For the most part no warm ups. I do work out of the Hannon book too, but nearly as much as I should.

Steve,

Those Hannon exercises are probably the most boring things you can do at a keyboard and they bring back horrible memories of lessons gone by. However, they do help warm up the ole knuckles pretty good!

Al

No.

Gary

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Travlin' Easy

Warm up? What do you think we are, serious musicians?

Yes, I do move my fingers around and play some chords, but no real exercises. I've been lucky that my voice doesn't really need a warm up - yet.

Al, You got that right BORING. I find that my left had gets real lazy just playing chords on an arranger the 4th and 5th fingers get real weak. All it takes is about 7 nights of playing the first 20 exercises the the strength starts coming back.

It depends on how much playing I've been doing the days before the gig ...
However, I will warm up the vocal chords on the way to the gig ...
t.

No warming up here, either...

I think for those of us who are gigging almost daily, sometimes more...we're pretty able to hit the ground running...

If the venue is unfamiliar to me, I'll usually do a sound check of some kind, but that's more for getting the PA right as opposed to me "warming up."



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Bill in Dayton

I'm not a big fan of Hanon or anything else like that for a warm up, but I definitely feel I play better to start with if I've played for a few minutes on the piano before I go to the gig, and if it is more than a regular gig (something for the industry people or such), a little warming up doesn't hurt!

But usually, it's more just a piece or two, sometimes some classical, sometimes a pop tune, sometimes just a passage that gives me a challenge. And, honestly, it's not really done as a warm-up... I just love playing! At least I have an excuse for it in the morning

In the studio, though, it's essential... If something magic happens on that first take, you don't want to lose it by running out of steam or stupid simple fingering errors!

But the thought of NOT warming up because we are 'working professionals' and gig two or three times a day? Tell that to any professional classical pianist, the guys with possibly the most technically demanding gig out there... you won't see THEM playing a concert without a warm-up very often!

I guess I do find myself "unconsciously" warming up at the keyboard during a soundcheck. It also has the side effect of mentally preparing me to play at that particular venue if you know what I mean.

Vocally, (seeing as that's been mentioned) we warm up for at least 30 minutes using a strict warm up regimen (a specialised Vocal CD in the car)on the way to every gig.

More to the point - and something that's often forgotten - you also need to warm DOWN after a gig, which we do.

The improvement to my voice has been (overall) dramatic!
It will also help preserve my voice for many years to come.