Overall Development

CameronMcDuffie · Regular Member Joined: 17 Mar 2017 Posts: 13

I don't know how to start off this post so I'll just say it. I'm a rising Sophmore in high school (10th grade) and I've been playing for almost 4 years. My tone is pretty good and moderately full. My solid, good sounding range is at a high A and my lowest note is an F#. I know that getting better will come with time, but I want everyone's opinions on what I should do to max out my potential. Sharing thoughts, exercises and personal experiences is appreciated. Also I already know to practice, I do it at least for 30 minutes every day.

Grits Burgh · Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 2:46 pm Post subject:

Get the best teacher you can find.

Listen to the best players.

Work your tail off.

Rest as much as you play.

Warm regards,
Grits
_________________
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dstdenis · Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 2:48 pm Post subject:

Play a lot, practice a lot, listen to great recordings, soak up information like a sponge. FWIW, when I was your age, I took weekly lessons from a very good orchestral trumpeter who put me on a heavy program of material to move me along and speed up my development.

This didn't happen just because I sat in a room with him once a week for my lesson, it was mostly because I worked every day on the material he assigned. A lot. The lesson sessions helped because I was inspired by hearing him play so well that I wanted to practice a lot in hopes that I might play like that too.

Until you're taking lessons from a really good teacher and working hard every day to master the assignments (probably more than 30 minutes/day), you won't be maximizing your potential.
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Brad361 · Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 3:01 pm Post subject:

Increase your practice time (but this also means that you need to know what and how to practice).

FIND A QUALIFIED PRIVATE TEACHER, YESTERDAY. Seriously, this is going to help you ten times more than asking on an internet forum. That's not to say your asking here is a bad thing to do, but an in person teacher will be a lot more helpful to you.

Increase your practice time, and oh yeah, increase your practice time.😉

Best of luck!

Brad
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When asked if he always sounds great:
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gwood66 · Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 5:34 pm Post subject:

If I was in high school again I would start by purchase the following three books:

Irons 27 Groups of Exercises, Clarke Technical Studies and either Ernest Williams Complete Modern Method or Arbans Conservatory Method.

If you search this forum you will find several threads that discuss how to develop a daily fundamental routine using these or similar books. That routine may consist of the following items:

-Flexibility Exercises (Irons)
-Technical Studies (Clarke)
-Tonging Exercises
-All 12 Major Scales (once through every day) Focus on perfecting one a week.
-Some sort of long tone exercise (I hold the last note of some exercises until all my air is gone and continue to push for a few seconds afterward rather than playing classic long tone exercises)

The most important advice a I would give a high school trumpet player is to rest as much as you play during practice. (i.e. play a line or exercise then take the horn off your mouth and rest for as long as it took to play the exercise)

Stop practicing when you feel tired and you start to loose form. This is the quickest way to develop bad habits and embouchure problems.

Buy an metronome and use it.

Play everything with the same focus and concentration you would if you were playing in front of an audience. Every note is a concert.

Find a good teacher and get some private lessons. Everyone can benefit from having someone critique their playing.

TonytheTiger · Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2017 4:18 am Post subject:

Here's what a great, well-known teacher told me on how to build your own routine:
Go through your répertoire (I don't mean play through all of it), be it solo or ensemble, and for each difficult/challenging passage, pick an exercise focusing on that particular challenge in the arban (or Clarke, colin, Schlossberg, etc.) and use these exercises as your routine.
Try taking notes to keep track of which exercises/tempi you are doing. Add new exercises when you stumble on new difficulties.

That, and find a good teacher. Increasing your practice time may also be needed.

I hope this will help you as much as it helps me.

Tony

(Autocorrect was being a real b**** during the redaction of that post, so please be indulgent if I forgot some errors)

cheiden · Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2017 10:24 am Post subject:

Get with a great teacher and learn how to learn. If you can't commit to lesson long-term that's okay. A few quality lessons could put you on the path. Trumpet can be really counterintuitive and you really need someone to guide you early on so you don't develop habits that can be near impossible to break.

Get a well constructed daily routine that covers all the bases (see above). The only way to be a consistent player is to practice in a consistent manner.

Dont' focus solely on things that are hard. Learning to play less demanding stuff really really well is really really important.

Don't settle for just producing notes. Listen to singers and other soloists and learn how to communicate through your playing.
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Betelgeuse215 · Veteran Member Joined: 20 May 2015 Posts: 186

Here's one simple way of upping your ability.
First Session: Tone production exercises
Second Session: Technical Exercises
Third Session: Everything else(etudes/ensemble work/ solos, etc)

The material that you fill your time with is up to you and a teacher but that is a pretty good way of doing it as a general guideline.

So pretty much its adding more playing in your daily routine

7Trumpets · New Member Joined: 25 May 2017 Posts: 7 Location: Chicago

Great suggestions already regarding a good teacher and increasing your practice time.

Five of the most-utilized methods/studies worldwide are:
Arban, Schlossberg, Clark, Stamp, and Cichowicz.

All the Best,

Barry
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Betelgeuse215 · Veteran Member Joined: 20 May 2015 Posts: 186

take2 · Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2017 4:45 am Post subject:

Spend some time practicing "easy" material and try to play it perfectly.

Avoid wearing yourself out fumbling through difficult material or difficult passages. Go through them mentally first. Tap it out slowly on a keyboard and get it in your ear. Sing it slowly while you go through the fingerings. Play it slowly in half time and slowly work your way up to tempo.

Rest as much or more than you play.

Avoid totally wearing yourself out. Stop before you do. Always leave a little gas in the tank.

Listen to great players of all styles.
_________________
Jeff

take2 · Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2017 4:52 am Post subject:

Spend some time practicing "easy" material and try to play it perfectly.

Avoid wearing yourself out fumbling through difficult material or difficult passages. Go through them mentally first. Tap it out slowly on a keyboard and get it in your ear. Sing it slowly while you go through the fingerings. Play it slowly in half time and slowly work your way up to tempo.

Rest as much or more than you play.

Avoid totally wearing yourself out. Stop before you do. Always leave a little gas in the tank.

Listen to great players of all styles.
_________________
Jeff

Jsa0021 · New Member Joined: 19 May 2017 Posts: 5

Some of these books are free domain now! Look for them!

BBB1976 · Veteran Member Joined: 30 May 2016 Posts: 134

Hi there. Yes some great advice already. All the standard books mentioned are good. I would definitely try and develop a good BALANCED routine incorporating many different aspects of playing, rather than focusing on one thing! For example, air setup, slurs, tonguing, intervals, range, pedals etc.....this will also keep your practicing fun! Try and practice SENSIBLY on different aspects and be dedicated about what you are doing. Indeed, have a love and passion for it. We are all so lucky to play the trumpet and it is a gift. Always play with a good sound and breathe well! Happy blowing my friend and good luck to you.