Technology in Trumpet Playing – Page 6

How To Become A Midi File Arranger

written by Bruce Chidester on July 26, 2014

What is a Midi File? MIDI refers to “musical instrument digital interface”. This is the industries standard which enables electronic musical instruments to communicate with each other. Midi protocol was defined throughout the music industry in 1982. How can I begin to arrange without knowing how to write music? Working with midi information is as easy as copying letters from a page. All that will be required is the knowledge of the names of the notes and you will be able to copy and place these notes on your own score to make your first midi arrangement. You are basically…

Inside The World Of A Cup Mouthpiece

written by Bruce Chidester on May 22, 2014

In our never ending quest for scientifically proof of what goes on in our trumpet playing world, we find yet another bit of information to confuse and delight our readers. Here is a video showing what actually happens in the cup of a trumpet mouthpiece as it is being played. For those with weak stomachs, please be advised that what you are about to see might be too graphic for the casual viewer. For the rest of us, it looks exactly as we thought it would. Enjoy and remember to keep buzzing, no matter what it looks like!

Practicing In Front of a Computer Screen

written by Bruce Chidester on May 8, 2014

More trumpet players are beginning to read their music off computer screens and this new trend has advantages as well as disadvantages as we will address. More players are beginning to take advantage of on line lessons through Skype as well as other programs and many times their material is sent to them as PDF files. Some may choose to download and print this material so that they are able to practice in the conventional manner, using their music stand to display their material. Some, on the other hand have begun to read their material off the computer screen, thereby…

Welcome to the Bell Curve System of Practicing

written by Bruce Chidester on January 28, 2014

Just what is the “Bell Curve System”? A Bell Curve is a representation of graduated increase and decrease of anything. It could represent income changes, temperature differences or the stock market. It is a gradual representation of change and this “gradual” change can be beneficial to your practice habits. I will illustrate this concept by using a practice habit most trumpet players use every day. The proper use of the Clarke Technical Study book. Open your book to the first series and we will begin. Start on the first exercise and continue to the last example. Visualize the bell curve…

Teaching An Old Dog A New Trick

written by Bruce Chidester on April 14, 2013

Who said the old can’t learn from the young? I am living proof that the youth of today are far more resourceful than we give them credit. If you have ever been performing with an ensemble when someone trips over the extension chord and all of the bands lights go out, you have experienced the helplessness we have all experienced. There is nothing you can do to get back into the action and the show stops. It has happened to me on more than one occasion and little can be done to resolve the problem. You can have the most…

Advancements in Trumpet Water Keys

written by Bruce Chidester on March 9, 2013

From time to time we run across new innovations for trumpet that actually work. Let me know what you think of this newer approach to trumpet water keys. One of life’s little problems, the sticky Amado Water Key, is now a thing of the past! The Pollard Water Key is the solution. Not only does it work great every time, it looks great mounted on your horn! The Pollard Water Key For more information on trumpet water keys, check this out….. Water Key Developments For Trumpet

Even More Interesting Assumptions Proved and Disproved

written by Bruce Chidester on February 23, 2013

It seems as if there is an endless list of miracle changes which can be made to your trumpet to make it play better and this is just another idea I wanted to test for myself. Some have criticized me for not “using more individuals and instruments” as test units or not doing “blindfold” tests. Some feel that I have not entered enough variables into my testing to make my observations conclusive. To these comments I can only say this; these are my findings and from what I have tested, I feel very confident that I have answered the questions…

Technology in Trumpet Playing- New Section Added to List

written by Bruce Chidester on December 30, 2012

This past week I realized that I have posted many articles dealing Technology in Trumpet Playing. Due to this enlarging area of interest, I decided to offer a new section in our index and combine these related postings into a new section called Technology in Trumpet Playing in order to make this material more readily available to our readers. Below I have included these postings and hope this will make it easier for those interested in the technology side of trumpet playing easier to access. See What Your Tonguing Looks Like What is Really Happening in Your Body When You…

See What Your Tonguing Looks Like

written by Bruce Chidester on December 25, 2012

Often we are told to listen to our sounds and evaluate our progress. As I demonstrated on an earlier post we were able to see what our tone looks like through recording software. The same is true when trying to improve other areas of our playing, and in this case we will look at single tonguing and multiple tonguing through the eyes of the recording program Audacity. As in our other visual studies, we will be using the free software program Audacity. which can be downloaded at this site. To understand what is happening when you tongue a note, we…

Scientific Proof- “Tuning to a tuba can be hazardous to your band’s intonation”

written by Bruce Chidester on June 25, 2012

It takes courage to try to change the world but to some of us, it is worth it. Listening to out of tune bands could be a thing of the past if only the band world would take note. Below I will discuss the reasoning behind clarinet tuning as opposed to tuba tuning and if you have a strong opinion either way, please send me your views so that this problem can finally be exposed and hopefully corrected. Why Tuning to a Clarinet Works 1. The clarinet’s tuning note (Bb) is in the middle of the pitch range for the…