| There is a book by Bill Lucas (Detroit Symphony) that has a really interesting series of exercises for overcoming challenging finger combinations on the trumpet. My instructor showed me the book once, but I’m not sure what the title is.
Essentially, you play through these on the valves only (many times) before you play standard Clarke or other exercises on the horn. The exercises vary the accents when you are pushing down the valves and you give a strong “downbeat” to different valve positions each time you play through the pattern.
For instance (in triplets):
3-2-1...3-2-1...3-2-1...3-2-1 many times (accent on 3)
1-2-3...1-2-3...1-2-3...1-2-3 many times (accent on 1)
2-1-3...2-1-3...2-1-3...2-1-3 many times (accent on 2)
Etc.
Another one in sixteenths:
1-2-3-1...2-3-1-2...3-1-2-3 etc. (accent on the down beat)
Lots of different patterns here
Focused time with these at a slow tempo will make sluggish fingering problems go away quickly.
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Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona |