Bryan

While there may be a more appropriate place to ask this question, there is no place I have seen where I will get a better answer.

I have been asked to teach privately several Jr. High and High School trumpet players. The students are all from inner city schools with generally very low family incomes. I have agreed to take on these students on a temporary basis, and pass them on to some of the more well known trumpet teachers when they are “ready”.

What I need to know is what are the main books I need to have these kids working out of to succeed in the high school music world with aspirations to go further?? What do you expect your students to have on their stands at home and be working on for college auditions?

I want to empower these kids with the tools to achieve their goals, but need to know what to include in my list of “books to own”. I appreciate your taking the time to respond.

Bryan Altherr

MahlerBrass

Though I'm no where near the qualifications of Mr. Laureano, I'd like to take a stab at this question. I've worked in this situation myself before, and I noticed that at least in the Jr. High level of a low-income school, there's a lot of times where you'll have to start over with fundamentals. Keep Clarke, Arban, and the Getchell First Book of Practical Studies handy, I've noticed that book overall has done the most damage. As far as the high school level goes, I always like to keep handy what I consider to be the ABCs of trumpet teaching at a high school level, Arban, Brandt, and Clarke. Always work on keeping the student motivated by transfering fundamental work into actual music making, that's one of the reasons I like the Getchell so much. Another book to have handy for the more advanced Jr. High student is the Bordogni Vocalise Studies, beautiful etudes to really build the musicianship and fundamental strenghts in a trumpet player. Hope this helps and best of luck! I'm sure Mr. Laureano will have some greatly insightful things to say abou this himself.

Jimi Michiel

Don't for get Concone! I wish I had started out with that book.

Anonymous

I love the Michael Sachs book. It has everything one needs to do to be totally in control of their technique all in one convienent place. Also, count the number of times Mike says "thoughtfully practice" in the descriptions. You can practice technique all day long and yield less than 10 min of thoughtful careful practice. Keep your brain involved all the time. Trick it into paying attention to every detail!

Manny Laureano

Dear Bryan,

The standards are standards for a reason and I believe you'll never go wrong with them.

Arban's complete Method, Clarke's Technical Studies, and any book that has good, long studies (for the more advanced players) are important. I'll say this, those books have little effect without a good teacher that really understands how to use them. For a student that wants something more, exploring music in an in depth way is truly important. The "Art of Phrasing " in Arban's must truly be about that: phrasing. Issues of breathing need to be reinforced. Tone quality must be a constant theme for discussion. Otherwise, no book is useful.

Good luck to you and thank you for caring,

Manny