trumpethack

I think a good thing to think of when learning anything new and especially on a different keyed horn, is to not try and do to many unfamiliar things.

What I mean is don't "practice" stuff on C right away, play things you know you can play in your sleep on Bb. If you have trouble with lip slurs, don't practice them on C, because then you are putting an unfamiliar horn together with something you have trouble with which doesn't seem to be pointing in a positive direction.

Playing C trumpet and playing excerpts and/or transposing often are all lumped together and one usually runs into some sort of difficulty. Separtate things into "components" and work on them individually before you try to tackle the whole.

While there are obvious intonation issues with a smaller horn the length of tubing for the same concert pitch is the same... If you play a G on your Bb and then play an F on your C it is the same thing... It shouldn't feel drastically different. An easy way to get acclimated to the C trumpet is to constantly go back and forth between it and the Bb playing small little pieces of a phrase or exercise and get them to feel and sound as close as you can.

Use things you know very well. Play the first five notes of a C scale and then the first 5 notes of a Bb scale on your C. Going back and forth will let your ears and mind figure it out by relating it to something that you already know. Practice an easy melody on both horns so that they sound the same key, good brain work for transposition. And when I say easy I mean as easy as Mary had a little lamb...

There's a good test...how many people can actually play Mary had a little lamb in every key with a good sound and clean articulation..... It's amazing what this little test can point out....

Anyways good luck with your C trumpet...

Matt