There are still a lot of people out there who are offended by the practice of wearing a hat indoors. I'll wager that if you go to watch the New York Philharmonic rehearse, there won't be a single member of the orchestra wearing a hat in…
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As a musician at any level (professional, amateur, student), everyone should have specific goals for improvement and performance ability. Most immediately, as college music majors, you have certain goals imposed upon you such as lessons,…
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There are many misconceptions regarding what is required to become a good lead trumpet player. The most prominent is that good high chops are the sole determining factor, or at least the most important one. It is true that maintaining a…
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There are many reasons for learning to play a trumpet; however, the most important one should be the preparation to play for others. Like it or not you will play for others and, from the beginning, you should be aware that someone is…
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The idea of creating a list of well-known trumpeters was generated by a casual conversation with my college trumpet students some years back in which I found that they knew of only 2 or 3 modern trumpeters. I sat down and began listing…
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As a teacher, I am directly responsible for developing an embouchure with a young player. It may take me the first few lessons just to get a student to play a few notes while we work on getting the embouchure right. This is very important.…
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One of the first exercises to practice is to play a note for 4 counts and rest for 4 counts. Use each note from the Low-Middle-High Warmup one at a time and play it over and over again with 4 counts of rest in-between. Do this 20 times or…
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It is only possible to play in tune with a good, centered sound. Loud playing tends to go flat, or is at least perceived as flat. Soft playing tends to go sharp, or is at least perceived as sharp. Playing at a distance makes the pitch…
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Along with both the lead trumpet and alto saxophone, the lead trombone player shares in the responsibility of establishing style, articulation, and phrasing. The lead player must have the ability to listen closely to the other lead players…
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