Practicing your excerpts

[TheBrassBandMajor]

Any tips you would give to a trumpeter who needs to learn their excerpts?

Tips on:

Which key trumpet is best used for the below excerpts?
Any things that needs to be noted before trying these excerpts?
Tempo? Any famous orchestral recording that is helpful?

List:
Mahler 3 Posthorn Solo
Stravinsky's Petrouchka Excerpt
Mahler 5, Trauermarsch
Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition, 'Promenade' Opening
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Vincent Bach Mt Vernon Mercedes
B&S Challenger 3137/I
Hermann Ganter G7aN
A.Windisch Silber-Deluxe, Dresden
Couesnon 'Triebert Moderne' piccolo
Conn 'Connstellation' 28A
SO many more trumpets.....

[Matthew Anklan]

This is a great place to start: http://www.trumpetexcerpts.org

Also, Philip Smith's excerpts CD is full of wonderful insight. I believe it is available on iTunes.

Best,
Matt
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Matthew Anklan
www.matthewanklan.com

[snichols]

[LaTrompeta]

You need a teacher for this. It can't be taught online.

[snichols]

[mhenrikse]

[LaTrompeta]

Listen to as many excerpts as you can and absorb the sound, style and articulation. Listen to where and how much vibrato is used. Most importantly, sit down with a metronome and make sure your rhythms are absolutely perfect.

[deanoaks]

The ultimate answer to your question is, it doesn't really matter. Whatever you are the most comfortable playing on is the one you should use. Below I will list my preferences side-by-side with what I have seen others do.


Mahler 3 Posthorn Solo: Rotary C (seen it on Bb cornet, C trumpet, and a posthorn)

Stravinsky's Petrouchka Excerpt: Piston C trumpet (seen it done well on Bb, attempted on Eb, and D trumpet. Also seen it done on rotary trumpet. Can't say I would recommend it unless you are Gabor Tarkovi)

Mahler 5, Trauermarsch: Rotary C (seen it done on C piston in the US, Bb in the UK, rotary C/Bb in other parts of the EU)

Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition, 'Promenade' Opening: Piston C trumpet (seen it done well on piston Bb in UK. Depending on your sound shape and articulation concept for this excerpt Bb may work better than C)


Like I said above, it really doesn't matter what you play it on. If it sounds good and you're comfortable, that is really all that matters.
As for HOW to play it. Find recordings you like and try to emulate them. Some recordings are more appropriate than others, but all professional recordings are valid.
If you are practicing these for an audition, perhaps listen to the recordings of the orchestra you are auditioning for or even reaching out to a member of the orchestra for their advice.

Best of luck!

[JayV]

Just wanted to make a comment on Petrouchka.

I've struggled with this excerpt for many years. I've played it in concert a couple of times, and I think I got through the solo purely on adrenaline and low standards, but I've never been able to really knock this one down perfectly in an audition.

Finally, I think I've discovered why. In many ways, the C trumpet is the worst possible horn for this excerpt. The natural intonation problems on the Bb, Eb, and D are all less problematic in this particular key. However, the C sounds nice at this moment in the piece, and I prefer to play this excerpt on the C purely because of the tone.

On the C trumpet, the very first arpeggio is basically designed to make you fail due to intonation problems. Most of us can hear a nice F chord in first inversion. How hard is that, right? Not at all! The problem is, the A is sharp, the C is in tune (against A 440) if you have a good horn, and the F is sharp.

The C needs to be slightly higher to be in tune in that context, the A must be much, much lower, and the F must be lower than where it sits on the horn in order to sound right. Because of this, if you have sensitive ears and are going for good chordal intonation, the response is going to feel stuffy and weird on even the best quality C trumpets.

The solution for the C trumpet is to use the first slide liberally. I start with the slide significantly out for the A, then pull it in slightly on the F's and E's. I use 12 on the E's both in the arpeggios and the scalar pattern. It's OK for the E to be slightly sharp since it's the leading tone. An open E is going to be too flat in that context.

However, the implied chord shifts on the larger arpeggio and the downward slurs, so I use an open E in that context (3rd of a C major chord).

I have found that using the first slide trigger has completely improved my ability to play this excerpt consistently and easily. I can't believe it has taken me literally 10 years to figure this out...better late than never!

Most people talk about trumpet players rushing or having uneven time in this excerpt. I think most of those issues are the result of poor response. The poor response is caused by players with good ears struggling against a particularly out of tune series of notes, in my opinion. Your ears and air tell you to place the note in one place, but without the trigger, the horn wants to ring well out of tune. Use the first slide!

[ravel]

try petroushka on a f trumpet!!!!!