lot. Thanks!!

[@masonthomas8216]

Omg same

[@bobkenehan7541]

Bravo David. As an advanced enthusiast player learning professional technique from you is invaluable. Many thanks and welcome to Chicago.

[@davidcooperhorn]

Bob Kenehan thanks so much Bob! Looking forward to seeing you at a concert!

[@bobkenehan7541]

David Cooper David, I like your discussion on aiming below center on the note. I agree. It made me think of a phrase: “if you aim low - you’ll never be disappointed.”

[@fooddancefilms2461]

David, your amazing.. High 5 from your friend Louie

[@HornVojta]

Nice video, a great job David!

[@davidcooperhorn]

Huge hugs Premysl!

[@HornVojta]

@@davidcooperhorn 🙃

[@user-yd6wx2ed5s]

You are my role model. I learned a lot from his great playing horn and videos. I really respect you.thank you😍😍

[@bobbysalazar1740]

Hey hey hey we need more horn posts

[@matthewwinter7660]

Hey David!! Great video! Just wondering if you make a mistake in your warm up do you go back and fix it till it's clean or just keep moving straight through?

[@davidfuentes1528]

Hi David, that was so great!!!! thanks so much! I do struggle with endurance, (I'm trying to work on it, so any tips would be appreciate it) how long would you do a normal warm up for a non professional player just a student, and if I did something similar to this lenght? would I stop and re-take it later in the date to carry on with my study? or rest for the day? thanks!!!!

[@xudongzhuang3561]

Truly useful tips! Thank you, David! Can I upload it to Chinese website so that Chinese horn players can learn about it?

[@sofamir947]

Неплохо!! Больше всего мне понравилось упражнение по нотам натуральной валторны!)

[@ejlabarre]

I could check for myself, but are you tuning to 442 for this video? I was working with it, and I like it, butI don't want to be tuning and training sharper.

[@SjoerdvanderVeen]

Great stuff, in the tradition of Carmine Caruso!

[@sergioalegria9868]

Muy interesante el trabajo de Warm-up Maestro David.es posible de mandarme las Partituras de estos ejercicios eternamente agradecido un afectuoso saludo desde Chile...

[@jonathansnydermusic]

Thanks for posting! It's incredibly interesting. However, like others, I couldn't find the PDFs.

[@davidcooperhorn]

Thank you for your patience! I am getting my website designer to upload soon!

[@steste6769]

Great👏🍾

[@bsnowden]

During the lips, mouthpiece horn part, specifically the lip buzz, Are you making the tone like singing or does the tone come from lips or mouth? I can't seem to get any tone. Just spitty buzzy sound

[@davidmaldonado3502]

Hello teacher. Your routine is wonderful, I want to know if it is correct to do it every day? or several tones? I would love to know more exercises of yours. Thanks, teacher

[@davidcooperhorn]

Hey David, I would recommend doing this routine once every day in the morning about 45-60 minutes at least before you have to do any other playing, ensembles etc. I am planning on putting together more videos in the future about more stuff to play throughout the day!

[@anotherstarwarsvictim]

I can´t find the PDF file

[@bernieflores3092]

Hi David, I noticed how you used the F side from G downwards, except for pedal D (not sure) and Eb...I have always wondered what the reasoning behind this. I also noticed this in the playing of other American horn players. To put you in context, I grew out of a culture that sticks mostly to the Bb side. Though I am F side (trained), I have gotten used to the Bb side. However, I recently explored some notes on the F side, like the F#, G, but still trying to justify my effort on switching other middle notes to the F side. Please enlighten me.

[@rickspence2086]

Sounds like the Caruso warmup favored by Julie Landsmann, among others. Like your metronome: keeps the subdivision audible, good for practice and conditioning. BTW, what is your horn?

[@beckymcgown]

This feels great! Thank you so much for sharing your routine. Do you usually stand for the whole time to feel the openness in your body?

[@davidcooperhorn]

Rebecca McGown Hi Rebecca, I stand because it's for my breathing and to open up my lungs all the way to my lowest part in my torso and to feel the breath support working in my lower abs. Hope this helps!

[@beckymcgown]

@@davidcooperhorn yes, and thank you!

[@andyliu7221]

Hi David! It's Andy from the National Youth Symphony Orchestra of China. Could you please give me some tips on tonguing? I got to 130 bpm for 4 sixteenth notes per beat but couldn't go up anymore. Driving me crazy

[@letitiascott197]

Can I get a copy of this?

[@retserwj]

Awesome video, but I saw a cat tower and now I MUST see the kitty.

[@davidcooperhorn]

Have you seen @muffypetite? She's my Persian cat mix that I got at the Berlin Animal shelter! Check out her insta page!😉

[@beckymcgown]

I kept hoping the kitty would walk into the room 😂

[@davidcooperhorn]

She's isn't the biggest fan of horn warmups😂

[@beckymcgown]

I LOVE THIS!

[@retserwj]

Our cat sort of tolerates it while napping. Out of curiosity, are you spending most of your time on the Alex these days? I recently got one from 1953 and I am staggered at the amazing resonance it has. Much more resonant than my Paxman 70M.

[@joeclaby2818]

Wow! How do you manage to freebuzz so low and still get vibration in your lips???

[@aj6291]

Joe Claby his muscles have way to much strength, plus he’s air stream is so steady and powerful, also he’s breaths are amazingly deep.

[@StocksIn60Seconds]

Tongue position and mouth compression. Can’t have a large oral cavity, but keep everything compact, basically touching the sides of the cheeks to the teeth.

[@kuo-huachen2189]

David: great input! thanks so much! btw what mouthpiece do you use?

[@davidcooperhorn]

In this video I am using a 3D M A1 JK mouthpiece. There are many model mouthpieces from them for various needs but this is what worked for me on the Alexander 103.

[@kuo-huachen2189]

@@davidcooperhorn thanks, David!

[@donspaulding3343]

Great video and thanks for sharing David! Surprised you didn't give credit to Julie and Carmine for the "snake".

[@davidcooperhorn]

These were taught to me by Kolio Platchkov, who learned them from Jen Montone who learned them from Julie Landsman. They are based on the Caruso method. They aren't original, but they really helped me! Thanks for asking!

[@donspaulding3343]

@@davidcooperhorn BTW, you sound great on the 103! They are fun horns to play, but other than National symphony, I haven't seen them in sections here in the states.

[@davidcooperhorn]

The Alexander 103 was really great to play! Really a beautiful horn. This video was made in 2018 when I was still in Berlin, now that I'm back in the States, I'm back to my Lewis.

[@marthasharpe4929]

Just curious why you start with the breath attack exercise instead of “Lips, Mouthpiece, Horn”? LMH seems like a more logical starting point for a warmup. Awesome video though. And thanks for sharing!!

[@StocksIn60Seconds]

Isn’t Lips Mouthpiece Horn very advanced, very specific Caruso method stuff? I only know pros who do that, and anyone who says that kids do that is clearly talking about 1%, if that.

[@michaelsanchez347]

They're different approaches. I would highly disagree that it's something that only pros are up to doing but it's true that that's a very Caruso approach. Different people will work best with different approaches. It's not a question of ability

[@FrostV448]

What mouth piece do you use?

[@johndeal4381]

How can I increase upper register? Can't get above high B flat. Great low register.

[@DaniEL-tc7le]

Accelerate air flow, Raise the back of the tongue according to the tone height/ pitch

[@johndeal4381]

This must take a lot of energy. Do you do any physical exercise?

[@davidcooperhorn]

Hey John! I would love to make some more videos about the physical exercises that I do in combination with the horn! I am huge into being active and recommend swimming and Pilates specifically for horn playing improvements!

[@anacarolinareggiani4822]

Which mouthpiece is this ?

[@Hanna-jt1sz]

I can’t buzz that low.. can I improve this with the exercise you showed? Or am I just a hopeless case 😅 Anyway, thanks for posting this great video! I would love to see more

[@davidcooperhorn]

Hi Hanna! Of course! It's always something you can improve! It just takes a little progress every day! You'll get it! I've been doing this for 10 years!

[@Hanna-jt1sz]

David Cooper thank you so much for your response! Do you also have a cool down that you do every day?

[@davidcooperhorn]

I do have a cool down! I usually hold the 3 pedal F#s at ppp for as long as I can which is like a lip massage, or I do some decending arpeggios and go down and come back up and I'll add the 6th of the chord in there as well. I'll write it and put it up on my website!

[@Hanna-jt1sz]

David Cooper thank you! One last request: would you mind posting some excercises to built up the high/low register? I think that would be so great:) sorry, my English isn’t very good. Best wishes from Germany!

[@Joewylie3]

You might enjoy the Julie Landsman series on Carmine Caruso exercises. At Julie Landsman.com you can print out the exercises her suggestions etc and watch her teach these on KZbin.

[@qhl5579]

What mouthpiece do you use?? Thank you.

[@davidcooperhorn]

QH L I was using a JK 3DM A1 Now I'm back on my American setup. Basically a Horton bFarkas MC

[@qhl5579]

@@davidcooperhorn excellent thank you!! Congratulations on your career!!

[@horn791]

Does it work if you never take it off your lips?

[@zacharyregin9726]

It takes mad chops

[@austindouty1583]

I can't seem to find the PDF's on the website. Am I just missing these? Would love to incorporate them into my routine!

[@davidcooperhorn]

I uploaded the PDF's now! Thanks for your patience! cooperhorn.com/warm-ups

[@donaldspaulding6973]

Hi Austin! Here's the link for the sheet music s3.amazonaws.com/julielandsman/index.html Here's the video series - www.julielandsman.com/gallery There's only a small difference. Julie doesn't take lips off the mouthpiece and breaths through the nose. And also does all of the F horn.

[@davidcooperhorn]

Donald Spaulding Hi Donald, Thanks for sharing these warm ups as well! They are on my website as well cooperhorn.com/warm-ups

[@mdblrf345]

have tryed hundred times but no results......:(

[@injectchen]

Wow, those low notes buzzing.......

[@davidherbert5130]

Awefül. 😎

[@davidcooperhorn]

You're funny!

[@marieso21]

[@rp1894]

I noticed you didn't go over hitting double high C.

[@elischeba3748]

Leider ist das Metronom akustisch sehr im Vordergrund.Ansonsten war es sehr lehrreich

[@IndianOutlaw1870]

I have, at most, 60 to 90 minutes per day to practice. I can't justify a warm-up this long. Perhaps for professionals, this is necessary. I'm just a comeback player.

[@Deesie89]

Very helpful! But this is no warm-up? It is your daily routine...