How to Improve on the Trumpet
Playing the trumpet requires strength in your lips and cheeks. The level of strength you possess, called embouchure, will determine how well you play. Getting stronger will mean being able to play higher notes, as well as playing all notes with a more correct pitch and softer tone. You can improve your embouchure and practice reading music to improve your overall trumpet playing. The longer you play in practice will increase your endurance to help you sustain your quality tone over longer sessions of playing.
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Instructions
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Strengthen Your Embouchure
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1
Find the mouthpiece that works best with your embouchure by testing different styles and sizes. Play through mouthpieces of different sizes to find the one that fits best and sounds best for you. A properly sized and shaped mouthpiece is one that requires the least amount of effort to play correct note tones.
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2
Practice keeping your lips in the proper position to create a consistent embouchure. Wet your lips to allow the air to flow smoothly while you play.
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3
Push your chin slightly forward and down to keep your lips level as they meet the mouthpiece. Keep the corners of your mouth tight while playing notes in every octave. Avoid a tendency to loosen the corners of your mouth when playing less demanding low notes. Your tone will suffer if you relax your embouchure.
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Keep the mouthpiece tight against your lips while playing. Do not press so hard that you experience pain from your teeth on the inside of your lips, but make sure the mouthpiece has a tight and consistent connection with your lips.
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Play scales and musical selections many times over to increase your stamina. Stop playing when you are unable to maintain the proper tone throughout the scale or song. Repeat the endurance building sessions with brief rests between them. A common scale for practice is a standard C-scale. Start at C and then move on to D, E, F, G, A, B-natural, C.
Read Music Better
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Choose musical selections that have complicated time and key signatures, songs that call for you to recognize the key and number of beats per measure of the song by noting the indicators at the beginning of the music. Play the songs by following along with the music even after you have committed some or all of the selection to memory.
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Play various scales by memory. Play scales using whole steps between notes, as in the standard C-scale, as well as chromatic scales which employ all of the notes in an octave--sharps and flats, to familiarize yourself with the relationships between notes.
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Play scales backwards, in descending order, for an advanced practice of key signature.
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References
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