Originally Posted by rowuk

Hi Folks,
I am new to trumpetmaster, but not so new to the "historical instrument" scene. I play a self made long natural trumpet(only one hole for F and A) and a Munkwitz short three hole model. I practice mostly without the holes. It demands more control from my face, but makes my sense of intonation much more accurate on all of my other instruments. In concert, I always use the holes. The modern listener doesn't generally appreciate the pre "well tempered" pitch. Lipping everything up and down for modern pitch/intervals in a concert changes the sound as much as using the holes does, so I prefer the security.
Any advice that I would give to people just starting:
1) do not use a modern type mouthpiece, get a copy of an original with a sharp rim
2) do not take on jobs for the first 6 months
3) practice alot of slurs and lip trills, then tongued intervals
4) do not play more loudly than mf for the first 6 months
5) just like modern trumpet, start slowly - accuracy develops the correct memory patterns that will benefit you in the future. In the beginning, you have NOTHING to prove!
easy pieces for the beginner - there is a whole collection of short sonatas by Fantini