How I Practice- Finger Flexibility and Coordination Exercises

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Clean breaks between notes require fast and coordinated valve action and for that reason you should practice finger or valve exercises daily. I have included a few exercises which will help increase this area of your performance. Playing fast material will hide many fingering faults where slow material will quickly expose weaknesses. For that reason I have included two slow song I Wonder As I Wander€ and the lesser known Humoreske€. A musician may have the best tone in the world and still be rated poorly for sloppy valve work and for that reason it is a good idea to…

Welcome to the Bell Curve System of Practicing

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Just what is the “Bell Curve System”? A Bell Curve is a representation of graduated increase and decrease of anything. It could represent income changes, temperature differences or the stock market. It is a gradual representation of change and this “gradual” change can be beneficial to your practice habits. I will illustrate this concept by using a practice habit most trumpet players use every day. The proper use of the Clarke Technical Study book. Open your book to the first series and we will begin. Start on the first exercise and continue to the last example. Visualize the bell curve…

A great musician and a wonderful person to know.. we’ll miss you Steve

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Steven L Black (May 4, 1958 – December 16, 2013) Not often do we get to know such a wonderful person as Steve Black. In a business which is well known for petty jealousies and back stabbing, it is refreshing to come across one who is kind, patient and a true gentleman. Steve was such a person and to have lost him so soon in his life is difficult to understand. Our prayers and thoughts are with his widow and family members in this difficult time. The world would be a better place if we all were like Steve. We…

“Trumpets In Concert” – Have A Very Mellow Christmas

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Christmas is just around the corner and to put you all in a very mellow mood, I wanted to share with you a very musical trumpet ensemble called “Trumpets In Concert” Gernot Kahofer, Manuel Lichtenwöhrer, Leonhard Leeb – Trumpets Bernhard Macheiner – Keyboards, Organ Thomas Mair – Percussion Read more about this musical ensemble on their Web site at….. Trumpets In Concert This arrangement of “Blue Christmas” is available at our sister site trumpetensemblemusic.com

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Opening The 42nd Annual Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Festival

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Some jobs are taken for the money, some are taken for the prestige and still others are played only because they are fun and that’s what the past week was all about. A very good friend invited me to play with his Dixieland band at the opening of the Bix Beiderbecke Dixieland Festival in Davenport, Iowa. From Branson to Davenport is no less than 8 hours drive away but due to the fact that we had not played together for 45 years, I agreed at once knowing that friendship and good music trumps all distance. The setting was the Porch…

It Could Only Happen In Branson

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Many times we in Branson repeat this time worn phrase, “It could only happen in Branson”. It could be stated while waiting for the traffic light to change when suddenly you see a pink Cadillac drive past with Elvis at the wheel. You could be walking down one of the isles in a grocery store and bump carts with one of the Oak Ridge Boys. Or the time I ran into the members of the Comets shopping in Wal-Mart. It happens more often than one would realize. But what happened today may be the best “It only happens in Branson”…

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