THE ANSWERS from Wayne Bergeron's Tip Tuesday Session: 1) Aaron Witek Question: With being on the road

so much and always performing, do you have a fundamental routine you do? If so, can you give details about what you do? WB- I always start the day the same whether on the road or at home. Setting up t he same ways daily builds consistency. 1-Very soft long tones with air attacks from second line G to middle C and down to Low C. Striving for a clear resonant sound with no fuzz. 2 Some Flexibility things-Irons and a few things I made up myself. 3-Single tongue scales-Major, Minor, harmonic minor and dim 4-Some arpeggios into the upper register to make sure that's responding. On days off I'll do the above and 5- Boyde Hood modified Stamp routine, Some Bill Adams things 6-Work on some improve or music of some sort. I approach the trumpet from the classical side of the horn. I try to play with a s round and controlled tone as possible in all registers. Send me your mail and I'll send you some of the things mentioned above. 2) Mark Metrinko Question: How do you approach playing so many different styles for recording sessions? Do you take time days prior to reset your approach, or just adjust when you start t he gig? WB-I always start the day the same by making sure my chops respond without force at a soft dynamic. I can always get the commercial side of the horn going quick ly as I'm more comfortable doing this type of playing. I think approaching the t rumpet in a classical manner helps everything. The basic fundamentals are the fo undation no matter what style you are playing. 3) Miles McAllister Question: What advice can you give someone who wants to break into the studios beyond mast ering the instrument? What's the most important specific skill a studio musician needs? Thanks, Wayne! WB-This question gets asked a lot. The most specific skills are consistency, sig ht reading ability, good intonation, stylistic diversity, be a great section pla yer on any book, be cool under pressure and have the ability to take and interpi t directions quickly. I mention consistency first because you may have to play a cue several times in a row. If there is a mistake in the strings you have to pl ay it again and again and.... (I hate that part:) Breaking into the studio biz i s tough. Established composers and contractors have there list of players they a re comfortable using. That being said, if a great player moves to a town like LA there is a chance he or she might end up on a session by recommendation of one of the established players. It's a word of mouth business. A contractor once tol d a new player in town "sure I can put you on my list, but you'll be on the bott om of the list." When the player asked "why the bottom, I'm a very good player?" The contractor replied "which one of the players on my list should I fire to mo ve you up?" It's like this in any business. 4) Junior Banda Question: If you have a few Heavy or Brutal days back to back and one or two free days in between...Do you let your chops get total rest? Or do you practice very light st

uff? WB-Sometimes I'll take a day off if I'm really beat up. I try to combat the al days with warming down, lots of lip flapping. aspirin and water therapy. wer massager) Most of the time I will do some light very soft playing (long s) as I feel it re-centers and heals the lips as well. I don't like to take than one day off at a time. 5) Brent Williams Question: What is your favorite part about playing the trumpet, why do you play? WB-I love the challenge the trumpet brings everyday. Trying to tame and control this "coil of torture" is my life and all I know. I fell very fortunate to do wh at I love for a living, not everyone can say that:) At the end of the day inspir ing young musicians is what I love most about what I do. 6) Matt Collins Question: If you do get nervous before/while performing then how do you get past it? WB-I do get a little nervous energy every time I perform. Slow relaxed controlle d breathing helps slow the heart rate. Before I walk on stage I'm usually backst age getting myself as relaxed as possible with some breathing technics. Getting nervous is not as much of an issue as it use to be as I feel I'm a better prepar ed musician now. Nervousness comes from feeling you might fail. The better you k now the task at hand the less of a problem this becomes. Also, never make your g oal playing a perfect performance. Make your goal to play the most musical perfo rmance you can. 7) Jalen Allred Question: What keeps you motivated? What advice can you give a kid who started later in life but still wants to be a great trumpet player? WB-Like any other line of work, if you want to be great, you have to completely dedicate yourself to excellence. Work hard, take lessons etc. The reason many mu sicians fall short is that they are looking for a shortcut. Some players have na tural ability at certain things but there are no shortcuts to being a great all around musician. That being said, not everyone wants to do this professionally. Many part time players have a great time playing as an outlet to their regular l ives and play well. Unfortunately the trumpet requires a lot of attention and ca n be frustrating when neglected. Kind of like a spouse:) LOL!!! I guess the thin g to remember is we all started in music because we thought it was fun. Dave Pugh Question: What are your first steps when mapping out a new (improvised) solo - especially for a piece that you may not have heard or they is a brand new chart? WB-Once I've played through the piece once I have an idea of the pacing. Playing a solo in a big band has many challenges. You may have a chorus or 2 with the r hythm section. After that some back grounds may come in, this changes the way th e rhyme section plays and can handcuff the soloist. Suddenly things are more str brut (Sho tone more

uctured and you have to negotiate through back ground figures to be heard. If th e BGs are busy I will try to create something off of them by playing less busy. I try to stay out of the range of the BGs. If the BG figures are in the staff I' ll try to play on top of the staff to be heard. If they are busy, I'll play more sustained or sparce. Being the type of player I am I can usually power through the BGs with volume or range if necessary. This becomes more of a challenge for quieter players. The advice above was explained to me by the great Ron Stout. He 's great at finding his way through busy or loud BGs by using the figures to his advantage