trumpetgeek01

Hey, I'm a new member here. I'm a sophmore in high school and I just got a C trumpet. I've practiced with it and it is coming better to me but I still feel very unconfortable going into symphony and using it and simply playing it in church. How should I practice with it to feel more confortable?

trumpetnick

Just practice....
Well, it has another pitch and you need time to adjust your ear to it.
As a rule, C trumpets have few other intonation problems than B flats:
Middle C tends to be sharp, Middle D, E flat, and E tends to be flat.
Be prepared to use false fingerings to get the intonation right. Depending on the horn you may experience problems soundwise (some may sound a bit squeaky).
Get help from a local teacher or conductor (especially if he is a brass player)

Eclipsehornplayer

Yup what Nick said...

When I first got mine I started playing everything in C.

If I had music for Bb I transposed/transcribed it in C and used my C.

I often perfer to play my C over my Bb but still play both usually in the same gig. I have no trouble going from one to the other. You just have to get your ear right and the rest will follow; it did for me anyway.

Good luck!
John

Vulgano Brother

....and A's are waaaay to sharp. You'll need to kick the first slide out about 1/4" for those, and use the first slide for just about every 12 combination. The reason for the low C being flat can be attributed to our own laziness about using slides, so most of us have lipped down our 13 D on the Bb, so our brain, hearing that same pitch, tells us to lip down unconsciously. Weird!

trumpetnick

Mine aren't....this is called Spada Voodoo

My low C is rather sharp, so lipping down is a good thing, though I prefer of thingking it as opening the aperture a bit more...

J. Spenner

I've been told by my professor to "take the C trumpet challenge." This means that whatever I'm doing, be it solo work, etudes, exercises, quintet, band, or even just warming up, he expects it to be on the C and transposed accordingly. This can sure make you feel stupid sometimes, but it's worth it! My chops are getting so much better on both horns (I've only had a C since last summer) and my transposition is improving, too!

I think I'll wait a year or so, though, before I take the "Eb trumpet challenge!"

Jeff

camelbrass

You know what helped me? I found the C sufficiently different from my Bb to use a slightly different mouthpiece. On Bb I use a 1 1/2C but on C I use a 1 1/2 C with a 24 throat and 24 backbore (bigger throat and broader backbore). I know that some guys just plug in their Bb mouthpiece into the C and play well but I need all the help I can get!!! Familiarity then becomes the issue.

Regards,


Trevor

trumpetgeek01

thanks for all the help!! Very good tips!!! I'm definitely going to use these!

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