Category: Trumpet Pedagogy
-
It’s more than just a flugel
Today, let’s take a moment to think about an instrument you probably play infrequently—the flugelhorn. This is potentially a great instrument, and I think we all intuitively understand how wonderfully different it is from the trumpet. A little about its history. Like a lot of brass instruments, the flugelhorn had a non-valve past. It was…
-
Five easy ways to be creative in the practice room
Good trumpet playing is usually a very disciplined and focused activity. But it doesn’t always have to be. I like to pursue creativity whenever possible. The idea is to embrace new ways of doing things that can satisfy your basic fundamental needs. Here are five ideas right off the top of my head, but the…
-
Some thoughts on Taps
Today, in the U.S., it is Memorial Day. It is a day in which Americans honor those who have died while serving in the military. A lot of trumpeters play Taps today. It’s a bugle call steeped in tradition. The best place to find out about Taps and its history is the Taps Bugler website,…
-
Mouthpiece practice with lyrical melodies
I have recently written some posts about free-buzzing, buzzing with the “visualizer,” and some concepts about mouthpiece buzzing. Today I would like to write about how to make a lyrical melody sound better with mouthpiece practice. Let’s take for example an arrangement of J.S. Bach’s Siciliano from his Flute Sonata No. 2 (BWV 1031). It’s…
-
Mouthpiece buzzing: connecting notes
When my oldest son was taking violin lessons, he was taught how to change hand positions. This is called shifting. His teacher, a fantastic Suzuki-trained teacher, had him, at least in the beginning, maintain finger contact with the string as he shifted. This sounded a bit messy, but helped him to learn how to do…
-
Mouthpiece tone
As mentioned in the last two posts, matching pitch while playing the mouthpiece is an important goal. But we can work on other things. Just as you might do long tones on the trumpet, we can play long tones on the mouthpiece. Just like free buzzing or buzzing with the visualizer, I like to start…