Solving your Jazz and Legit Mouthpiece Problems

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Trumpet Mouthpiece

On one day you are playing Brahms in an orchestra and the next you are playing Kenton in a club and the choice of sound is becoming a problem. One requires a soft and gentile timbre and the other a more edgy tone with an increased high range. One solution would be to change trumpets for each situation but at the cost of instruments today, who has that kind of cash. Another possibility would be to attempt to color your tone with your existing equipment but you will find this is only an act of desperation. This scenario was exactly…

On Which Paper Is It Best To Print Your Music?

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Has this ever happened to you? You have a quick page turn in your concert and the next two pages are stuck together. Under the existing light, you suddenly realize that the notes on the reverse side of your music are showing through. As you quickly turn your page, the sheet gets stuck on the stand and tears in two. While erasing your previous pencil markings from your music, you gouge a hole where your notes used to be. These are very common situations and I have finally found the solution to these as well as many other problems caused…

Finally! I found the best lead pipe brush, again.

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After searching for more than a decade, I finally found a source for the best lead pipe cleaning brush in the world. When I bought my first Schilke trumpet, I also purchased a cleaning brush they had in the shop and now I have I have finally found a source who stocks the same brush. I think it is time now to retire the old and send in the new! justman-brush-company-is-the-industry-leading-manufacturer-of-laboratory-scientific-and-glassware-brushes http://www.justmanbrush.com/catalog/ 715325 Black Nylon Smooth 1/2″ 1.2 3″ 7.5 18″ 45 $3.69

How To Place Your Mouthpiece In Your Horn

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Have you ever heard or read something that does not make any sense to you at all and then you set out to prove it wrong only to find that it is actually true? This happened to me this past week and even though it is an embarrassment, I will swallow my pride for the betterment of the brass world. This past week I read a post on one of the brass bulletin boards which stated that this person claimed that the rotation of the mouthpiece could actually change how the instrument responded when played. Just the thought of someone…

Free Rhythmic Study with Recording

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You may find this useful to practice your jazz rhythms for all of these examples have been taken from our current show in Branson, “The All Hands On Deck Show”. If you become tired of the cymbals in the recording, you can do two things to improve the sound- 1. Move the left and right fader control back and forth to lessen the drums. 2. Add more bass and less treble to cut down on the edge of the cymbal. Trumpet sheet music- rhythmic-study-trumpet-in-bb Practice recording-

New Flow Studies Material- Part III

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This is my third and final post in this series of material on “New Flow Studies” and I have included two additional sets of exercises. In this post I have included a series of exercises using the intervals of a third, fourth. I would suggest that you do the following. 1. Start with the interval of a second until it becomes easy for you at the faster speed. 2. Begin the intervals of a third at the slow speed until it becomes easy for you. 3. Begin the intervals if a forth with caution…… When I recorded this exercise, I…

New Flow Studies Material- Part II

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If you have played through my material from my last post, some may find the tempi too fast. If you like the concept and would like a slower tempo, I suggest that you read an earlier post called “Using Technology to Improve Your Trumpet Playing- Using an Audio Recorder” where I describe how you can download a simple and free app. which will enable you to do your own recordings. When comparing my exercises with Mr. Cichowicz’s etude on page 9 of his booklet, you can see a strong similarity. Obviously his material stressed long flowing lines with constant slurs.…

New Flow Studies Material- Part I

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To older trumpet players the title Flow Studies brings up fond memories of one of the great trumpet players of our time. The younger practitioners of the tromba may not be familiar with the name Vincent Cichowicz but to the more seasoned, the name represents one of the finest trumpet performers and teachers of our life time. The name Cichowicz represents the Chicago Symphony when the likes of the following represented the Chicago Symphony dynasty in the mid 1960s. Cichowicz, Vincent Trumpet 1952 – 1974 Clevenger, Dale Horn (Principal) 1966 – 2013 Farkas, Philip Horn (Principal) 1947 – 1960 Gilbertsen,…

trumpetlessonsonline.com and Claude Gordon- All you need to become a professional trumpet player! Part 5

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Warm up and Cool Down In this free lesson, I have included a couple interesting and helpful posts which will more fully explain the importance of a regular warm up and cool down. The video speaks of my daily routine of warming up with chromatic scales; first starting at the bottom and gradually adding octaves as I ascend. The benefit of chromaticism is that each note is only a one half step from the previous note and this very gradual increase is almost unnoticeable. Due to the minimum distance between notes, only a minimum amount of embouchure change should be…

trumpetlessonsonline.com and Claude Gordon- All you need to become a professional trumpet player! Part 4

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Moving on from my endorsement of the Claude Gordon “Systematic Approach to Daily Practice, I will try to justify my support for nothing less than my on line lessons at… trumpetlessonsonline.com This compilation of decades of experiences of borrowed, stolen or otherwise collected ideas covers not the way to play as much as it is a collection of tricks and practical solutions to a trumpet player’s life. On a previous post on this topic, I listed the areas covered so at this time I will concentrate on only one which is available free of charge on my site. Alterations to…