Prelude to Brass Playing

take2 · Posted: Sun Oct 06, 2013 3:29 pm Post subject: Prelude to Brass Playing

Does anyone in the forum have experience with the approach Mendez suggests in the book - staying off the horn and loosening the lips in week 1 then buzzing on the mouthpiece week 2?

Has anyone done this for themself or used this approach to get a new student started or with a comeback player to get them started down the right path?

I am very curious what the results have been.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Jeff
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Jeff

oj · Posted: Wed Oct 23, 2013 3:10 am Post subject:

Jeff,

I have a very small experience. When my son was 6 years old he wanted to play trumpet. I got him a pocket trumpet. We started making sounds with the lips. Kids are usually good at that (making car noises etc).
Then I played on the mouthpiece and had him try to copy. He soon was able to play short easy tunes on his mouthpiece. Then of course I had to let him try the trumpet.

There are several who started on mouthpiece alone. Here is a quote from Jules Levy:

trpt.hick · Posted: Wed Oct 23, 2013 8:24 am Post subject:

Thanks, OJ. I have nothing to add.

Jules Levy played only a mouthpiece for a couple of years as a boy. He watched a cornet player play in a pit orchestra, and turned pages for him whenever the player signaled. So, one day Jules picked up the man's cornet and played one of the pieces he had been listening to every night. Everyone was astonished that he could do that simply by buzzing the mouthpiece, watching fingerings, and hearing the tune over and over.

DH