mix it up mix it up mix it up

Trying a slightly new tangent. I know it's better to practice twice a day than once. But I have a hard time doing it. Why? It's just plain hard to get home from work at lunch, practice, go back to work, then practice in the evening ... um, there's just a lot more to do in my life than practice trombone.

So, I have wondered, am I making it too hard? How about just warming up for my early practice? How about just putting 15 minutes in? How about capping it at 15 minutes, just warmup and practice activities, and then making my later practice the longer and more involved one where I work on my current material? This way I'll be getting the advantage of two practice sessions without wearing myself out trying to fit too much in, which is my usual tendency.

So, I just did a 15-minute warmup and worked on one exercise. I capped it at 15 and I intend to get back to it later. (This is the trickiest part, following up with the intent.)

I've read recently about drones, via the internet or CD, a 5-minute drone of one pitch to work with in improving your ear. There's a book/CD combo called Breakfast by David Schwarz that has these drones as well as scale and arpeggio exercises around them, that I'd like to try as an alternative warmup. Mixing it up. Keeping it interesting and productive. I want to get better.