Your First Notes on the Trumpet

It's all about a good sound in combination with a relaxed body and soul

Let's get started!

In this chapter, I'll show you how to play your first notes on the trumpet. So relax, find a quiet place, and let's begin our journey with this wonderful instrument together!

How to start?

Now I'll show you how to hold the trumpet correctly, what posture you should adopt, and how to place the trumpet correctly against your lips!

Basically, however, I always recommend: just try it out and listen to your body to see what feels and sounds right and what doesn't.

If you have problems, take another look at the website and see what I or other trumpet players might be doing differently from you and try to adopt that for yourself.

A good comparison for a good mindset toward learning the trumpet is a child learning to walk: they will fall over again and again at the beginning and their first steps will be very wobbly, but the child doesn't care. It doesn't give up and just keeps watching the adults to see how they do it and tries to imitate them. Eventually, the wobbly steps become more and more confident and the child enjoys making progress until it can walk confidently on two feet.

So don't be too hard on yourself! Trust the process and have fun ;)

Posture

Positioning of your lips / embouchure

The word embouchure means the positioning of your lips in the mouthpiece. There are some ways to find your right positioning - you have to try!

Here are some ideas:

1. The "Mmh"-Method

1. Say "Mmh"
2. Put your trumpet on your Lips
3. Open your mouth to breathe in through the corners of your mouth - your lips should be "fixed" by the rim of the mouthpiece
4. Try to produce a sound by saying the word "poo"
5. Make sure you're lips stay in the same position while playing

How much tension in your lips do you need?

2. The Charlie Porter Method

1. hide the red
2. create the seal
3. open the lips
4. wet the lips and blow

How To Form a Trumpet (brasswind) Embouchure in Four Steps, by Charlie Porter

3. How it May Look Like

If possible: hide your lip in the Mouthpiece

This will save you a few problems later on.

Although it is possible to play without your lips in the mouthpiece, I recommend that you learn to do so right away, or at least be aware of it, so that you don't have to change your habits later on. If you find this difficult, don't worry—you can tackle it at some point in the future!

Your First Note

which one is yours?

Think like a singer!

... and find your individual starting point

• trumpet playing is very similar to singing
• if you sing one random note, you sing a note that is comfortable with you. Think of a untrained singer, how is supposed to sing just one random note - he or she would choose an easy note to sing
• that is a very good starting point for learning to sing and so it is for learning the trumpet!
• try out different valves. If you find a tone, that sounds good and you feel relaxed at the same time, stay with this note for a while and play around with it

The following notes may come out of your trumpet:

Which one is your easiest note to play?

Some Exercises

Stay with your easiest note for a while and do the following exercises

1. hold the note as long as possible

2. hold the note as long as possible in different dynamics (from very soft to very loud!)

3. start quietly and gradually become louder without changing the pitch! Now the other way around!

4. play different rhythmical pattern on this note

5. change articulation! Play very short, very smooth, very accented, ...

6. remove the mouthpiece from your trumpet and play this note only with your mouthpiece

7. play a piece of music that you have in mind just with this one note (e.g., Happy Birthday)

8. Now select another note that is also easy for you to play. Try all the notes again; it may now be a different note. Now repeat all the exercises on this note.

Listen to your body. Playing the trumpet can feel similar to speaking or singing, or it can be very strenuous if you play with too much pressure. Always try to make it feel as easy as possible.

Your first piece of music on the trumpet

This is the "One note song" in F and C! Try both! Which one is easier for you?

How about some improvisation?

Exercises:

1. Play around with these two notes (F and C)
2. change the rhythm
3. Use all the notes you can play so far for improvisation
4. Make strange noises on the trumpet!

And the most important thing: Have fun!

Exercises

Exercise 1

This is your first exercise! Practice it with the audio or with a metronome.

Exercise 2

call and response (first four beats listen, then play in the second bar)

Articulation: "fa da da" (alternative exercise 2: "fa da da" and then "fa da da daa")

Breathe in on the fourth beat each time before playing.

Exercise 3

Do you know your fingerings?

Now, we change notes while playing a similar exercise! Do you know which fingers you need to use, i.e. which valves need to be pressed?

Trumpet Reggae