Walter

We all seem to have a memory of being given significant advise that continues to help our daily lives.

I (and I am sure many others) would love to hear the single best piece of advise TMers have been given about playing the trumpet......it could be technique....hardware....or musicality. It would be helpful to know who gave you the advise and how it affected your playing.

Sometimes the best advise is simple and just given as a "throw away" line in conversation....

Walter

tpter1

I've got several, Walter. But the one that sticks out most in my mind, that really began a significant change in my playing style, came from Jim Thompson. He was up here giving a masterclass several years ago. We were in one of the rehearsal rooms over at Crane. Very tall space, large open room, wood floors, concrete walls with some sound baffles on them.

He said "It doesn't have to be loud. It has to be in tune." And then he played something. From Shosty 7th, I think. What he played is really irrelevant, anyway. It's what happened afterwards. He stopped playing, and the room continued to ring for several seconds afterwards. He was not playing loudly. But the room rang in a way that I'd never heard it ring before. (I spend a good deal of time over there, and I've yet to hear it ring like that since, either). That did it for me. I have since been in pursuit of that quality of playing. That phrase and example totally changed my approach to the horn.

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-Glenn
"Roses have thorns; shining waters mud. Clouds and eclipses stain the moon and the sun; and history reeks of the wrongs we have done. After today, after today, consider me gone."- Sting

Hardnut

For me, the best advice I ever received was just after I had broken my arm skiing and was upset because it was making me play oh so so so so badly!

TMers made me view the matter from a different perspective, saying that this six week period would be the perfect time to develop my trumpet playing WITHOUT using too much pressure, something I've had problems with in the psat.

From that moment, I saw my skiing accident in a whole new light: not merely as an annoying inconvenience but a divine intervention! That 6 week period where I was only able to use my right hand helped me and my pressure so much; undoubtedly , I am now far more capable of improving and progressing than I would have been when just loitering around the "shove the horn onto your lip as hard as possible" technique!

So...TMers - THANK YOU!!!

Not only for the instance above, but for every little piece of advice, every "congratulations" or suggestion - THANK YOU!!!

Chris.

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Haydn wrote a Trumpet Concerto?

Walter

Thanks Glenn and Chris for kicking this off ......food for thought already!

Walter

Derek Reaban

Glenn,

Thanks for sharing that story! I could literally hear his sound in that room based on your description (his sound is so similar to my friend here in Phoenix). I’m also amazed at how this same example from his Yamaha Day of Trumpets presentation transfers through the speakers on my computer at home. Here’s a quote from his talk:
As you mention, live examples of this “sound” are what did it for me too. Hearing Jim Benitez in Phoenix in lessons, rehearsals, concerts, jobs several times a week for several years put this sound in my head. Having a lesson with Charlie Schlueter in my living room reinforced everything Jim had told me. Hearing Mr. Herseth live. Hearing Jim Thompson live. Hearing David Krauss live. Hearing Michael Sachs live. Hearing Manny live with that amazing resultant tone demonstration in Denver.

Pursuing the quality that I have heard in these players’ sound, and so many others that I have been fortunate to hear live, is what helped me to question my approach to sound production and investigate ways to get closer to that ideal model.

Oh, and just about everything in this post!

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Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona

camelbrass

Hearing great players produce great sound effortlessly is always inspirational. Resonance at any dynamic is certainly something the great players have in common and one of my goals.

The best piece of advice I've had so far comes from ML. Basically, to paraphrase, work dillegently and trust that what's coming from the bell and being heard in the audience is what you intend. I have always interpreted that as being the crucial link between trumpet playing and music.

Regards,


Trevor

trumpet blower88

Mine came from a Drum Corps audition camp that I attended in November. It was the end of the camp, we were all sitting listening to final announcments. The director was talking about the emails that would be sent out the next day telling us basicaly if we had made the corps or not.
He said "For those of you that don't make it, just remember that if this is the worst thing that's going to happen in your life, you're going to have a pretty good life."
It's not really trumpet related, but it's a great outlook on auditions. I've never been great at auditions and when I auditioned for my first year of highschool I blew it, I made the very bottom band and it hit me really hard. But knowing what I know now, it really wasn't that bad. And like he said, if thats the worst thing that will ever happen to me, I'm in for a heck of a life.

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-David Jacques

Schwab

Sing through the horn.

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Dylan Schwab
Stage 1 New York

CJH

Glenn -- I remember that masterclass vividly, and that demonstration in particular. That moment was really an "ah-ha!" moment for me and changed the way I think about playing.

I like the way he talks about giving the note "spin". It makes me think of a more finessed style of playing rather than a forceful one. Another analogy imparted upon me by one of my former teachers is to imagine throwing a baseball across a field: rather than throwing it harder, imagine trying to throw it further... A lob rather than a bullet. For me this brings to mind a very relaxed, resonant style of playing.

Chris

B15M

I can't put it into one time or one thing that changed my playing but, I can paraphrase.

The thing that helped me the most was (is) taking lessons with Charlie Schlueter. Now I have to pick one idea that we worked on and I will say: to always look for a different way to hear or see the music.
Listen to how the violin plays or the singer singes it.