Heavens2kadonka

I was just offered a chance to help with a trumpet section in two weeks (Last guy backed out). Very excited about this.

Of course I am going to ask: How should I prepare for this? What should I focus on working on during the week? What are some stories you wiser fellows have about this kind of experience?

Van

Derek Reaban

Van,

You might enjoy this post that I wrote about Marching Band Sectionals several years ago. There are lots of ideas that will get you started about what you want to work on with these kids.

Good luck with your new teaching adventure!

rjzeller

Van;

I did marching band for over six years here in town, started with only trumpets but eventually ran all music tech work for them as well as marching tech.

I'll be glad to offer advice -- what style of marching do they do? Corps style or college/big-10 high-step?

dizforprez

Derek, nice post on TH, you have given me a few ideas....

Van,

There are many things to cover or do but I think one of the most important things is to have a good warm-up and warm down. This gives them something that they can use as a section all year that will cover all the must have areas of fundamentals.

I am writing out some warm-ups and warm down things for my brass section if you would like to take a look at them.

trickg

Van, I worked with a high school band trumpet section for a couple of years and I worked on very basic stuff. Of course, this was due to the fact that this particular section was really only capable of doing very basic stuff!

I'll echo what diz said about warm-ups. Some of these kids has such thin, unfocused sounds, that I stressed long tones during warm-ups. I also did a lot of basic articulation things with them because I have the belief that in order to articulate correctly, you air has to be moving correctly and improvement in air flow can sometimes be vastly improved with simple things in a warm up such as long tones and tounging exercises.

From there it was just a matter of working with them to get the music under their fingers which meant working on sections of the music in small bites, slowly at first, building up to performance speed and beyond, and just repeating the heck out of everything. There is something to be said for repetition in rehearsal and practice for kids at that level.

I think that you will be a great addition to this band camp and that you will do just fine. Good luck with it!

silverstar

Van,

Whatever you do, bring food. For the section. They will love you and listen to you if you bribe them with food.

Do things in small sections...I know that with the trumpet section at my school, the longest attention span is about 6 minutes before we all break down laughing over something.

Have fun, and don't be too pushy. I've had section leaders in the past that were like, 'YOU HAVE TO DO IT MY WAY RIGHT AWAY RIGHT NOW OR I'LL MAKE YOU PLAY 3RD!!!'. Don't do that....it will only make the section hate you and overthrow you and anarchy will reign. It isn't a pretty picture.

Drinks are also a good idea. Powerade, gatorade, juice. Just don't give them anything caffinated. You will regret it. Trust me on this one.

Make it fun and worthwhile to be there...don't bring out your cane named Lara and start hitting the poor kids over the head. That won't get you anywhere.

Lara

bigaggietrumpet

I'm hoping you mean for after the playing, lest we get crumbs jammed into our valve casings...

Odd...that worked for me for 3 years or so...

On a more serious note, does the director know what they will be playing yet? I would get a copy of the music. From that, construct an exercise or two that will have them working on the hardest parts of the music, only in the form of, say, lipslurs. I've seen this done a couple of different ways, and each time, it was tremendously effective. The warm up is also a very good idea as well.

Heavens2kadonka

GUYS, thank you all SO MUCH for jumping in with your opinions so quickly!

Basically, I was given a call at about 8am this morning from Dr. Farnsley, the dean of music at CU. He said that a new band director at a school several counties west needs a trumpet guy for band camp. Free room and board for the week, $300.00 week fee. Considering I have to work 60 hours in the dishroom to get this kind of cash, I jumped at the opportunity.

Now, I realize that I had better damn well not disappoint, seeing as I'm being payed so much. Also, if I do well, I know that this might end up being a decent summer gig every year, and I may end up getting more calls during the summer....

So I've got some studying and preparing to do...

Again, thanks you guys for your help. I will keep you all posted on whats going on. Everythings still up in the air.

Van

trickg

You know, this is one of those things that I have always heard to avoid, that it could wreak havoc on your horn, but I've never paid a lot of attention to that little "rule" and I've never really had a problem either. Of course you do have to make sure that your mouth is more or less clear of stuff, but as long as I clean my horn out fairly regularly, I don't seem to have a problem.

Then again, Lara likes to chow down on BROWNIES before she plays!

dizforprez

Pat,

I hear soda is good for rinsing the mouth out before you play.

works for me!