Ragtime- “Swing or Straight”?

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To most people, the question of how one should play the rhythms in Ragtime music seldom comes to mind. In my case, I know how it should be played but have doubts that it truly needs to be played correctly. To address this dilemma, I will explain the differences and why I choose to perform Ragtime music incorrectly. A brief history of Ragtime music 00:101 Ben Harney first introduced his style of broken rhythms from Africa to the public in his compositions which he called ragtime songs. These songs were more casual than the European music enjoyed at that time…

Have You Tuned Your Mutes Lately?

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Seldom does this question come up in trumpet circles. But it should. Most players buy a mute, play with it (when ever required) and the rest of the time the mute lays either in your case, mute bag or on a shelf in the closet. Little attention is given to these heroes of darkened silence. I will try to share some information in this post on how to better respect and perform with your trumpet mutes. General maintenance of straight and cup mutes Every band hall has a store room. In every store room are Humes & Berg mutes discarded…

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Are Spitballs in Your Future?

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This product has been around for decades and unfortunately, most players do not know much about them. Spitballs are cheap, easy to use and effective in cleaning brass instruments. When these little projectiles first hit the store shelves, the members of our brass quintet (the University of Northern Iowa Faculty Brass Quintet) thought they were a gimmick until we tried them. Our horn teacher at that time decided to inform a group of middle school students to the value of Spitballs and pushed them heavily in a master class one day. The following week we received a letter from the…