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5 Keys to Horn Success

It is human nature to be curious, what are the keys for success for famous people? The following are five keys to success I have observed or experienced toward playing the French horn on a high level.

Key to Success: Hearing and playing

This is a huge key to success. All great horn players certainly have great ears and high audiation skills. Audiation, according to the Wikipedia, is “a term [Edwin] Gordon coined in 1975 to refer to comprehension and internal realization of music, or the sensation of an individual hearing or feeling sound when it is not physically present.” But the concept is not a new one, as in this quote from Arnold Jacobs: “All brass players should develop the ability to hear music in their heads before playing. The lips act as vocal chords for brass instruments, but (through our thoughts) we have to furnish the message for them.” The bottom line: ideally you should be able to hear music in your head so clearly that it is exactly like listening to a recording – all the parts, on pitch. Building your audiation to this level will help your horn playing more than almost anything else you might try to do, as you know clearly what notes you are aiming for and associate the feeling of producing all aspects of that pitch with the sounds in your head.

Key to Success: Summer study

Another key thing for me certainly was summer studies. I feel sure I started college well behind the level of most of my peers, but each summer I made a full semester of progress. Serious horn lessons will help you make that progress, but even more effective for progress are the rich learning experiences of study at a summer festival.

Key to Success: Learning more than Kopprasch

In my notes for Horn Matters articles I have had this quote for some years, from a now deceased friend. In it she simply said “I remember trying to get ready for auditions and [insert famous teacher name] would just want me to play Kopprasch.” You do need to work out technique, but you also have to work on more than Kopprasch. Kopprasch alone really won’t get you there.

Key to Success: Learn to play low horn well

I had a decent low range by the middle of my grad studies, but when you get down to it the two years I was Fourth Horn in Evansville (as a Doctoral student) were a key to the rest of my performing career. I really worked out my break on the job. You need some serious time playing concerts on low horn to get past barriers in your technique; I feel sure it is a part of how I went on to win Third Horn in Nashville. This is why I also emphasize low study in my teaching. There is no one secret to playing low, but there is a process of working it out that involves not only low practice but actual performing. If you are looking for some specific tips and a practical resource for study, check out my “low horn boot camp,” now [2018] available in an expanded second edition.

Key to Success: Stop worrying about mouthpiece pressure

The final key on this brief list certainly might sound wrong, but I am really convinced with now over 25 years of teaching that people worry about this way too much. Just play horn, and make it sound good. There really is a “just right” to be found between too much and too little pressure, and the best players use more pressure than you think they do. More on the topic here.

More on “clicks” — and the best horns

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Last year a topic touched upon in an article was that of “clicks” and valve changes. In that time frame, I started taking some really extensive notes on the topic — and the notes, honestly, got out of control, so much so that there is no way to develop a full article. But it remains an important topic to consider as you think about what elements make for a great horn.

One thing I have observed is every horn with rotary valves seems to have clicks of some sort on at least a couple note connections, if you really search for them. The cause of the clicks is what I learned from a maker are acoustical “transients” that may occur at the beginning of a note. Makers work to manage these through brace placement, etc., but they are also impacted by mouthpiece choice too. These transients will occur at different places on horns of different designs.

Horn making, in short, really is a black art. Below are some bullet points on the topic from my notes, hopefully of help as you consider what exactly makes a great horn.

  • One horn I loved [Knopf wrap] except for the connection between F-G on the bottom space. Huge click there, if fingered on the F horn! But using Bb horn fingerings there was no click at all.
  • But that big click was not as noticeable with different mouthpieces.
  • Some clicks reflect slight synchronization issues of the fingers, usually thumb and third valve not moving at the same time. (As in going from 2 to T23, F# to G# for example)
  • Another horn felt hopelessly clicky on any mouthpiece I tried and I have a lot. But then I found one that made it play beautifully! Clicks? Almost totally gone. It was amazingly striking. Horn went from almost unusable to very usable.
  • Meanwhile, another horn I liked was terrible on that same mouthpiece, very clicky.
  • Had a very interesting time comparing Knopf and Geyer wrap models made by the same maker. They had used the same tapers and the same valve maker on both horns but the difference in sound and playing quality feel was fairly substantial. And entirely attributable to the overall wrap and brace placements, including the soldered longer joints in different spots
  • “Connections” seems to be the term that works best with my students. They can feel when they are better or worse, if there is something that breaks the connection they can feel it relatively. Notes that are connected well are the opposite of notes that have distinct clicks between them.
  • I see people audition on strange, poor choice mouthpieces all the time. Jupiter mouthpieces, Holton, Bach even. Their teachers have really let them down. I can always pull out a mouthpiece that feels vastly better for them to try.
  • Mouthpiece receiver fit can make a huge difference in terms of clicks too.
  • Looking at horns from this angle, the topic of note connections has changed some of my general thinking on horns for sure. Not only should the horn with better connections sound better but you should be more accurate on it as well.

BONUS: Editing this article I was intrigued by the note that led to the bullet “Another horn felt hopelessly clicky on any mouthpiece I tried and I have a lot. But then I found one that made it play beautifully! Clicks? Almost totally gone. It was amazingly striking. Horn went from almost unusable to very usable.” It was a mouthpiece I used in the past — for quite a few years, actually — but I knew when tried most recently with the new horn I felt that the intonation was really goofy, going very flat in the high range to be specific. But my enthusiasm in those notes intrigued me, so I got it out again. High range very flat — initially! But actually I got used to it in maybe ten minutes, intonation returned to normal and things feel like home. A week later it still feels nice, like the old friend it is, and I like the extra smoothness it gives. So I will keep experimenting, and the point to make to any reader that has made it this far into this topic is that some mouthpieces may feel goofy initially but might just be the solution if you give them a chance.

Brief review: Horn Technique by Jeffrey Agrell

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Those familiar with older horn publications will recall a classic 1962 book by Gunther Schuller titled Horn Technique. It is so compact that you can practically put it in your pocket, quirky in ways, but full of interesting information, and a good book to examine in comparison to the Farkas book.

Fast forward to today, we have another book of the same title, but different in practically every way. And those that have already seen Horn Technique by Jeffrey Agrell of the University of Iowa will also know that the idea of doing a brief review of such a massive volume is almost a humorous idea. But here goes!

The title Horn Technique is apt as the Agrell book, much more so than the Schuller, is fundamentally a book about actually building technique on the horn.

One thing I will say right away that I LOVE is the font size. As I get older I really appreciate books printed so that they are easily readable, as the temptation is for the publisher to cram more text on less pages. The result is, however, that this is almost certainly the longest horn publication since the 500+ page Dauprat  Méthode de Cor alto et Cor basse of 1824 (in three volumes — more info here). The table of contents alone is more than eight pages long, there are 48 chapters divided into ten parts, the entire publication is well over 450 pages!

Having helped build very large websites I realize fully that organization is always a challenge with large projects. In this case, the book is full of interesting content that flows logically, but, still, purchasers may find things a little intimidating. An index would have been helpful. I mention all this as organization might have benefited by following the lead of Dauprat, breaking the content down into perhaps two or three distinct volumes.

Setting all that aside, the big positive is this book really is fresh and new. One complaint I have had about many horn publications is that authors seem almost afraid to say something different than Farkas. Agrell on the other hand really goes for it, there is much here that will be very new to readers. Bravo!

Horn Technique by Jeffrey Agrell is an impressive publication, one with much to offer. Printed and bound well and cleanly edited, it is as advertised truly “a new approach to an old instrument.” Serious students of the horn should check out this book — a huge bargain selling for only $19.99 as a print version and $9.99 for Kindle.

Deeper insights 5: Quitting?

As a final point in this series of deeper insights related to raising a handicapped child it would be this: giving up is not an option.

Saying that, I know there are really difficult situations worse than ours. Sometimes there are no good options for parents and I don’t mean to judge. In our case, we would like James to live more independently but we are a number of steps from there. If we were to try to place him in a group home right now his behavior issues would be off the charts, there would be no good outcome. He has to buy into the idea, and there are steps toward it that we have to achieve.

Focus on what you can do

We might wish we could be empty nesters now, I would love to be playing more concerts (I feel I am playing as well as I ever have!), but fact is we have to keep working with James with the goal of tracking toward a good outcome. We would prefer that day be sooner rather than later. But in the mean time I choose to focus on what I can do instead of what I can’t do. I have been able to work on this website, to write and publish some interesting publications, make CDs, etc.

Who knows how different things would have been if James were “normal?” Of course, he might have had the same autism issues even without the extra chromosome. So much is out of our hands, all we can do is just do our best and keep moving forward. Staying optimistic.

Cooking omelettes

In my twitter bio I have presently the following:

Horn professor @ASU | Performer & author, enthusiastic about all things #Frenchhorn | Makes a cheese omelette for his son every morning

The last item sounds like it might be a throwaway line, but actually it is not at all. I literally make him an omelette every morning and have for now a number of years. He needs that much stability of routine as he starts his day. The only times I don’t cook an omelette are days we are not at home, at a hotel with a breakfast room.

Which brings me to this summer, I have been working on writing projects large and small, taking James places, and have inserted extra hobby time in the schedule too. Hobby time? Quitting is not an option, but also you don’t have to be hard core every day working hard every moment. If I did not have hobby outlets and interests, and my faith as well, I hate to think of how life might be. I would guess I might have burned out by now. The future we don’t know, but I chose to be optimistic.

And have a real hobby too

In relation to that last thought about burning out, I have this final point. If your “hobby” is “self-improvement” you urgently need to find a real hobby.** If you don’t have any activity in your life that others would easily recognize as being a legitimate hobby, take stock and make sure to make your life more balanced and three dimensional.

** Self-improvement is not a hobby. However, a famous horn player actually stated that was their hobby in a Horn Call interview years ago. I hope they were joking, or, if not, I sincerely hope they have developed by now some real hobby.

Return to part one of series

Deeper insights 4: Being positive

Working with my son these few years the thing that has recently worked the best has been a technique called “Positive Behavior Support.” Without getting way deep into that, a simple thing to remember how it works is you try to not highlight (in other words, ignore) behaviors you want to extinguish, and reinforce positively the good behaviors.

Positive behavior support

In James case, one clear example is he got to a point where he was flooding the toilet multiple times every day. The normal human reaction is punishment or negative reinforcement. That did nothing for us. What actually worked was to be super positive every time he didn’t flood the toilet. So, in the last month for example he has only flooded it a couple times which is a lot better.

There are lots of applications of this in horn playing, teaching, and life in general.

I will start with, of all things, Facebook. Clearly some people out there really are models of optimism and positive thoughts, at least based on their public posts on Facebook. You are my heroes! One thing I was taught growing up was that if you don’t have something good to say maybe better to just not say anything.

There are also some people who come off as hugely negative. They are thinking they are just informing people and perhaps trying to sway opinions on topics of the day, but really the result is to drive people off Facebook. All the “stuff” posted makes their feed unreadable. I spend more time than I would like “seeing less” of posts and people, in particular I would really prefer to look other places for political news. #stayinyourlane

Part of why social media is important to me personally in terms of horn and life now is, as noted earlier in the series, James is extremely attached to me, I have had to limit my travels and performing greatly in recent years. So I really enjoy seeing interesting tidbits about the horn and other interests online. I appreciate pages and friends who do a good job, I do enjoy seeing interesting photos and videos and such, and I don’t want to be drug down by a bunch of negative vibes.

A random, negative story

Not long ago I saw an image posted on Facebook on a page feed that I felt was offensive. As I thought at the least there was no reason to be so negative in that particular feed, I pointed it out as gently possible to the person in charge; the deliberate choice of that particular image, even if allowed by Facebook, simply and honestly puzzled me. The short version of the conclusion of this story is that no good deed goes unpunished, I was banned from that page, controversial troll that I am! Apparently, old fuddy-duddies like me are the problem in their eyes, and to offend people like me was exactly the point they wanted to make. Well then.

Still, I stand by the idea that there really is no need to be offensive when being positive remains a valid option toward making your point. If you think it to be “edgy” it is probably at the least a microaggression against someone. It goes back to the positive behavior support idea, if there is something you want to change in the world there probably is a way to do it with positive reinforcement rather than negative reinforcement.

And back to teaching, and playing

My main memory of Verne Reynolds in lessons was him pointing out all of my mistakes with extreme clarity. He was not wrong to do that, but I would much rather point out what a student is doing right. It is a better teaching technique and will get a better result with horn players generally. As I have already noted, with my son, get negative on him he just shuts down. It does not work, and once the anxiety kicks in (him being very sensitive to the moods around him) the anxiety does not soon go away.

Stay in the here and now, keep positive, move on

Finally, one quality that my son and I clearly share. We move on. There is a point that we just don’t remember the negative things of the recent past and live in the new moment that has come rather than dwelling on the past. This skill/habit really is essential for the horn performer, you can’t dwell on mistakes or obsess about the future, you have to just keep a good optimistic attitude and keep going forward – in the moment you are in now.

To close the series the topic is quitting.

Continue to conclusion of series

Deeper insights 3: Fearless optimism

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Turning a bit of a corner, as time went on as a teacher I realized that there are essentially two types of confidence.

What got me initially thinking about this was a thought that there are two types of players that persist with auditions. One type is very confident, so confident that failure does not phase them. I think of that being something cultivated as part of a “fearless” approach to horn playing and to life. The other type of person that persists with auditions is someone who is persistently optimistic. In spite of low odds, difficulty, they stick with it, failures and problems are quickly forgotten. That is me.

In terms of horn playing I knew I was a “fearless” performer by the way people would think of it, but also knew that was not it at all. I am no stunt man. It is more like I get into my zone and trust that things are going to work. That trust is based substantially on preparation and being warmed up and ready to go. I think to others it looks like it could be fearlessness, but really the approach is based on optimism.

Some things you will never realize about yourself until you are in some specific situation where it becomes clear. I certainly did not think myself to be an eternal optimist, but instead more of a realist. But self-perceptions can be and are often are off.

Fearless optimism

The point when I realized the high level of optimism in my heart was an interesting one. He is doing better now, but the time frame where this became clear was around the time my son turned 19 and we were having all sorts of issues. He refused to go to school any longer, would not see therapists or doctors, and his anxieties and obsessions had really ramped up. We had many difficult days in a row. Some of the worst days his meds were clearly not right and he was barely sleeping and breaking things every day! Not to mention hitting us, etc.; I kept my left up at all times, to defend my face and glasses which he constantly went for. It was tough and not a way to live. But at the end of a tough day, talking with my wife, I was the always the one that looked at tomorrow as a new day that was going to be better.

And what got me though 25 auditions for full time jobs before I won third horn in Nashville? What got me beyond that to ASU? Honestly, I think you might be better off cultivating optimism and faith in your life rather than “fearlessness.”

How are you wired?

Fine horn performers are often described as being fearless, but I wonder if that really is the case. It would be interesting if someone did a proper psychological study on this topic, but I believe thinking in terms of optimism might be a better fit for many horn players.

I don’t know if there is a way to package and market optimism such has been done with fearlessness. Maybe you have to be born with it, but I think we as teachers can foster an environment that promotes a sense of optimism in performance over pessimism or realism. This is not to knock fearlessness either, but for some the idea of fearlessness simply does not resonate, it does not fit your personality. Fearlessness just seems like a fake, manufactured opposite of pessimism.

If you are feeling optimistic one thing that will be absent from your thinking is bitterness and envy. I will say, with James I can’t detect any hint that he is bitter about his life or envious of others in any way. The closer we all can be to that way of thinking the better off we are.

A final element of optimism I want to mention is encouragement. I am not perfect on this, but certainly try to be encouraging in my life activities in spite of all the negative thoughts that can fill our world. We can all apply this to our teaching and performing. More on that as the series continues.

Continue reading in series

Deeper insights 2: Anxiety

Some things I have learned on a deeper level over the course of raising my son. When he was little it was more to do with how people learn. As he got bigger, past age 19, things really changed. The big issue now is anxiety and the close companion of anxiety, obsessive thoughts.

Looking back, my lessons with Verne Reynolds were very anxiety inducing, but clearly not on a level like James experiences anxiety. For Reynolds, it was a teaching technique–I hope!–to nearly break students and see who survives. It worked to a point, as to this day I rarely get anxious in any performance situation, but it is not a good teaching technique, “old school” and thankfully little seen today. (A broader look at what I learned from Reynolds may be found here.)

In James case, it is different in that much of his life is driven by anxiety. He obviously worries about all sorts of things every day. At one point, when things were the worst, among other things he was extremely obsessed about his cheese omelette for breakfast. He likes certain comfort foods a lot, but you would think the routine of the day would be pretty clear? At that point, he had so much anxiety that it was over a level that allowed for any quality of life for any of us. Now, so long as he knows we have eggs in the refrigerator, he trusts his omelette will be made every morning.

Routines help

To get to more of a quality life meds have helped and we have to keep him on routines. This point we can all apply to our performances, actually. We are less anxious when we have routines and stick to them. Over time you develop different tracks and parallel routines. Concert days have their track that is different than a practice day.

As to the meds part of it, one bottom line realized was that without meds helping take the edge off things James really could not cope. When things were the worst he was literally breaking things every day and a danger to us and himself. It is not a sign of failure if meds really are necessary.

Also related to anxiety is the topic of triggers. Certain things will trigger anxiety, especially changes of routines, but also, he is sensitive to the moods around him as well. Understanding the things that trigger him has been important, and understanding what triggers you or your students is something that will help achieve better performances.

Keep on a schedule, but don’t obsess about it

One way we try to help James is with a visual schedule. We keep it simple, but he needs no surprises! For the same reason, visualization for the hornist is also important. I was not a fan of this for years, actually, but the value is you can reduce or eliminate anxiety if you have a good idea what is coming in your day. Keep surprises in your performing days to a minimum.

But there is a negative. We have to control the visual schedule carefully with James as it is so easy for him to obsess about things, which leads to anxiety.

The application there is as performers keep the surprises to a minimum but also make sure you don’t obsess about things either. Trust yourself, keep optimistic.

And when the series continues the topic is optimism.

Continue in series

Deeper insights 1: Teaching

One topic I have only rarely touched on here in Horn Matters is something that has impacted my life and teaching in rather deep ways over the past 23 years. Out of that experience there are some deeper insights that Horn Matters readers might find applicable; at the least you will know better what makes John Ericson tick.

My son is handicapped. He was born when I was still playing full time in Nashville, James has Down syndrome and also autism. Considering the dual diagnosis, he was doing pretty well up to age 19. However, these past few years I have had to limit my travel and performing to assist at home.

Some of the problems we are helping him with are problems but also a window into the normal. For example, he has a lot of anxiety, but don’t we all have some? His is just more on the surface.

One of the first places I could see raising him was impacting me professionally was in my teaching. A key thing you do to try to help a child with Down syndrome is early intervention. You do various things to try to stimulate learning but, in the process, you also really break things down into little steps.

Little steps, breaking things down

Learning any skill is actually the result of many steps of learning. In a simple sense, we know you have to crawl before you walk before you run. But there is more to it than that.

In short if you were to compare my teaching say 25 years ago and today I am a lot more aware of breaking down the steps along the way to learning skills. I have said elsewhere in this site that one key thing that good teachers have is problem solving skills. Adding on that thought, it is not just solving problems but figuring out logical steps that can help you out of playing problems, scoping out the mechanical things that are not being done correctly, recognizing how conventional wisdom has failed the student, etc.

High ability, low ability

I recently saw (on Facebook) some references to the Dunning-Kruger effect. It was described relatively recently, 1999, but relates to the above. From the Wikipedia, “the Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias, wherein persons of low ability suffer from illusory superiority when they mistakenly assess their cognitive ability as greater than it is.” However, I think more related to us in the horn world is the following: “…the corollary to the Dunning–Kruger effect indicates that persons of high-ability tend to underestimate their relative competence, and erroneously presume that tasks that are easy for them to perform also are easy for other people to perform.”

Where this ties into James is as horn teachers we are high-ability people that generally teach people of lower ability. The potential is there that we can’t see how it is not as easy for the student as it was for us. In my case, I have spent many hours working with someone of much lower ability, breaking things down into tiny baby steps to work toward developmental goals, something I continue to do on a daily basis. This is what any good teacher has to do.

When the series returns the topic is anxiety.

Continue reading in series

A new video podcast, and a look at MRI Horn resources as of summer, 2017

Regular readers will know already that I am very interested in the recent (and still ongoing) MRI horn studies led by Dr. Peter Iltis of Gordon College, in conjunction with the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, Germany. Real-time magnetic resonance imaging (RT-MRI) technology has, for the first time, allowed a clear view of the soft tissue motions involved in horn playing.

This is a big deal because many of the specifics of the mechanics and motions of the tongue and throat in horn playing were not understood until very recently; we now have important, empirical information to reference, rather than the visualizations found in most publications to date.

I have highlighted elements of these game-changing studies in my recent online writings, in conference presentations, and in podcast episodes last summer, as I work to bring them to a wider audience. For example, my most recent conference presentation, given at the Southwest Horn Conference, was titled “Ten Insights you can apply to your playing from the MRI Horn Studies.”

I was asked not long ago by a student if I have a recording of that presentation, and I do not. However, I can share a few notes (which I also shared with that student) to get anyone interested in the topic going the right direction, and I recorded a new podcast that covers the main points of the recent presentation.

As to resources and links, first, these are the underling published journal articles on the current studies:

  • “Real-time MRI comparisons of brass players: A methodological pilot study” (Human Movement Science, 2015)
  • “High-speed real-time magnetic resonance imaging of fast tongue movements in elite horn players” (Quantitative Imaging in Medicine and Surgery, 2015)
  • “Inefficiencies in Motor Strategies of Horn Players with Embouchure Dystonia” (Medical Problems of Performing Artists, 2016)

A notable predecessor study worth referencing, using X-ray technology, was documented in Trumpet Technique by Frank Gabriel Campos (Oxford University Press, 2005). Also, the high-speed videos of trombone lip motion done by H Lloyd Leno and also X-ray trumpet and horn videos can be found easily on YouTube. The results of that latter X-ray study were published, and may be found here:

  • “A Cinefluorographic Investigation of Brass Instrument Performance,” Lyle C. Merriman and Joseph A. Meidt, Journal of Research in Music Education, Vol. 16, No. 1 (Spring, 1968), pp. 31-38

Of course, there is an actual YouTube channel with the two official MRI horn videos on it, and also the Sarah Willis videos as well. The official ones are here:

One book has incorporated principals discovered in these studies, reviewed here:

I also did a three-part podcast interview with Dr. Iltis last year: part I is here:

These studies are ongoing, and I know new things are being addressed in the current protocols. It can’t be stated too strongly: these studies are vitally important to the future of horn pedagogy. Elements of my teaching have certainly changed in the past ten years with the influence of the studies mentioned above. In particular, the MRI studies have caused me to go back to my book in progress and begin to work through each chapter, comparing conventional wisdom approaches to ones that accurately reflect physiological realities. Hopefully others will also see the importance of the studies and think out the same connections, taking horn pedagogy into the 21st century. It is time!

Rethinking the Warm-up, part 2

Recently I was pointed toward some relatively recent research that indicates that a less strenuous warm-up gets better results. For example, this article from the New York Times:

The underlying study they reference is here. I have wondered if the LONG warm-up products out there are too much, and this study would say yes, with too much warm-up the athletes studied were not able to perform at their peak. Basically, they were too tired.

When I do The Brass Gym typically I start it as presented but by the time I get to beautiful sounds I am way ready to do some real playing. For the last several years I typically warm-up for 10-20 minutes before any playing session. Less than ten and then into real playing is not good, but if I have ten I can play pretty much anything.

Few sources present a shorter warm-up as the standard thing to do. One source that I am aware of that promotes a short warm-up is the Harry Berv book, it is certainly shorter than average and very much of the type that we might be better off using. According to Berv,

One most important rule, not only in the warm-up, but also in the practice session, is this: Do not strain or fatigue the embouchure. This can strain the muscles in the area and set the player back for an indefinite period before they are healed. The warm-up session should have a duration, at most, of ten minutes of actual playing. In this time all the areas involved should be limber enough to cope with any problems encountered in the actual practice session….

If the warm-up session is too long, it will undoubtedly cut down on your endurance. In my opinion, too many players succumb to the idea that the warm-up session should last for a half-hour or more. It becomes fixed in their minds that this is a necessity and feel they cannot function properly without it.

A bit more from Berv on the topic may be found in this article in the Hornmasters series. Give the idea a serious try, as there is an underlying point that is correct, not too intense or too long is likely better.

For Part I see this article, which rethinks the warm-up in potentially a similar way, but from a different angle….