How to Make Sound Come Out of a Trumpet - Beginner Style

To make sound come out of a trumpet is easier said than done. If you've ever tried it, you might of heard just the air passing through the horn. How do trumpet players get that nice warm sound to come out the other end? If you follow these basic steps, you will be able to produce a nice tone that you can use to play notes with.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A Trumpet
• A Mouthpiece
• Lots of Air

1. Before we start, you should always know to take a big breath before putting any air into the trumpet and trying to make sound come out of it. Many high school or even college trumpet players often forget to take a deep breath because they were not taught correctly from the start.

2. Pretend there is a really sour lemon candy in your mouth. Notice how your lips scrunch together. Without using the trumpet yet, pucker your lips as if you've just tasted something really sour.

3. Keeping your lips in the same puckered position, try blowing air out of your mouth through the tiny passage that is made. Be sure not to puff your cheeks out. You should hear and funny sound come out of your lips. That's good. Try to keep the sound constant until you run out of breath.

4. Grab your trumpet with the mouthpiece in place. Hold your trumpet up and bring the mouthpiece gently to your lips.

5. 
    

   Take a deep breath and blow air into the horn using your "puckered lips" position. You should hear a louder and fuller sound come out of your trumpet! Avoid puffing your cheeks and and imagine "exhaling" through the trumpet with a constant air stream.

6. To make a higher note, make your lips a little tighter and keep your air stream constant. Try not to jam the trumpet into your face to reach those higher notes.

7. To make a lower note, make your lips a little looser, still keeping the buzzing feeling on your lips in place. If you make your lips too loose, your lips will not vibrate and only air will come out of your horn. If you're having trouble with the lower notes, try an even deeper breath and more air.

Tips & Warnings

• Always remember to take a big breath before you make a sound.
• Also, keep your air stream constant through your lips and into the horn, as if you were exhaling out of the end of the trumpet.
• To change notes, you have to adjust your lips ever so slightly.
• When you get a nice sound, try pushing the valves to get even more notes!
• At first, putting so much air into your trumpet can cause you to feel light-headed and a little dizzy. If that happens, take deep breaths and take a minute or two to get back to normal.
• You may be creating loud sounds out of your trumpet, so please alert whoever is nearby that might hear you play if you think it may startle or annoy them.