I have spent a long time thinking about the concepts I teach in my studio. These ideas owe their origins to the extraordinary teachers under whom I was privileged to study and to three decades of private and studio teaching. My primary mentor, Charles Schlueter, has been talking about his “book” since I met him in 1987. With Charlie ever as my guide, and knowing I will probably never get around to writing mine, I began setting these ideas down to share them.
The Practice Space series ran first as a column in Vandoren’s WAVE newsletter, which reaches more than ten thousand performers and educators, and then as a recurring column, Eric Berlin’s Workshop, in The Brass Herald — for years the only magazine for all brass players with a genuinely international reach, published in Cambridge, England, until it ceased operations in 2019 after the death of its publisher, Philip Biggs. Two further articles appeared in the International Trumpet Guild Journal, and one in the Australian Trumpet Guild Journal.
The Practice Space Series
1. Physical Space — PDF
Setting up the room you practice in, and why it matters more than players think.
The Brass Herald, October 2014 · Vandoren WAVE, Vol. 2 No. 19, 9 May 2013
2. Mental Space — PDF
Where the real practicing begins: getting the sound out of your head and into the room.
The Brass Herald, December 2014 · Vandoren WAVE, Vol. 2 No. 21, 23 May 2013
3. The Warm Up — PDF
Why somebody else’s warm-up is somebody else’s warm-up. “What does my warm-up have to do with you?” — Vincent Penzarella
The Brass Herald, February 2015 · Vandoren WAVE, Vol. 2 No. 34, 29 August 2013
4. Key Ingredients — PDF
On listening to what actually comes out of the bell.
The Brass Herald, May 2015 · Vandoren WAVE, Vol. 2 No. 46, 21 November 2013
5. Archives: “How do you judge your progress?” — PDF
On recording yourself, keeping the tapes, and what you hear when you go back to them years later.
The Brass Herald, October 2015 · Vandoren WAVE, Vol. 3 No. 1, 2 January 2014
6. To Err Is Human — PDF
Accepting that we miss, and why the fear of missing is the greater problem.
The Brass Herald, August 2015 · Vandoren WAVE, Vol. 2 No. 36, 12 September 2013
7. The Practice Routine — PDF
The tool everything else leads to, expanded from the routine given to me by Vincent Penzarella.
The Brass Herald, October 2016 · Vandoren WAVE, Vol. 2 No. 40, 10 October 2013
Descent with Intent
Upside Down (Part 1) — PDF
An argument for starting beginners in the upper register rather than the low one.
The Brass Herald, May 2017
Get Down! (Part 2) — PDF
What to do about it inside the method books and band repertoire we actually have.
The Brass Herald, February 2018
Teaching
What to Do If Your Students Don’t Practice — PDF
Why it is all right if they don’t, and what the lesson is for instead.
International Trumpet Guild Journal, January 2016, Vol. 40 No. 2, pp. 39–40 (Editor’s Corner) · The Brass Herald, December 2015
No Horns Needed — PDF
Non-traditional techniques for chamber music coaching and rehearsal, drawn from work with the UMass Trumpet Ensemble and Graduate Brass Quintet and from coaching youth orchestra brass sections.
International Trumpet Guild Journal, October 2013, Vol. 38 No. 1, pp. 71–72 (Chamber Music Connection) · The Brass Herald, February 2019
Perfection as a Barrier to True Music Making — PDF
On preparation, anxiety, and the difference between playing correctly and playing music.
Australian Trumpet Guild Journal, March 2014, Vol. 16 No. 1 · The Brass Herald, October 2015
Which Way Do You Swing? — PDF
On style, and on being the one player a pops conductor is listening for.
The Brass Herald, August 2016
Just Do It — Read online
Interviews
An Interview with Eric Berlin, by Henry Fogel — PDF
A feature interview occasioned by Fogel’s review of Fantastique. Henry Fogel was president of the Chicago Symphony and of the American Symphony Orchestra League.
Fanfare, January/February 2015