Category: Classical Trumpet
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The accidental trumpet tourist’s first aid: improvised polish
Last night I arrived in San Antonio, Texas. I’m here for the 2022 International Trumpet Guild Conference this week. I’m so excited–so much that I thought it would be good to get back into blogging and sharing that excitement! I had a long list of things to pack yesterday–flugelhorn for my ITG New Works recital…
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Axes of tone: vowel
Over the last two days, we looked at how the “slotting” of a note can greatly affect your timbre on the trumpet. The slotting, as we found out, was manipulated mostly by the openness of the jaw and the tension of the embouchure. Very closely aligned with this notion is the vowel placement we use…
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Tone trick: clock your mouthpiece
You probably saw it coming, or maybe you didn’t, but today I am continuing my blogging about how the mouthpiece affects your tone with the fascinating and unusual practice of clocking your mouthpiece. I learned this technique from my colleague and friend, the late Aigi Hurn, principal trumpet of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia. Background:…
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Mouthpiece sizes: do they measure up?
In the last couple of days, I spent some time writing about Bach trumpet mouthpieces. What about other manufacturers? There are many very good mouthpiece makers with varying philosophies on tone production. The number one factor for most trumpeters in determining a mouthpiece is the (inner) rim diameter. Most of us have gone with Vincent…
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My personal thoughts on Bach trumpet mouthpieces
Yesterday, I introduced Bach mouthpieces, because they have been such industry standards, and in this post I will talk about my personal opinions of Bach mouthpieces. I use a stock Bach 1C for my B-flat, C and E-flat trumpets. I will use a Bach 10 1/2 C with a 117 backbore for piccolo (a Benge…
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More about equipment: how to choose a trumpet
Thanks for hanging in there with yesterday’s post about trumpet equipment. This can be a contentious topic, and I don’t mean to offend anyone who differs from my opinion. The fact is that trumpet brands and models all have little differences here and there, and each of them usually fills a needed niche. Why should…