Why Do We Make Misstakes? Part #6

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Fatigue Athletes work to stem off fatigue and in doing so increase their endurance. Trumpet players are similar in that without strong chops or embouchure, a player’s amount of time being able to play music is limited. What I have noticed since beginning to play trombone is that most trumpet players tire much more quickly than do trombone players. I’m not saying that trombone players don’t complain of tired embouchures for they do, but the trumpet embouchure tires more quickly than does the trombone embouchure. Fatigue can be seen not only in the lip muscles but also in the back,…

WHY DO WE MAKE MISSTAKES? PART #5

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Equipment failure Fortunately the number of equipment failures can be listed on one hand so solving these issues can be easy to cover. List of possible equipment failures- 1. Valves will stick, period (THIS IS A RECENTLY USED WORD REVIVED FROM OBSQURITY BY YOUR PRESIDENT). The number of times a valve has hung up a trumpet player would be hard to estimate but I’m sure it is in the tens of thousands when you consider the number of trumpet players performing. A stuck or “hung-up” valve can not only produce the wrong note but will also hang on the players…

Why Do We Make Misstakes? Part #4

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Distractions As I stated earlier, distraction and the lack of concentration are usually related. The distractions I am going to cover here are the ones that creep into your playing even when you are concentrating to your fullest during a performance. #1. Where did my music go? You have practiced your part and are able to play it perfectly 10 times in a row with no errors. You are concentrating as you have never concentrated before. You are physically on top of your game and suddenly the music blows off the stand with a sudden gust of wind. This is…

Learn to Bag IT!

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In an earlier post, (The Perfect “Free” Mute Bag) I mentioned the benefits of a beautiful bag which could be used to protect your metal mutes. The bag comes from Crown Royal & Company and can be secured free of charge from anyone involved with the sale or distribution of this fine product. Today, I made use of the same bag to solve a situation in a show which required a very somber trumpet rendition of the Marines Hymn. At a very sad and sensitive scene in the show, the trumpet has an almost unaccompanied solo playing the familiar service…

Arban Trumpet Method – What is it?

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Joseph Jean Baptist Laurent Arban (28 February 1825 – 9 April 1889) was a cornetist, conductor, pedagogue and the first famed virtuoso of the cornet à piston or valved cornet. He was influenced by Niccolò Paganini’s virtuosic technique on the violin and in an (arguably successful) attempt to “prove” the cornet as a true solo instrument, developed extreme virtuosic technique on the instrument.Born in Lyon, France, he studied trumpet with Francois Dauverné at the Paris Conservatoire from 1841 to 1845. He was appointed professor of saxhorn at the École Militaire in 1857, and became professor of cornet at the Paris…

Testing A Possible New Way To Tune A Trumpet- Part 2

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After doing my own tests on this theory, I came to this conclusion- Matching the pitch of both the bell vibrations and the pitch of the air passing through the lead pipe and tuning slide did make a difference in how the instrument sounded and responded. The only problem with the thought that the instrument is more in tune with itself is that any change in the position of the tuning slide will have similar affects on your instrument. I found nothing note worthy in this experiment and would compare the basic sound and response of a Bb trumpet to…

Testing A Possible New Way To Tune A Trumpet

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This was a recent post on one of the more active trumpet bulletin boards and caught my inquisitive eye. After careful reading I decided to test the good Doctor’s theory. I will reserve my conclusions until our next post so that you will not be biased in any way when you do your own test. Carefully follow the instructions written by its originator and in our next post, I will give you my take of this new thought. Try it and see if it works. Testing A Possible New Way To Tune A Trumpet I would like TM to participate…

Easy Lip Control Exercise

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Being able to bend notes up and down can be very beneficial to a trumpet player. Adjusting notes a little in order to play them in tune as well as having the ability to bend notes in Jazz can be improved with this exercise. When practicing this exercise, try to land solidly on the false note and remain in the center of the pitch. With practice, this will be easier. Download practice sheet here- Easy Lip Control Exercise Listen to example here- easy lip control exercize

Do You Need A Music Riser?

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When I was first introduced to the MUSIC RISER I had no idea what it was. It was explained to me that it raises the music off the stand making it easier to read. My first question was, “Why can’t you just raise the music stand”? That seemed like a legitimate question and then I was reminded that when you play in a dance band, most of the times you are playing on painfully low dance band fronts which cannot be raised. That was true and then my interest was piqued. I tried one on a job that night and…

Do You Ever Suffer From Stiff Chops? Part #2

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Continuing with our discussion on the problem of stiff chops….. While teaching lessons at my university, I realized that many of our students were complaining about stiff chops or the lack of flexibility. Along with this problem invariably was the observation that their lips seldom felt good. After collecting information of such students practice habits, it became obvious that they were overdoing their time in the practice rooms in order to get all their lesson material accomplished. And because they were expected to practice one hour a day for every hour of credit, it was time to figure out a…