Trumpet Pedal Tones

One of the most overlooked, and important, aspects of trumpet playing is pedal tones. The pedal register is all the notes below low Fsharp, the lowest natural note on the instrument. Practising in this register:

• Improves your tone
• Increases your endurance in all registers
• Develops your ear-training and intonation
• Gets your lips vibrating properly
• Is fantastic for warming up, needing no preliminaries
• Gives you great control in all registers
• Helps fluidity
• Will aid you in all aspects of your playing

I recommend any books by trumpet virtuoso and teaching master Claude Gordon, who has written extensively on the subject and has written many useful exercises. For beginners to intermediate players I recommend "Physical Approach to Elementary Brass Playing" and for advanced players "Systematic Approach to Daily Practice for Trumpet".