V.com weekend vote: Is it necessary to warm up before playing?

January 6, 2024 at 11:55 PM · I voted not necessary, don't do it. I should add that this is my experience, not necessarily transferable. No teacher (I have had 4) or chamber music coach ever suggested warming up. I would of course not be stupid enough to practice tenths as the very first item on the agenda--if I practiced tenths at all.

I remember warm up was the big fad in sports and PE when I was young (before stretching was all the rage). They made us run a mile to warm up before they made us run a mile "for good". I found that bizarre and unnecessary as well. But apparently warm up was not yet a thing in the musical world in the early seventies.

I wonder if there will be a similar item about stretching on this site in a few years...

January 7, 2024 at 12:34 AM · What an interesting vote. It also gives me the opportunity to repeat what Milstein told one of his regular students, Clayton Haslop. ‘Why should we warm up. The music is in our heads.’

Yes, Milstein. The Russian guy whose legacy is so generously shared by most of his students.

I find it rather hard to vote, even while reflecting on the words of Milstein to one of his finest students because it is so hard to separate things. I think Simon Fischer’s ‘Warming Up’ is a classic of the violin literature and I insist my students buy a copy and follow the great man’s advice and exercises. But somehow, they seem more and more like just basic technique that we should work on all the time to make incremental improvements . The number of violinists who have used his vibrato exercises from this book seems to be mind boggling, and deservedly so. Nathan Cole is one of the most illustrious fans. Then there is another point I was delighted to find Simon confirming in his works that I have been saying to Ss for years: jumping in on scales, which integrate all elements of playing is perhaps not such a good idea. But this is also rather open ended since the right kind of scales played in the right way (possibly long slow bows listening like crazy to the intonation and tone) are fine for many people, while others have no problems just using the acceleration exercises.

I think I warm up a little in the sense that I need to get my bow arm mechanism flowing so I can do rapid whole bows. Since I am old and tired out this is not something that just happens straight out anymore. One minute of Simon’s exercise where one starts at 3cm in the middle of the bow and gradually works up to the full length solves the problem. My left hand warms up really fast. Recently I fashioned a littler exercise using no. 16 from Simon’s wonderful new book ‘Tone.’ This is called ‘Arpeggios in one position on each soundpoint. I practice the sequence in 5ths first with the best possible vibrato and then to the bowing exercises prescribed honing in on the best possible tone. This takes less than five minutes, at which point I can do anything I want, so I suppose I should answer that I do warm up. I don’t know why 5ths should be so effective. Rodney Friend said he went from using the second page of the Sibelius rather frenetically before concerts to just practicing a few 5ths.

On the other hand, one could also do what Oistrakh did and train oneself to absolutely be ready for anything by jumping in with a Paginini caprice . This is excellent training for anyone who is serious about being a pro.

Warmest regards,

Buri

January 7, 2024 at 12:45 AM · The lines between warm-ups, exercises, and performance pieces is not at all clear. Bach's cello suites were long regarded as exercises until they were popularized as concert pieces.

January 7, 2024 at 02:50 AM · This is a weird vote for me. I ended up putting "not necessary, but I do it anyway." I don't think it's necessary for everyone, but at least for me I find that I play better if I do something to warm up whether it's really slow scales, open strings, or even going through the passage I plan on practicing but doing so really under tempo. At the very least if I'm going to rehearse or perform I like for that rehearsal or performance to not be the first time I play whatever piece I'm doing since usually the second time is of course better.

January 7, 2024 at 03:44 AM · I voted “not necessary and I don’t do it” but I think it’s a completely individual question. Some people have an anatomy that leaves them prone to injury while others do not. The evidence suggests I am in the second group (57 years of playing, including 40 as a professional, with no injury).

Buri, I’m pretty sure I’m older than you are…..

January 7, 2024 at 05:31 AM · By about 3 years I think. But i am catching up.

January 7, 2024 at 09:30 AM · I voted "it is not necessary but I do it anyway." As others state, there is a blur between warmup and other areas. For me I do a lot of scales to actually work on different technical problems I might be having. Just a small bit daily on each issue does wonders over time to solve some problems I have. But are these "warmups" from a physiological point of view, or just self-made etudes?

In terms of tone and finger dexterity I think I warmup in about 10 seconds, literally. So, everything I do afterwards, really is for technique work. But as many state, this question is probably very personal.

And I, for one, do jump right in with 10ths as the third warmup thing I do--it's after octaves.

January 7, 2024 at 12:54 PM · It probably depends what is meant by warming up. Almost any activity that we are starting on, we need a minute or two to really get going. That holds as well for peeling potatoes, going for a jog, playing the violin, any activity, really. So you can call that warming up. But here in the vote I think what is meant is to do specific, *different* things before really doing what you have to do. Compare to peeling potatoes where, before you start, you do something with your hands or so. Most of us don't do that, right. Indeed when I go practicing, I don't do something special, I just dive in the work I have to practice, and the warming up happens automatically by doing the first few minutes. In practice or rehearsal, it's not a disaster if the first few minutes are suboptimal. In performance, you typically have played through your piece in the hour before. In orchestra performance, there is the "raccord" (how is this called in English?) But again, in the raccord, we don't play a warm-up piece or so, we just play the beginnings of our pieces. In lengthy conclusion, I agree, specifically different warm-up is not really needed.

January 7, 2024 at 01:09 PM · For 38 years as a professional violinist I never had any playing injuries and used Steven Staryks fingering calisthenics sheets( each student received a set) which have chromatics,stretching,independence of fingers etc.It was good insurance against any injuries and warmed the instrument up too.It was good to use these especially in a cold concert hall in the middle of January.

January 7, 2024 at 02:38 PM · As Jean said, some things yes, some things no (because they warm up during playing) and the difference, well the difference is you.

For me the most important thing to warm up is my intonation. I realize that may sound odd to those of you with perfect pitch but mine is not, its relative but also memory and that memory needs a daily reminder. Without it I can find myself groping for the note - something that does NOT work itself out while I am playing.

I find less need to warm up my bow hand; yes, its a bit sluggish but the playing itself is generally a pretty good warm up, assuming of course that you are not playing a solo in which case you had better warm up everything including your smile :)

January 7, 2024 at 04:15 PM · I do like to be able to warm up, even if only a little. Milstein's "the music is in our heads" comment rings true, and I would say that it should be interpreted even more broadly, such that "warming up" is primarily a mental activity -- finding one's musical focus and excluding any stray thoughts about the other concerns of one's day.

Concentration and switching tasks mentally is something that some people do easily and others do with more difficulty. In south Asian lore, the greatest yogis and siddhas were those who could reach samadhi the fastest. A friend who spent ten years in an Indian ashram told me that his guru could do so "as soon as his eyes closed." Our social structures, business environments, and educational systems definitely preach and reward quick switching, which some call multitasking. I know people who are quite intelligent and creative individuals who struggle mightily against that bias.

I'm having a hard time imagining how someone would actually injure oneself by starting to play without warming up. At the same time, I wonder if the "I don't warm up and don't need to" folks would feel comfortable just taking their violins out of the box, walking out on stage, and opening the Mendelssohn E Minor concerto without so much as a three-octave scale to warm up. If so, then that's someone with unusual powers of quick mental focus ... and not a hint of arthritis.

I do think concentration is the critical aptitude of violin playing and many other activities in life. Jazz pianist John Lewis was asked in an interview (perhaps with Marian McPartland) what he felt was the secret of improvisation and, after thinking a moment, his answer was, "Concentration." As an amateur jazz pianist myself, I would tend to agree.

And by the way, the best way to warm up for peeling potatoes is to peel your carrots first.

January 7, 2024 at 07:17 PM · good one Paul :-)

January 7, 2024 at 08:32 PM · I voted it’s not necessary and I don’t do it because that’s true for the majority of the time for me, but it’s not entirely true. It depends on the piece. When I do need to warm up, it’s my brain that needs it the most. I need to go through the hard parts so I know what’s coming, get used to the shifts, remember how the tricky intervals sound, and refresh my auditory and muscle memory.

For me, scales are as difficult as pieces, so they are more a distraction than a “warm up,” per se. And I feel a lot of resonance with Haedelich's point about time constraints. Many of my practice sessions are 15-20 minutes long (and there might be more than one session a day). If I spent 5-10 minutes "warming up" on something else every time I practiced, when would I get to the repertoire that I'm trying to learn?

I injured my left pinky finger last fall, by accidentally slamming it against a table, reaching for something. I actually broke the distal phalange. I had it immobilized for 4 weeks, didn’t play for a month, and after that I had exercises to do to regain range of motion. But after recovery I played the holiday concert in early December without pain like normal. I have a set time to do my finger exercises and they are separate from playing, also not a warm up.

January 7, 2024 at 10:02 PM · I voted “It is necessary” - that is, for me, not necessarily for the next player - “and I do it.” My warm-up routines run about 20 minutes. A typical session: 1) Bow-arm exercises; 2) left-hand finger gymnastics in 3rd position - think Schradieck - first without the bow, then with it; 3) vibrato/tone production exercises in 3rd position; 4) left-hand finger work + vibrato/tone production drills in 1st position; 5) double-stops - multiple positions; 6) shifts.

After this, I’m ready to practice and play, maybe up 90 minutes. The first thing I review, once the warm-up is done: 8 scales that I will most likely need in rep I’m playing: E-A-D-G-C-F-Bb-Eb.

If a friend or neighbor says, “Play something,” I can do it, even without a warm-up, provided that I have the right conditions. The requirements here aren’t many; but I do insist on the following: 1) no jacket and tie - I ditched these at 20 y/o; 2) a room warm enough that my hands will have instant grip and reliable traction.

Side note: As a kid, I started Franz Wohlfahrt’s Op. 45 etudes about 6 months into lessons. I will always remember how my left hand felt good after each time I worked with the first few studies. I could feel the benefit of developing the left-hand muscles. To this day, I regularly review Nos. 1, 2, 3, 7 - keeping the fingers down as long as possible - to stretch the left-hand. Early introduction to this pedagogue’s work is undoubtedly one reason I feel so strongly about warm-up exercises. I do them religiously.

January 7, 2024 at 10:47 PM · Reading a few more of these replies, I realized belatedly that this question could be taken literally, as in warm up from a cold temperature. In that case I might have voted differently and said yes, it is necessary. Or maybe not. I suffered from cold hands when I lived on the East Coast, both when growing up in Buffalo and during the time I lived in Boston. The cold hands resulted in bad intonation, worse vibrato, and nerves, which made the intonation and vibrato even worse. But for me the only thing that helped in that case was "wristies"--fleece, fingerless gloves. They were a minor miracle when I first got them as an adult student.

January 8, 2024 at 06:35 PM · If a violinist is dressed like the lady on the photo they probably should take warming up very seriously...

January 8, 2024 at 09:01 PM · It's "woman," Albrecht. We're not supposed to say "lady" any more. :)

January 8, 2024 at 09:41 PM · KareN’s point about the distinction between ‘warming up’ in a general sense and ‘warming up violinistically.’ Is a good one If we are talking about the general sense then it is absolutely crucial and fundamentally related to violin playing. What I mean by this is, irrespective of playing the violin, I think most people (I hesitate to say health experts, doctors, athletes etc) would accept that if we do certain practices every morning we lead healthier lives. These practices would come under various labels including stuff like mediation, motivational work , stretching and the like. If we dont do just a few minutes of stretching/bodywork/yoga/AT or whatever our everything we do in our day will be less efficient , less integrated and possibly even less enjoyable. Our violin practice is certainly less efficient because body function is less than optimal.

Cheers,

Buri

PS I had no idea ‘lady’ was sexist (?) What is the rational for this?

January 9, 2024 at 11:18 AM · 'Lady' is OK - as long as you also refer to the male as a 'gentleman'. Thus, 'ladies and gentlemen' not 'ladies and dudes' ;)

January 9, 2024 at 02:29 PM · Some years ago "lady" was downgraded because the term allegedly connoted expectations of subservient behavior and social roles. I'm not sure it stuck, but I am of the generation that was trained to say "woman" instead. I also do not refer to female college students as "girls" even though they refer to one another this way, almost exclusively. Female high-schoolers are called girls, even though most of them, too, are women, at least physically. As very few are legally adults, the slight seems harmless to me. College women usually don't refer to men as "boys" however, but as "guys." I always tell my students that in my classroom "guys" is a gender-neutral term because I did not grow up saying "y'all" or "you lot."

January 9, 2024 at 03:01 PM · The music may well be in my head. But to make it I have to use my mid 70 year old body which includes osteoarthritis. War up exercises are essential. If/when I try to skip them it is a disaster.

January 10, 2024 at 08:23 PM · Paul - can you imagine that 'gals' would become a gender neutral term?

Me neither (but I use 'guys' that way too, it was hard to refer casually to the grad students in my group. 'People'?

January 12, 2024 at 12:29 AM · I am just a mariachi fiddler. We leave the cases in the car, tune in the parking lot, and vocal warm-up is half a shot of tequila. It opens the sinuses very nicely. The first tune frequently starts in the street and we walk while playing into the house or the back yard.

But seriously; warm-up would be the same as the first part of your usual practice routine. It doesn't take very long. For orchestra rehearsals I like to be in my seat 15 minutes early and review the hard spots.

I have very rarely done any solos with orchestra so someone else could comment on this strategy;-- To suppress some of the stage fright and fill in the time between arriving and going on stage do Not practice your solo. You already know it, right? Instead work on the solo for your next concert.

Every instrument involves both mental and physical work. I suspect that the most physical instruments would be trumpet and singing. Serious singers are very disciplined about their warmup routine. Going out cold and blasting on your top notes is asking for both performance disaster and injury.