Trumpet & String Training

[CTrumpeter]

Does anyone here have thoughts on the benefits of studying multiple instruments?

I find it interesting that the many great trumpeters/cornetists of our time studied a string instrument first, seemingly often the violin. If I recall, studying multiple instruments was in fact a curriculum requirement of institutions like the Paris Conservatory, which also included gaining and proving one’s total expertise in solfège, theory, etc.

I just finished reading the Herbert L. Clarke autobiography, and he writes about spending much of his formative years studying the viola and cornet simultaneously, often all day, and also made money playing the viola in orchestras when the summertime band work was slow.

Would love to hear your thoughts!

[Christian K. Peters]

Hello and happy new year,
I know that much of the trombone etude rep is based on cello music. All I can think of is, musicality and line of motion...Phrasing and breath control. So by learning a bowed string instrument would be beneficial. Or, at least listening to string music with that in mind. It seems that I recollect that some of the modern trumpet soloist...Tine and Allison come to mind, who have transcribed string works into their rep. I think that learning another instrument would just be adding another perspective to your playing. If you are also conducting, a string influence would give you a lot more insight on relating to an orchestra.
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Christian K. Peters
Schilke Loyalist since 1976

[Jaw04]

I started on viola, I also picked up guitar, drums, piano etc. I think learning as many instruments as possible is a huge benefit to developing your musicianship, understanding how instruments work together, motor skills, tone quality, time feel, etc. If I had to recommend 1 instrument that all musicians should play it would be piano (also singing)... second would be drum set. I think strings are prevelant with young musicians simply because school music programs often start with them, at least in my case. I didn't get private piano lessons, but I started the viola in the public school system in 3rd grade.

[kgsmith1]

I'm convinced a lot of Caruso's concepts and even some of the material from his drills came from violin pedagogy he was exposed to as a kid.

Also there is definitely material in the Clarke studies ripped from Czerny, or someone similar. I'm a little skeptical of whether agility and velocity function similarly enough on trumpet and piano that it's worth playing many piano drills on trumpet. But there are methods like Pischna where it's worth understanding the underlying principles and then transferring the principles to trumpet, if not the drills themselves. (Pischna combines chords and trills to force the player to move only the fingers that are supposed to move, and leave the other fingers resting on the keys instead of flailing around wasting energy when not activating the piano's action.)

I would vote for learning drums first. One of Caruso's key insights, in my opinion, is that everything happens in time. If you do whatever you need to do in time, the pieces all come together. Hitting a double Q# but with no groove isn't useful, and if the player isn't coordinated in time the technique fails apart. Singing probably #2 to develop a strong mental concept of music. Piano could be next, I guess, if nothing else it motivated me to learn trumpet so that my parents would let me stop taking piano lessons.

[kgsmith1]

One more string connection - I think it was a Tom Stevens lecture I saw where he said Georges Mager received better solfege training back in France than other trumpet players, because Mager doubled on viola. Since Mager taught Herseth there was a Chicago school connection in there somewhere. But it wasn't about viola exactly, more that the Conservatoire considered us band instruments less capable than the strings and Mager gamed the system to get better ear training.

[JoseLindE4]

Doubling is a great way to open your ears and mind, but I’ll propose an alternate theory. String players (and piano players) often start very young. The connection you see might just be the results of a good, focused music education at a young age.

[stuartissimo]

Playing the drums taught me a lot about the interaction of the different instruments in the band. Not to mention the benefits to sightreading and timing.
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1975 Olds Recording trumpet
1997 Getzen 700SP trumpet
1955 Olds Super cornet
1939 Buescher 280 flugelhorn
AR Resonance mouthpieces

[peanuts56]

[LaTrompeta]

I'm studying organ. Benefit is that now I can play trumpet and organ, instead of just trumpet.

Now to learn to play both at once...
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[HaveTrumpetWillTravel]

Where I live it's the opposite of the US. Kids are pushed hard to do piano or violin in kindergarten through grade school and then only continue if it's something really important to them (whereas most band kids don't start anything until 5th grade or later).

I do think that starting early pays off in overall musicality (intonation, rhythm). I also think violin/viola/cello require and teach a better sense of pitch.

That said, I did come back to trumpet in part because playing violin with my kids was so hard. I thought, "I could study this for ten years and still not be able to play good violin repertoire."

[Rogerrr]

I think multiple instruments is a fantastic learning tool...especially keyboard and guitar where you can SEE the scale & intervals right in front of you
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Sax player learning cornet & trumpet...and occasionally a little bit of trombone.
( so don't confuse me with an experienced player )