Practicing with drones

tjcombo

Wonder if any TBers use drones as part of your practice routine? Apart from the great ear training benefits, I find it to be like meditation for trumpet. Relaxing and a lot of fun.

There are plenty of apps and resources available. I'm happy with the Drone Tone app - the web page has an online drone tool that works in a browser http://www.dronetonetool.com/

There is a good overview of drone usage and benefits here https://billplakemusic.org/2015/08/30/a-highly-effective-and-really-fun-way-to-improve-your-ears/

administrator

I don't know, it seems it would be hard to fly one while you practice.

pss

I use Tanpura Droid on my phone.

tjcombo

@administrator said in Practicing with drones:

I don't know, it seems it would be hard to fly one while you practice.

Nah.. easy with the "follow me" function. Could live stream your practice to Facebook.

I'll spare the world my practice and pass on the above option.

SSmith1226

@tjcombo said in Practicing with drones:

Wonder if any TBers use drones as part of your practice routine? Apart from the great ear training benefits, I find it to be like meditation for trumpet. Relaxing and a lot of fun.

There are plenty of apps and resources available. I'm happy with the Drone Tone app - the web page has an online drone tool that works in a browser http://www.dronetonetool.com/

There is a good overview of drone usage and benefits here https://billplakemusic.org/2015/08/30/a-highly-effective-and-really-fun-way-to-improve-your-ears/

I used “Drone Tone Tool” for about six months when I was spending at least 30 minutes daily on the “Rusty Russell 19/30 Long Tone Routine”. I saw this in January 2018, revived on either TH or TM. I added the drone to this to improve my intonation. It seemed to help me and it was relaxing. When I have more time I will start this or a similar routine again with the drone.

Kehaulani

I used to be active on Sax on the Web, and several of the participants used drones regularly for intonation work.

administrator

@Kehaulani said in Practicing with drones:

I used to be active on Sax on the Web, and several of the participants used drones regularly for intonation work.

I'm actually fairly impressed. I didn't know there were such humble saxophonists!

Kehaulani

A lot humbler than trumpet players.

tjcombo

@pss Tampuri looks interesting (I thought it was a Japanese deep-frying technique ) Any sound source that generates complex harmonics and overtones can be used. The Drone Tool uses cellos.

@kehaulani, sax players are as obsessed with various practice techniques as trumpet players are with mouthpieces :-). I first heard about drones on a jazz podcast run by a sax player (10 minute jazz lesson podcast - worth a listen).

@ssmith1226 like you I was using Drone Tool for a while and have come back to it. The main driver for writing a post was noticing how relaxing it is to play over a drone. As well as the long tones, it's nice to play slow riffs, just listening to how the notes sound against the fundamental drone. Also cool to push notes sharp or flat and listen to the differential beating effect.

Kehaulani

@tjcombo said in Practicing with drones:

@kehaulani, sax players are as obsessed with various practice techniques as trumpet players are with mouthpieces.
The statement was not about obsessiveness with practicing, it was about relative humility.

Kehaulani

@Kehaulani said in Practicing with drones:

@tjcombo said in Practicing with drones:

@kehaulani, sax players are as obsessed with various practice techniques as trumpet players are with mouthpieces.

The statement was not about obsessiveness with practicing, it was about relative humility.

tjcombo

@Kehaulani said in Practicing with drones:

@Kehaulani said in Practicing with drones:

@tjcombo said in Practicing with drones:

@kehaulani, sax players are as obsessed with various practice techniques as trumpet players are with mouthpieces.

The statement was not about obsessiveness with practicing, it was about relative humility.

Maybe trumpet players have less to be humble about?

...but, semi-seriously, trumpet feels like a "higher-risk" instrument than a lot of others. The sound draws attention, and a degree of confidence is needed to stand up and let it rip. Maybe sometimes with some trumpet players this confidence strays to the a*hole side of the line? Only sometimes mind you...

Hi tjcombo,
Yes, I use a drone device called a Shruti box.

tjcombo

@Dr-Mark wow, you don't see those on the App Store

BigDub

I know it’s a different kind of drone, but last night at an outdoor concert for our community band, a drone was actually hovering slightly to our left and only about 75 ft in the air. It stayed for a good 15 minutes. That was rather bizarre, wouldn’t you say?

neal085

@BigDub Big Brother just making sure you were playing in tune, but also curious what MP you were using.

BigDub

@neal085 said in Practicing with drones:

@BigDub Big Brother just making sure you were playing in tune, but also curious what MP you were using.

There were also TV cameras there, but this happens everywhere I go, it seems..
( the tv camera part was true, but the part about it happening everywhere I go, not so much )
We all have big brother following us. Our iPhones/smart phones, don’t you think?

ROWUK

@tjcombo I use drones. It simply keeps intonation on the map when practicing. A 6th in C major is much different than the third in F!

Mike Ansberry

@SSmith1226 said in Practicing with drones:

@tjcombo said in Practicing with drones:

Wonder if any TBers use drones as part of your practice routine? Apart from the great ear training benefits, I find it to be like meditation for trumpet. Relaxing and a lot of fun.

There are plenty of apps and resources available. I'm happy with the Drone Tone app - the web page has an online drone tool that works in a browser http://www.dronetonetool.com/

There is a good overview of drone usage and benefits here https://billplakemusic.org/2015/08/30/a-highly-effective-and-really-fun-way-to-improve-your-ears/

I used “Drone Tone Tool” for about six months when I was spending at least 30 minutes daily on the “Rusty Russell 19/30 Long Tone Routine”. I saw this in January 2018, revived on either TH or TM. I added the drone to this to improve my intonation. It seemed to help me and it was relaxing. When I have more time I will start this or a similar routine again with the drone.

Rusty's 19/30s is awesome. He really helped me build my endurance.