Baldwin, David. (1996). The seven secrets of endurance. International Trumpet Guild Journal, page 58.

Written for the International Trumpet Guild’s Journal by a professor of trumpet at the University of Minnesota, this article discusses the common problem, and resulting goal, of endurance. While this article is written specifically for trumpet players, the ideas essentially apply to all brass instruments and all brass players. The author lists seven secrets.

First, "ease mouthpiece pressure at all rests and phrase endings." Second, "practice in specific chunks of time – play then rest." Then, he suggests to "read an upper register passage down an octave to develop ease and security." Next, one should "practice a piccolo piece on the B-flat, C, or E-flat trumpet using the same fingering." Fifth, "use pedal tones and a 10-20 minute break to extend your practice." Also, "know a piece musically well enough that you can shorten some longer notes or leave out a few ‘non-essential’ notes altogether to be fresh for the most musically important part of the piece." Lastly, "do isometric exercises with the lips." He goes into detail on each of these points, but listing the "seven secrets" really is the best way to summarize the article.

In my practice and lessons, I have used 4 of these – numbers 1, 2, 3, and 5. As a trombone player, using a differently-pitched instrument is generally possible. However, as a kind of combination of number 4 and 3, Dr. Seidel often has me play Rochut etude as if in tenor clef and then an octave down. Only once I have done that (in addition to buzzing and singing) can I actually play the entire etude. Isometrics are definitely interesting ideas, which I now intend to try. Finally, I think that the sixth secret needs to be done with caution – it is a good idea to conserve for the large passages, but the music must not be taken away from, and I think most players would simply take away from the music to achieve this kind of rest. Overall, these ideas are excellent, and they would all help beginning players all the way up through advanced players.

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