10 Indications That You Are Too Old To Play Trumpet. 1. People compliment you on your vibrato when you’re playing a straight tone. 2. Your mutes are green and fuzzy. 3. Your blood pressure is higher than your upper range. 4. You now use your gig bag to carry your medications. 5. Your wife is checking for a double indemnity clause for brain hemorrhages. 6. You find your dog burying your horn in the back yard. 7. You find your horn listed on EBay with your next door neighbors number listed. 8. When you play a loud note, the only…
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…
I just got home from a cruise and spent some time visiting with the musicians on the ship. I asked them some questions that some of you may be interested in hearing. The ship was one of the largest and the band was from all over the globe. The instrumentation was two trumpets, one trombone, two saxes, a bass, keyboard, and drums. Every musician was a good reader and the trumpets were very fine solo players. The tenor, who you would expect to be the jazzer, was a little light. The best musician in the band, in my opinion, was…
We have spent a great deal of time reviewing the Claude Gordan Systematic Approach to Daily practice and from your responses; many have found benefit, including myself. Now I would like to feature another approach to playing in the upper register, and as you will see, it suggests a completely different way about getting the higher notes. For those of you who will find this approach contrary to what The Gordan Method suggested, don’t be confused for each has its own approach to reaching the same goal. Where the Gordan Method instructs you to breathe deep and expand as much…
I hope you enjoy these helpful suggestions for some are very important and some are just practical advice to help our fellow trumpet players.