How to Begin to Play the Trumpet

The stunning tonal range of the trumpet will reward the student with many years of musical pleasure. Ear training, social sensitivity, teamwork, pitch and rhythm awareness are only a few of the positive attributes that are afforded by gaining musicianship skills on the trumpet.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Metronome
• Music Stands
• Trumpet Cases
• Trumpet Mouthpieces
• Trumpet Valve Oil
• Trumpets
• Sheet Music
• Small Tube Of Vaseline
• Trumpet Music CDs

1. Pretend that you have a small piece of paper on the end of your tongue. Now spit it off. Let the air continue through your lips.

2. Do the same thing again keeping your lips close together and produce a long "buzz."

3. Take the trumpet's mouthpiece by the small tube known as the "shank."

4. Put the larger end in the center of your closed lips. Center your lips both vertically and horizontally.

5. Do the "spit-buzz" exercise into the mouthpiece. Sustain the "buzz" for 5 seconds.

6. Insert the mouthpiece into the lead pipe with a very slight twist.

7. Now do the "spit-buzz" exercise to produce long and steady tones.

8. Depress the first valve. Produce a steady tone. This pitch should be a first-space F on the treble clef of your sheet music.

9. Lift that finger so that no valves are down. Produce a higher pitched tone. This would be a second-line treble-clef G.

10. Produce your best tone. This and pitch control are the primary initial goals.

Tips & Warnings

• Maintain good posture so that deep breathing can supply the resource for diaphragm support. This is the secret to playing high register notes and for gaining endurance.
• Blow a steady stream of air with medium pressure placing the mouthpiece on your lips "dead center."
• Take lessons from a good teacher and ask for tips from other good trumpeters.
• Keep your cheeks flat to develop a good embouchure.
• Avoid pinching your lips or squeezing the mouthpiece against the lips to play high notes. Play "medium register" notes for now.

[Diablo2]

on 6/3/2009 Excellent article. 5 stars!

[marttop]

on 4/15/2007 If you want to know how to play any instrument you must put your interest in it and hav a constant pratice that is what i do before agin my own.

on 9/23/2006 After you put the mouthpiece in your horn and before you begin to practice, always warm up first. How you do it depends on you; it's a personal choice, but warming up is very important. There are some people who can pick up their trumpet and play, but they are rare.

I start out with long tones, from middle G all the way down, and then from low C back up to G. I move to lip slurs, then tonguing, and of course I play all of the major scales; you can add different tonguing patterns to help your articulation. After a while you will be able to feel when you are ready to move on to the rest of your music.

When you are done practicing and ready to pack your trumpet up, don't - that's the worst thing you can do at this point. When you play difficult, high music, you tear apart muscle mass in your embouchure. Your lips will relax on their own in a few hours -- but you waste a few hours in regenerative time you could have had. Instead, try reversing your warm-up routine. I lip slur around a little bit, then go from middle G all the way down to low C#/F#. Don't go as fast as you warmed up, you are trying to relax. After you feel okay, try to do some pedal tones. These are below the written range of the trumpet. Once you've slurred all the way down to C#/F#, go lower. Play a C long tone, hear the pitch in your head, then depress all three valves and lip the note down to an F. Because it's so low, you will be able to make it come into tune. Then play a B, and lip an E out with 123. Continue your pedal tones (fingering for the bottom note will always be 123 with lots of relaxation and lipping down); I go until I'm playing a double-low C.

You will feel the effects right away, I know my lips feel a lot better afterward. If you don't, the next time you play you certainly will. You will be much more relaxed. If you keep playing pedal tones, you will be able to make them all come into tone amazingly well. Surprise yourself!

Also, good posture is very important, but one thing that gets overlooked often is arm position. Most people have a tendency to rest their arms on their chest to help support the instrument. This restricts your air flow! When someone told me that I was resting my arms on my chest, I fixed it -- and my air support improved at least 200%.

on 8/31/2006 Always warm up by playing a simple scale, then it will be much easier to play.

on 8/8/2006 We never use the tip of the tongue to control air when playing trumpet or any brass instrument. The tip of the tongue usually rests behind the bottom teeth. The tongue must form an arch and the contact of the tongue's arch with the palate is what controls the air. Anyone who reads a real trumpet method can attest that! The paper spitting routine is not the correct approach to learn lip buzzing.