Clarinet Conditioning: Warm-Ups and Perspectives

Clarinet Conditioning is written by David Cook, with contributions by Mariam Adam, Ixi Chen, Robert DiLutis, Julia Heinen, Patrick Morgan, Phillip O. Paglialonga, Sarah Watts, and John Bruce Yeh.  It is divided into two parts:

Part One is a series of interviews with each of the eight contributors listed above; together, they cover a variety of careers, playing backgrounds, and pedagogical lineages from accomplished orchestral and military band musicians, chamber musicians and university professors.  Each interview is about ten pages long, and offers insight into contributors' philosophy regarding warming up: what are the goals of warming up, how much time, how to tailor the routine to travelling/repertoire/age, etc.

Part Two, the bulk of the publication, is over 300 pages of warm-up exercises organized into the following categories:

• Stretching
• Breathing and Airflow
• Tone
• Voicing
• Intonation
• Technical Patterns
• Articulation

A detailed table of contents is available here.

The book is intended to be consumed "à la carte," so readers may curate a routine that suits their current abilities and needs.  All of the contributors offer their own warm-up routines in the interview section of the text, which can serve as templates for forming one's own customized routine.  Although clarinetists of all ages and abilities will benefit from a consistent, established warm-up routine, this book is most beneficial to those already experienced with clarinet fundamentals of embouchure, tongue/hand position, rhythms, fingerings, etc.  Cook states that a student will gain much more from the included exercises when guided and mentored by a qualified teacher.  

Also of note is the substantial appendix material, particularly Appendix B's "Strategies for Practicing," comprising sixteen pages of invaluable ideas for practicing effectively.  Most of the technical patterns in Chapter 14 are purposefully notated without articulation; Appendix D offers articulation patterns for sixteenth-notes and triplets.