Care and Feeding of Your High School Trumpet Students – Handout for CME June 13, 2022, SMU
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Brass Fundamentals
Embouchure, Aperture and Mouthpiece Pressure
The brass player’s embouchure is a paradoxical phenomenon requiring much training and regular maintenance. The very idea that it is possible to turn a “Bronx cheer” into music with the aid of a mouthpiece and some brass plumbing with a flared end almost defies reason! And yet, with a careful combination of tension and suppleness, …
Tone Centering for Trumpet – Part 3
Part Three: Centering and Tuning What does “Tone Centering” mean, and how do you do it? Recapping from Part One, a “centered” sound is a balanced tone containing the full complement of overtones available in a instrument – a “bright/dark” sound with both highs and lows. Producing this sound requires the correct frequency, a properly …
Tone Centering for Trumpet – Part 2
Part Two: Airflow and Embouchure In Part One of our discussion we focused on overtones and their role in defining tone color. Next comes the nuts and bolts of producing a centered tone. Solid fundamentals are the essential building blocks of resonant sound beginning with air and embouchure. Airflow – The Fuel Supply First, the …
Tone Centering for Trumpet – Part 1
Part One: Overtones “High, fast and loud” are all great fun, but the fundamental aspect of any musical endeavor is a beautiful tone – pure, resonant, warm clear and in-tune. The quest of for a beautiful tone should always be first and foremost in the musician’s thinking no matter what the tempo, volume or …