Tone question

[BeanPlayingATrumpet]

Just a quick question this time, how exactly should I practice my tone quality and finger speed.

[zaferis]

Daily practice - no really - DAILY PRACTICE - 30 minutes per day an absolute minimum-if you want to get better ->more.

||: long tones, lyrical studies (slowly)
SCALES, Clarke studies (with a metronome) :||

listen, listen, listen to great players, build your concept of tone, then practice some more to get closer to it.
Record yourself, play in big rooms as much as possible - Rinse and Repeat.
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Adjunct Professor
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Retired Air Force Bandsman

[Shark01]

I’ve been playing the Kohler Etudes recently. Originally written for Oboe I think, they are very lyrical and contain a lot of slurs that cross over slots.....easy for Oboes I guess but really exposes trumpet players who cannot play smoothly with good consistent tonality.

They can be downloaded....

[kehaulani]

Tone quality
Cichowicz: Long Tone Studies
Lowell Little: Embouchure Builders
Concone: - Lyrical Studies for trumpet

Finger speed
Herbert Clarke: Technical Studies for the Cornet
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"If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." Bird

Yamaha 8310Z Bobby Shew trumpet
Benge 3X Trumpet
Benge 3X Cornet
Adams F-1 Flghn

[cheiden]

Find a pro-level teacher who has excellent tone and spend time playing with them. There's no better way than a good in-person role model.

edit: The Stamp method focuses on resonant centers which improves tone. Again, a pro Stamp-method teacher would be ideal.
_________________
"I'm an engineer, which means I think I know a whole bunch of stuff I really don't."
Charles J Heiden/So Cal
Bach Strad 180ML43*/43 Bb/Yamaha 731 Flugel/Benge 1X C/Kanstul 920 Picc/Conn 80A Cornet
Bach 3C rim on 1.5C underpart

[JoseLindE4]

Tone
1. Learn what a good tone sounds like and meditate on this. Many players don’t really understand what their instrument should sound like and it comes through in their playing. A beautiful sound can be somewhat counterintuitive from behind the horn.

2. Find the resonant center of every note. Repeat for life.

3. Focused practice on ease of production. Tension is not your friend.

4. Listen to great players (of all instruments) via recordings and in-person. No one listens enough.

5. Play easy music beautifully and musically.

6. Record yourself and listen back regularly.

7. Play flow studies and long tones easily, beautifully, and musically.

Fingers

1. Use a metronome.

2. Practice slowly

3. Increase your speed slowly and patiently.

4. Minimize hand tension — the position and posture of your right hand as it rests at your side is a good starting point for right hand position.

5. Mendez said, “scales, scales, and more scales.” Learn the vocabulary of music — scales and arpeggios. Where you find this (Clarke, Arban, Williams, etc.) is less important than how you do it (slowly) and that you consistently do it. Pick something you can commit to and work slowly.

6. Slow progress is reliable; be patient.

7. Practice the hard keys and awkward patterns too.

8. Work in small, obtainable chunks. You can’t master everything in one session/day/week/month/year/lifetime.

[Bill_Bumps]

[stuartissimo]

[shofarguy]

I wonder if the OP is just getting his 5 posts with this thread or if he's actually interested in the replies.

This question is very relevant to me, now that I have joined a Community Concert Band. The ensemble has its own sound, of course. Which means the trumpet section has its own sound. All of this stems from the director's sound concept and ability to communicate and achieve it in the musicians he has at hand.

I found that my existing tone concept was a long way off from that of this ensemble, so I have needed to explore, experiment and discover how to produce an appropriate facsimile of what I hear in the section.

To make matters more difficult, there is a broad variety of skill levels in the musicians that make up the section. That means I've needed to learn who I should emulate and which musicians I should "lift," as it were, to better tone.

I found that I had the most trouble playing at the pianissimo dynamic. With the tone production I brought with me, my sound would break up. Eventually, I found a way to open my embouchure aperture to where I could produce a nice tone and good initial attacks at that level.

The way I did it was to alter my free-buzzing and mouthpiece playing during my warmup. I also used octave intervals from concert F in the staff to F below and descending using the seven valve combinations down to C#. I use the same fingerings for each octave, ignoring normal fingerings for low F & E.

By establishing a lip buzz that excited more width and transferring that to the mouthpiece, my tone started to broaden. Then, by establishing an embouchure that would allow me to both play the natural note and the ghost note below with good, steady intonation and resonance, I suddenly improved tone and response in the upper part of the staff, as well.

Now, I am moving my warmup to the mid and upper notes of the staff, because I tend to pinch off those notes and my intonation also suffers. I have started using my Arban's book again to increase my flexibility and dexterity. My goal is to tune my breath support, embouchure strength and flexibility, etc., so that I can produce a consistent tonal spectrum from the lower range up to concert Bb above the staff. I hope to have this full range ready for Fall session.

I have learned that changing one thing at a time, working slowly and deliberately, has allowed me to progress over a fairly short time. The most important thing is having a clear example to emulate with good feedback from the room, other musicians and the director.
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Brian A. Douglas

Flip Oakes Wild Thing Bb Trumpet in copper
Flip Oakes Wild Thing Flugelhorn in copper


There is one reason that I practice: to be ready at the downbeat when the final trumpet sounds.

[cheiden]

Finger speed? Clarke Techincal Studies with a variety of tonguings.
_________________
"I'm an engineer, which means I think I know a whole bunch of stuff I really don't."
Charles J Heiden/So Cal
Bach Strad 180ML43*/43 Bb/Yamaha 731 Flugel/Benge 1X C/Kanstul 920 Picc/Conn 80A Cornet
Bach 3C rim on 1.5C underpart