Heavens2kadonka

Okay, my county has two high schools. The one I graduated from, Smith County High School, has an EXCELLENT music program, one of the better ones in the middle Tennessee region! However, our rival school, Gordonsville, fares very poorly in such a department. 11 students, 3 trumpets, and not a real great prospect in the private instruction department. So, I have given thought to trying to privately instruct some of them (Hell, after some of MY instructors, I feel I should at least give a crack at it!). I know I'm not exactly "Mojo the Trumpet-playin' Fool," but I don't think I'm too shabby, and maybe I have a little gem of information or two to share with them......

With your help!! :P

I know you guys saw it coming!

If I were to try giving lessons to a younger student (from 5th to 10th grade), how should I approach it? What should I be listening for? What literature should I steer them to (For lyrical, technical, etc. Arban's a must, of course!), what is the first time as a teacher instead of a pupil like? Theres a heck of a lot of other things I really wanna ask, but I can't figure out how to pose them! Just give me an overview of how to do it ([i]Or DISSERTATION if you care... )

__________________
Stage 1 California Light
'94 Bach Strad 37
1900 Eb Cornet

LOUD Steve Patrick 10 1/2 C
LOUD LM93

dauminator3

I have recently found out what a drag not practicing is........
Be prepared.......ne of my students can't play Clarke 1 in C for the 3rd week in a row. I think many are in this same boat, with not much that they can do......

Jared

__________________
"I just want you to nail the pee-whillies out of that high C." -Our beloved director-
Jim Culbertson-Decatur MacArthur

dizforprez

Do yourself a HUGE FAVOR!

For students that have never had lessons before get the Mitchell trumpet series book 1, it seems that not many people have heard of it but it is by far the best book for young students.

This is a sample routine I might give a student in the age range you listed:

Mouthpiece buzzing: one song of their choice as long as it is smooth and flowing.
Clarke #1 just a few of these, what ever they can handle
Mitchell, do one Mitchell lesson every few weeks w/ metronome
Other band music or fun music

You will be surprised the progress they will make just doing that for 20 to 30 minutes day, I have had plenty of beginning students able to have a decent sound with a decent range( G on the staff to high C), they could also read on the "high school level" after one year of Mitchell. Make sure that the lessons are done in time and that the student doesn’t over blow and use more effort than needed to produce a sound, also make sure they listen to pro trumpeters.

I wouldn’t use Arban’s until they can play the 1st Mitchell book. When you think they might be ready for music start giving them some Concone or etudes like Hering. That is a general guideline of what I will do with middle school students taking private lessons but keep in mind depending on the student I will assign other material or exercises depending on their needs.

Remember it doesn’t matter how old they are, there is no excuse for sounding bad!

dizforprez

http://www.southernmusic.com/bestsellers/trumpet.htm

A little bit more about Mitchell and why I think it is the best book to get.

First it is under 10 bucks, for a student just starting off spending $40+ on a Schlossberg, Clarke and Arban’s so they can use one page or so from each isn’t cool.

Mitchell is divided into lessons with each lesson being 3 or 4 pages. The lessons cover long tones,intervals, scales, melodies, articulation studies, etc... Everything they need to work on.

Each lesson covers a wide variety of keys, I had 6th grade students playing in G flat, B, etc... And thinking nothing of it.

Each lesson is progressive and gets a little higher with the long tone series.

Each lesson can be done in about 20 minutes of practice, a doable amount for a young kid.

It is also very easy for the student to see their progress by looking back to past lesson.


each page has a quote about some aspect of trumpet playing, those alone are worth the cost of the book.
The list goes on, but I will stop here.

Heavens2kadonka

SORRY FOR NOW REPLYING QUICK ENOUGH!!!

Wow, I'll be sure to look into that! I know some potentially excellent students, especially in the Smith County Middle Schools, and they could really do with a little helping hand (In their school, band is about 40 minutes!!!! ).

Y'know, I have every piece of band music I have ever been given (Creepy, I KNOW!), and I know there are some really good things in there for younger students to study! This could actually end up being a great learning experience (I do, at the moment , plan on being a music teacher).

Thanks for your help with this, it was a great help!

__________________
Stage 1 California Light
'94 Bach Strad 37
1900 Eb Cornet

LOUD Steve Patrick 10 1/2 C
LOUD LM93

bjntrumpet

Over years of experiencing teaching and taking lessons, I have used numerous books. The Getchell book Vol 1 and 2 are great. Have them focus on sound, nice and open. Making sure their notes touch each other. For more advance players but not up to Arban standard's the Walter Beeler book is very good. I use numerous amounts of material for each one of them has different stuff. But here is a list of some books used for earlier players:
Arban
Getchell
Beeler
Clarke
Colin Lip Flex.
Buzzing Book
Rubank
Voxman
I hope this helps feel free to email me if you have any questions.

bigaggietrumpet

Sometimes you can find some of the best stuff for beginners in "band" books (You know, those annoying little warmups that your band director makes you play?). My teacher had me do the lip slurs from the back of one (it was called The Sound of Excellence for band or something to that effect). While the bookd wasn't great, the lip slurs and exercises helped increase my playing up to the Arban/Clarke level. So aside from just "trumpet" books, use other resources. You know how to play, and you know how you did it. You now have to convey that process over to the students using any means necessary. Write your own warmup sheet that is tailored to each individual student if you must.

Good luck!

__________________
Michael Smith
Hullabaloo: The official band of Texas A&M Basketball
Kanstul 1537/ Schilke 14
LA Olds Studio

Heavens2kadonka

Again, sorry for my insane slack-offiness. My college band camp was DCA-style, and though I have never had so much fun, I have been TIRED!

I decided not to help the young-uns for now, since I'm doing 20+ hours at Cumberland, not to mention commuting. However, this post has really pointed me to the right direction when it comes to teaching. Thanks A LOT for the help

Van

__________________
Stage 1 California Light
'94 Bach Strad 37
1900 Eb Cornet

LOUD Steve Patrick 10 1/2 C
LOUD LM93

Heavens2kadonka

NEW UPDATE:

The music store at Lebanon (Topper's music) is asking my college for a music ed major to give some trumpet lessons. They're 7-8th graders, and it sounds like a good thing to me (Its close..)

I'm going to see whats going on with that, and will furth update tomorrow..

Van

__________________
Stage 1 California Light
'94 Bach Strad 37
1900 Eb Cornet

LOUD Steve Patrick 10 1/2 C
LOUD LM93

music matters

You don't need to be a great trumpeter - you need to be a great teacher.

I am not saying that having lessons of great trumpeters isn't inspirational - it is (especially for the likes of us who have been playing for years and years and therefore appreciate their wisdom and help).

Get them enthusiastic, get them to love the trumpet, get them to enjoy the lessons, turn negatives into positives by suggesting alternative methods and ways to make them sound better rather than saying thats wrong or you sound bad, and when they do something good really praise it, make them look forward to their lesson each week by using your enthusiasm and by making the lesson interesting, get to know them to build up a good relationship.

Do all of this while setting good standards of practice from the beginning in terms of a mini warm up, some technical stuff and then repertoire. A 1 minute warm and a few technical studies gets them into the idea that you need to warm up and practice technique so it will become routine for them and later they can extend this idea. Make it fun though.

Vary the lessons - play duets with them as they enjoy this and it helps them tune/centre their notes because they can hear when they are out of tune, use play alongs for variety. Get them to listen to a variety of trumpet players to see which they like the most - get them hooked on the horn!

I teach maths for a living but a past head of Music at my school encouraged me to teach trumpet to the students at lunch and after school which I have done for the past 7 years, so I am not a great trumpeter and was very apprehensive at the beginning but my students have done really well reaching very high levels of performance. When they get pretty good I encourage them to take a one of lesson with a pro or a 1 week summer course (usually jazz). Don't be proud about sending them to a pro once in a while - its good for them and puts your mind at rest that no bad habits have developed and you have avoided many pitfalls.

I use the Arban when they are more advanced - there are plenty of good books out there to start on but don't just teach from a book (save the Arban for later - they don't appreciate it and find it boring when they have just started - wait until they will appreciate it for the great book it is) - play by ear, play a longs (all the stuff mentioned above) to keep it varied, interesting and so they are learning something new every lesson. So save the Arban and Clarkes etc for later. Get great repertoire thats varied (jazz, modern, baroque etc) so they learn the different styles and again keeps it varies and find out what they like the most. Get some repertoire with piano accompianiament so they can play a duet with a pianist. If you can play piano thats even better -I can't but wish i could. I use recordings in my lessons forthem to play with but its not as good as a live pianist.

So go ahead and teach - don't be worried about your playing - when you can teach a student to go beyond your level of performance I would say you are then an excellent teacher.

Good luck and enjoy teaching them as that will transmit itself to the student. If you have any more questions please feel free to ask.

MM