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 Shofar Practice Schedule
Arthur L. Finkle
Preparations One Whole Month Before Rosh Hashanah
Tisha B¶av signals to me that there are 7-weeks before Rosh HaShanah.Therefore, I should prepare myself mentally to devote practicing the shofarat the beginning of the next month - Elul.
C
ustomarily, we sound the shofar at the end of morning (and, in someplace, afternoon) services.Sounding the shofar at services is a practical way of preparing for the ³realdeal´ on Rosh HaShanah. In addition this period serves as a reminder toorient my attention to appropriate repentance.Being a Shofar Sounder for 30+ years, I have established a routine which Iwant to convey to readers of this article. The routine is based on soundmusical principals expressed (hopefully) in plain English.
 
If you have any questions or concerns, contact me at:
 
Shofar221@lycos.com
 
Or any of the websites below:
 
 
Joint Effort with Michael Chusid, an expert Shofar sounder and commentator http://www.hearingshofar.com Shofar Sounders WebPagehttp://shofar221.com Shofar WebPagehttp://shofar-sounders.com
 
BLOGShttp://shofar-sounders.blogspot.com/ http://hearingshofar.blogspot.com/ 
Warm-Up
 WE MUST WARM-UP! This should not be left to chance nor treated lightly by aserious musician on any instrument. If I do not warm-up properly, my performancecertainly suffers. Most brass players have several routines. For Shofar sounding, Isuggest warming up on the fundamental note.
In simple terms, a noise from a musicalinstrument plays more than one note, called Harmonics, but the principal musical tone produced by vibration (as of a string or column of air) is the fundamental or most prominent tone.http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fundamental
Then, focus on your attack (how you
 
articulate the note). Then play the Tekiah, Shevorim, Shevorim-Teruah, and Tekiah.Your warm up should be at home because the shul does not offer privacy. In shul, youshould hold the Shofar between your arms so that the horn will become the sametemperature as your body because the instrument should be the same temperature or more than the room. A cold note becomes flat (off-tune or atonal).The shofar¶s sound is similar to creation as that of a brass instrument b(Trumpet,French horn, trombone, tuba, etc) in that the lips vibrate creating a ³buzzing.´You should practice buzzing; (brass players do this by playing the mouthpiece alone.In the case of Shofar playing, you can buzz by shaping your thumb and forefinger inthe shape of a mouthpiece and blowing into it to stimulate your embouchure. (See
The Art of French Horn Playing 
by Philip Farkas,
The Complete Method 
by MilanYancich, and
 Embouchure Building 
by Joseph Singer; there are many good resourcesout there.)
 
When Should I Warm-Up? How Much Should I Practice?
 
Professional brass players warm-up
every
time they get the instrument out of the caseto play.
The first warm-up in the morning is the most important, as it sets up your embouchure for the rest of the day. The second and third warm-ups are usuallyshorter, but need to be there to maintain and build the embouchure.
 
Related issues are how much to practice, and when. I feel, if time allows, the serious brass student or professional usually practices three times a day for no more than onehour apiece. A Shofar sounder, not being a professional in the brass instrumentalistsense of the word, should practice each day at the same time of day. Practice standingup; sitting down will change your embouchure.Initially, practice the fundamental note until you feel your muscles get adjusted. Donot play too much beyond this level. If they tire, your muscles are telling you that theyhave had enough. By repeated playing, however, your musculature will develop intohigh quality sound and endurance. Ten minutes is the usual limit.
 
Once, you have mastered the one fundamental note, you should concentrate on theattack. The quality of an attack is determined by the position of the tongue¶s touchingthe lips. In some cases, the tip of the front of the tongue can be the part of the tongueused to tongue the attack. In other cases, you can use the side of your tongue. Someuse the side of their side tongue and move it back. The technique that is mosteffective for the Shofar Sounder ± and still allows maintenance of the correctembouchure -- is the correct way.
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