PrettyT

How do you recommend studying with the Arbans? Just start on page one and go? How long should I work on a given exercise? Is it less effective to jump around the book? I mean Arbans goes from simple to extreme in a matter of pages..... And I'm not going to front, there are quite a few things in it that I cannot play, and don't see myself playing anytime soon.

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st. paulitan

My 1937 Carl Fischer edition has no metronome markings, but an edition from the 1960's has them added. Nothing else seems to be changed.

Richard Oliver

Pretty,

I use this happily.

http://www.bolvinmusic.com/publications5.html

Happy Practicing,

Richard Oliver

p.s. A good teacher will be your best guide.

adonis74

PrettyT:

Sounds like we're in about the same place so here are my insights. I look upon learning the trumpet as I would any skill or ability. If I go to the gym and see all the machines and dumbbells and weights and I know I can't lift them, I would be overwhelmed and say "I can't do it." But, any skill must be taken from point one and moved forward. I can take a 5 lb. weight and use that for so many reps and exercises and eventually I get to 6 lb. weights and 10 and 15 and 20, etc. Eventually, someone sees me at the gym lifting a few hundred pounds and says, "I can't do that." Well, they have to start at point one at keep working at it.

I'm a comeback player, but was never very proficient to begin with. Now I've used a few introductory books to re-learn everything from scratch and have just started using Arban's. Step by step, bit by bit.

The web site of Trumpet Exercises that our friend in Italy put together is very helpfu--http://www.arrowbeach.com/trumpet/Mp3/Arban/Arban/index.html

He's put all the exercises on sound files, so I started with page 11 and started working forward with exercise 1 and on up. I listen to his sound file while I watch the music in Arban's. Then I play it. When I feel "fairly" proficient I move on to the next one, etc. Sometimes I move on even though I can't master it just to avoid getting too frustrated. If I don't feel I have it at least partially mastered, I play his sound again and try again or come back another day.

There's a point at which you just have to move on rather than get to feel you must master each exercise perfectly, lest you get overwhelmed by insisting on perfection. You can always go back another time and start with earlier exercises you had the most trouble with.

Skill learning is never smooth and even with lots of plateaus and slipping back and then going forward and maybe even taking some giant steps. You can't let it get to you, however.

I remember learning to typewrite and how each key had to be pecked at one by one and I couldn't remember where the keys were. Months later I still couldn't do very well. Eventually, I got back to it again and it became "automatized" so that I don't think about the keys and can type at very high levels. I feel the trumpet skills are coming along the same way and by going through Arban's systematically until I get at least fairly proficient at some of the exercises much further in the book, I'll be pretty good just as I did with typing or lifting weights or whatever I learned.

Of course, Arban's alone would be too constrictive and I have to dabble around with improvising and other things to break up the monotony. Then I almost look forward to going back to Arban's. Also, for variety, I do jump around a bit, playing a few of the melodies in the back of the book..

green_eagle18

why was it not cool to use the Goldman-Smith version?

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