4 Main Study Areas for Trumpet
This post outlines the main areas of potential study for all Trumpet players regardless of the style of music you might be playing or your skill level. If you are considering having a Trumpet specific teacher it is likely that you will be working on many of the 21 points listed. I have broken this into
4 Main Areas of Study
Sound Production (S)
Theory (T)
Analysis (A)
Performance (P)
Aspects of the following areas can be introduced and taught to Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced students. Each section can be adapted to individual students current performance requirements.
1. Warm-up (S)
2. Long tones (S)
3. Scales (S/T)
4. Flexibility (S)
5. Articulation (S)
6. Range building and Endurance (S)
7. Chord Patterns (S/T)
8. Phrasing (S/A)
9. Making Music (T/A/P)
10. Theory and Fundamental Harmonic Structure (T)
11. Memorization (P)
12. Song Analysis (A/P)
13. Playing Styles (A/P)
14. How Your Part Fits In (A/P)
15. Ear Training (S/T/A)
16. Practice Difficult Passages (S/A)
17. Mutes (S/A)
18. Listening (A)
19. Interval Study (S/T/A)
20. Warm down (S)
21. Mindfulness (A/P)
Description of each aspect of trumpet teaching
1.Warm Up (S)
· keep this brief
· just enough to get the air moving and the lips vibrating
2.Long Tones (S)
· six magic tones
· keep embouchure stable
· feel corners being taxed
· do every day but don't overdue this
3.Scales (S/T)
· single octave/double octave
· major/minor/mixolydian
· pick different key centres to work from
· write these out on manuscript paper
· Learn and practice all key centres
4.Flexibility (S)
· slurring intervals mostly with the same valve combinations
· excellent work for sound production and keeping embouchure relaxed
· helpful with increasing range
· air support is important
5.Articulation (S)
· tonguing styles - single, double, triple
· combining tonguing and slurring
· will define stylistic playing
6.Range Building and Endurance (S)
· built on regular balanced practice
· a measured indicator of progress
· important for performing in bands
7.Chord Patterns (S/T)
· Combines scale work with interval study
· initial stage of understanding theory and basic harmony
8.Phrasing (S/A)
· understanding of larger melodic fragments
· breath support for entire length of phrase
· awareness of dynamics
9.Making Music (T/A/P)
· Songs, Etudes, musical exercises
· improvising on melodies
10.Theory and Fundamental Harmonic Structure (T)
· analyze and understand how melodic notes fit into the harmonic structure
· identify scale patterns
· study solo transcriptions and scores
11.Memorization (P)
· why, when and how to memorize music
· comes partially through repetition
· result of serious song study and practice
12.Song Analysis (A/P)
· understanding of shape and contour of piece
· understanding of historical significance of piece
· understanding of harmonics and melodic structure
13.Playing styles (A/P)
· basic sound production, articulation and overall phrasing will change according to the style and period of the piece
14.How does your part fit in? (A/P)
· hear how your part relates to others
· are you playing a lead or supporting role
· solo vs section playing
15.Ear Training (S/T/A)
· practice singing what you are practicing in short phrases
· learn to match pitches with your voice
· start to hear when you are not singing pitches in tune
16.Practice difficult passages (S/A)
· grouping
· change articulation patterns
17.Mutes (S/A)
· changes sound production
· individual mutes have their own colour and timbre
· alters tuning
18.Listening (A)
· recordings of all forms of music
· live performances
· imagine you are part of the performance
19.Interval study (S/T/A)
· pattern recognition
· important for initial learning of pieces
· helps to develop ear
20.Warm Down (S)
· At the end of a strenuous practice session or performance it is important to warm down by doing a pedal tone exercise
21.Mindfullness (A/P)
· meditation practice to help with:
· focus
· concentration
· nerves
· fatigue
· body and breath connections
I welcome comments and suggestions about what you think might be placed on this list. I’m sure that there are some other aspects that I haven’t thought of as I wrote this post.
Happy Trumpet Playing
The Sunday Trumpet Report: A Brief Overview of the Trumpet
A brief history of the Trumpet
A Brief History of the Instrument
An overview of where we are today is just that a view from above. The life of a trumpet player in 2019 can be many things from being a dedicated student to a seasoned professional. Someone who plays in their church or in a local community band; someone who plays jazz, or classical or even in a ska band; we are all trumpet players. Some of us practice more than others and some of us perform in public more than others but what we all have in common is the benefit of the history and development of the instrument over time.
So let’s talk about that for a minute. The trumpet that we all play today is steeped in a rich history. The manufacturing of the trumpet first occurred around 3000 years ago at the time of the Egyptians. The principles of generating sound came before that, when the first sounds produced by speaking into a conch shell or hollow tree branch were amplified.
Advances of the Romans
The Roman Tubae
The science of sound was developed by the Greeks and taken a step further by the Romans. The Romans made some very interesting looking horns, all of which created sounds for very specific purposes. But the common element for a trumpet, up till the late 1700’s was the understanding that the length of the tubing had a direct relationship to the pitch of the notes it could play. The shorter the trumpet, the fewer tones it could produce; and longer variations of the trumpet could produce more tones. It was during this time that trumpets were being manufactured from a variety of materials from silver and bronze to eventually being made of brass of brass around 800 A.D.
The New Order
The Baroque Trumpet
The next main development in the history of the trumpet happened when the role of the players of the instruments changed. Up till till the mid 1500’s the primary function for a trumpet player was, as it had been for a few thousand years, to be a communication tool to be used by governments or the military leaders of the day. The shift that happened was that the trumpet slowly started to become part of musical presentations. The composers of this period saw an opportunity to include the brilliant sounds of the trumpet into their compositions which were initially performed in Church and for the celebration of God.
One of the factors in the increased opportunities for trumpet players of the time was that individual players began to exhibit a greater skill and facility over the instrument. This meant a greater number of notes that could be played on the instrument. Another factor of the inclusion into the orchestra was that those who played the trumpet, in many cases, also played other instruments. This meant that when there were more opportunities to include a trumpet(s) in a composition. It turned out to be the start of the golden age of the trumpet.
The Industrial Revolution Changes Everything
In the last decade of the 1700’s things began to change once again. It was the start of the industrial revolution. The manufacture and design of the trumpet changed the future of the instrument and it’s role in society and music. This is the time when the first valves were conceived and incorporated into the long tube trumpet giving the instrument the ability to play chromatically and not simply playing the sounds of the overtone series. This allowed for the trumpet to join in with the members of the orchestra, in ways that was not possible before.
The Keyed Trumpet: Haydn and Hummel both wrote Concertos for this instrument.
The interesting thing about these new inventions of trumpets with valves, is that it took many decades to perfect the designs but then many more decades for composers to find ways to incorporate the new sounds into their compositions. However by around the 1860’s the valved trumpet was now finding its voice into the orchestra which started the next wave of popularity for the instrument. What resulted was finally a soprano voice in the world of brass instruments that would change how we listen to music for the next hundred and fifty years.
The Dawning of a New Golden Age
The 20th Century saw a continued development of design for the instrument. The basic shape and size of the trumpet had been established so now engineers and designers set about to refine specific elements and parts of the trumpet. By experimenting with different types of metal and then modifying the manufacture process the trumpet became a more precise instrument. As the popularity of the instrument grew so did the quality of instruments being made.
The thing that most advanced the popularity of the instrument over the 1900’s was the invention of the ability to record sound. Records and radio brought music and musicians directly into peoples homes. The increased exposure of bands and orchestras that featured trumpet players helped create the celebrity status of many jazz and classical musicians.
Which brings us up to today when the next round of technical development is taking place. Once again the design of the instruments and mouthpieces are being scientifically modified enabling the player to produce better sounds. The skill levels of the modern trumpet player has increased dramatically over the last 30 years.
Sometimes in the discussion about trumpet playing, talking about playing higher, faster or louder seems to be more popular than what it is to actually make music. As we address the technical aspects of playing the trumpet, we can lose sight of why we have chosen to play the instrument. The primary goal of a musician is to make music.
Whether we are a professional, a gifted amateur or just a person who likes to play, we should ask ourselves an important question. Why is it we spend so much time with that piece of metal against our lips? It’s not the most comfortable or natural things to do but we seem to love it and the world is better for it.
Next Sunday we will dive deeper into the origins of the instrument and the search for who made the first sounds and why.
If you like this post, or have an era of the trumpet you would like to see discussed here, please comment below. Also check out our Facebook and Instagram pages.
Related Posts
The First Post
What you will find in these blog posts are sometimes going to be the general rantings of a semi-retired, semi-professional trumpet player and other times you will hear from other like minded people from around the world. My life as a musician and trumpet player has taken me to many parts of the world and I have had the pleasure of meeting many wonderful people along the way. However what I am doing right now excites me in ways I had never imagined. The work in creating The Trumpet Project has been a journey of love for the past year and a half. The genesis of the project is quite simple. I was looking for a different level of musical expression and as a trumpet player this can sometimes be relatively limiting. Playing in an Orchestra is fun but sometimes the work is not the most rewarding. Performing with a big band likewise has it’s limitations in creativity. I guess it stems from performing at the back of the bus so to speak. So I made a commitment to myself to find some musical outlets that would have me move out front and take more of a leadership role. To this end I started the Trumpet Project, took on conducting the South Vancouver Big Band when the leader left town last year and started a jazz quartet to back of the bands singer Ikuko May. At the same time as doing this I took a leap of faith and a one year hiatus from my very lucrative job in the film industry. So now although the page is not completely blank I have a pretty good idea of where I want to be heading.
This space will be a place where I can talk about what’s going on for me and some of my projects as well as interesting things I find along the way. I hope you enjoy these posts and feel free to comment below and let me know what you might want to hear more about in the trumpet world or the challenges you might be facing as a musician.