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I believe that your daily warm up is fundamental to playing a brass instrument. It is important to build a solid foundation in which to base your day's work on and to help improve your playing in general.
Every morning I go through the basics of this daily warm up which includes four componets: posture, breathing, buzzing and then finally playing your instrument.
1) POSTURE
Good posture is not only good for your long term health but it also has lots of benefits for your playing.
Before I even think about picking up my instrument up I go through a series of exercises which help improve my posture and also help to get my brain and body working.
The first exercise is to stand with your feet a shoulder's width apart and stand as tall as you can. Imagine that your head is being held up by and invisible piece of string suspended from the ceiling. This exercise gets you standing properly, preventing you from slouching. Secondly, I slide my shoulder blades down to the ground. This causes your shoulders to move down and back and automatically releases any tension that have been building up there. This also helps you to open up your chest, enabling you to take a fuller breath with ease.
2) BREATHING
The first breathing exercise I do in the morning invloves a seamless in and out flow of air. Keep the throat muscles relaxed and continuosly breath in and out. Firstly, start breathing in and then out over one beat each then in for 2 out for 2, in for 3 out for 3, in for 4 out for 4 and so on up to 10. The next breathing exercise I do is what I call 'filling up a balloon'. I imagine that my stomach is a balloon and I fill it up by taking the biggest breath as possible (like a balloon graudally being blown up) and I hold the air there for 5 seconds and then exhale and release the air. When holding the air you really feel like you're going to burst, like a balloon! I then repeat this exercise a couple of times as I find it very effective to really get my breathing going first thing in the morning.
3) BUZZING
Before I buzz on the mouthpiece I buzz my lips just to awaken the muscles and to set the embouchure correctly. I then get my mouthpiece, place it lightly between my index finger and thumb, and buzz a mid range note. I then glissando up and down very smoothly and evenly from this note in order to get my muscles moving. I will then just buzz a few long notes in order to get the air and embouchure working and try to create a smooth and even sound as possible.
INTRODUCING THE INSTRUMENT:
Once the three components above are working correctly I will then pick up my instrument. I start off by just playing a few long notes like I did on the mouthpiece and I find the first few exercises in the Arban very effective. Another very effective exercise is Vincent Chicowicz Flow Study number 1. I focus on keeping the sound as even and beautiful as possible, especially concentrating creating a smooth tone when changing note. I try and keep the air moving from the beginning to the end of the line, helping to create a big singing sound throughout. After this I move on to other technical aspects but I always am conscious and thinking about my posture, breathing and my sound.
By doing these exercises every day before I practice, I find that it helps me to maintain a level of consistancy and sets me up properly in order to do some productive and effective work.
