Benefiting from the Basics

Learning how to play a brass instrument can be a frustrating and tough journey if the basic foundations are ignored during practice. Most young trumpet players become fixated on only practising high notes or loud playing and want to find the easiest and the shortest route to doing so. The students then find themselves with many gaps and weaknesses in their playing. The same can occur with students studying other brass instruments too.

On many Brass forum sites and on YouTube, different embouchures and methods are discussed, what mouthpiece/equipment to use or buy. With of the power of the Internet today, it's so easy to find a temporary solution or an answer for any problem one may have. What works on one person may not work as well on another, it's what works for YOU, you need to go out and find what works for YOU. On the subject of Embouchures, these methods (Maggio, Stevens etc.) all explain the same basic fundamentals of trumpet playing, my advice is if you do feel you're having embouchure problems, find a teacher who can look at what you are doing and point you in the right direction rather than deal with it alone. I do think it helps to choose one method of playing and stick to it. The only way you'll see a difference is if you spend a lot of of time on it, with a lot of patience. 

Playing lots and lots of simple exercises is the next thing you need to be getting on with, there are so many excellent trumpet books to practise from for example; J. B. Arban pages 11-22, 125-126, Allen Vizzutti Book 1 Pages 7-14, James Stamp exercises and warm ups, not to forget PLENTY of long tones which you can find in nearly all practise books. Along with proper breathing these simple exercises can improve your playing immensely and can keep your chops in shape and strengthen the facial muscles. Pay attention to the start AND the end of every note, make the AIR do the work rather than your chops!

Keep in mind, you must REST AS MUCH AS YOU PLAY and most importantly, focus on your SOUND. Every student should be spending a lot of time focusing on their sound because, at the end of the day, your sound is the only component in your playing which will determine whether you get the gig or not!