Art - Music - Trumpet (Years 1-3)

1. Overview
2. Equipment
3. Discussion
4. Practice regimen.
5. Musicality
6. References

1. Overview

This page records my progress in recovering/learning the trumpet.

I dropped out after junior high and a few half-hearted efforts to self-teach. So when I restarted there was very little to "recover" and more to "learn for the first time".

When I restarted, I searched the web for clues. I found quite a few "How I restarted the trumpet" reports. Typically the writer had been successful in high school and college, but dropped out thereafter for career and family. Some had been pro or semi-pro. Some had damaged themselves by practicing too hard, and had to walk away.

The reports indicated 9 months to 2 years for recovery. Worst case is about 3 years, so let's use that as the limit for this page. Repeatedly they cautioned to be patient and build the embochure using low-and-slow. Many mentioned Carmine Caruso's approach.

The reports help me get started and gave comfort during that long first year. So I thought I'd add one to the tribal knowledge.

In addition, I specifically wanted to record my performance at different stages, and compare (e.g., spectrum analyzer) to see in terms of physics the difference between good tone and bad tone.

2. Equipment

After a lot of web-reading, I got:

Yamaha YTR4335G, with 11B4 mouthpiece (rental). I didn't want to buy until I had proven I would stick with it, had improved enough to appreciate a good trumpet, and had some clues about what I wanted to do.
I presume this trumpet still knows a lot more about music than I do, but I have some concerns:
- There was grit in the values when I got it (it was brand new), and they have some scarring from before I cleaned that out.
- The trumpet is lightweight, which is ok, but the result is that the threads on top and bottom of values are delicate.
- The tuning slide leaks water droplets at the upper joint. I'd guess that means it is also leaking air. Also, using the provided slide grease, it can slide out 1/4" while I am playing. Eventually I notice it is going flat and check the tuning.
Music stand, metronome, tuner (see Music)
After warming up (after the Arban 16, 17, 18), I try a scale. By now I can eyeball the tuning slide in the right ballpark. I've noticed that if C (B flat) is correct, some of the others are flat. That means the tuning rings on valves 1 and 3 are wasted -- they would help if a note were sharp. Also, I find that the trumpet sounds richer (more resonant) when it is a bit flat per the KORG. Maybe my ears need more practice.
Books. I had a few from the past (the Arban is dog-eared), and got a few more after 9 months, when I began to see (hear) some improvement.

3. Discussion

3.1. Emboucher

The physical task is to vibrate a stream of air, using lips and mouthpiece. Vibration happens if the lips are firmly compressed together and a solid air pressure and flow is maintained.

There are two ways to get firm lips.

The bad (and unsustainable) way: Squish your lips between your teeth and the mouthpiece.
The right way: Build up your mouth muscles so they can firmly compress the lips while barely touching the mouthpiece. Specifically the muscles at the corners of your mouth.

Or as they say, "strengthen your corners, not your biceps".

There are several aspects to getting firm air pressure. Build healthy lung capacity (aerobic workouts). Practice taking in and using deep breaths (Caruso's Six Notes). Practice "low and slow" (Arban's opening exercises 11-18).

2009-06-22: Hmmm, there appears to be controversy over exactly what is, or how one achieves, a good embouchure. Apparently, "low and slow" is good, as are pedal notes, in getting the muscles around the mouth to allow/support the proper vibrations at high pitch and low pitch.

In both cases (lips and lungs), we are exercising with the intent to improve strength and endurance of certain muscles. As we know from sports medicine, this needs to be done with rest days in between to allow for the triggered changes to complete. Therefore I practice every other day.

Caruso recommended a ratio of 1/2 play, 1/2 rest. Sports trainers recommend 30 seconds between sets, and 2.5 minutes recovery after a wind sprint. I'm trying to fit those recommendations all together, but it is sorely tempting (pun intended) to keep on playing.

Estimates on trumpet websites say 9 months to 2 years to recover from a serious layoff.

3.2. Technique

Herbert Clark describes how he became a premier trumpet soloist. A key breakthrough was his decision to go back to basics and play the exercises perfectly. He would spend 1 hour on scales, one hour on slurs, one hour on...

Even for mere mortals, the idea of "perfect practice makes perfect" is sound. It is just hard to do when *nothing* you do is perfect or even close, no matter how many times you repeat it. Clark at least had an emboucher when he started that regimen.

You are training both mind and body. The body (lips, fingers, and diaphram) is learning mechanics: low notes, high notes, scales, slurs, fast, slow... and all with a clear rich tone. The mind is learning to hear and think musically. The two come together in learning to play the tunes in your head (either reading scores, mirroring someone else, or improvising).

2009-02-06: Just picked up "The Allen Vizzutti Trumpet Method Book 1 Technical Studies" (vizzutti_b1). Will try that for a while as my technical session. Still doing scales and chords from Arban.

3.3. Musicality

Given your current technique, play interesting music. Usually this means getting sheet music and practicing. At some point you hear the music and begin playing the tune, using the score for a memory crutch but not gospel.

3.4. Recording

Several authors recommend recording both practice sessions and professional gigs (should that ever come to pass). Use this to detect and understand what is going right or wrong.

I use ardour to record trumpet practice sessions. The intent was to capture at 3 month intervals, but I've missed a few. I find it is hard to mentally shift gears between "trumpet player" and "recording engineer", even if recording consists of tapping on the spacebar. Also, I keep thinking "I'll just practise another week so I can sound better on the recording."

4. Practice regimen.

4.1. 0 months (Nov 2007)

I picked up my original student trumpet (it was 50 years old and untouched for at least 10 years) and found I could not play pieces that used to be easy. I rented a "semi-professional" Yamaha from the local music store and found it was even worse -- I could barely make a sound.

Able to do 10 minutes, every other day.

10 long breaths (no buzz) through trumpet, to warm up trumpet.
Buzz through trumpet, to warm up lips. Count up in base-3, thus each valve combination.
Caruso "6 notes"
Arban (arban)"First Studies": 11, 12, 13
Arban "First Studies": 16, 17, 18
Arban "Duets": A few simple pieces.

4.2. 3 months (Feb 2008)

Worked up to 20 min, then 30 min. Still every other day.

10 long breaths (no buzz) through trumpet, to warm up trumpet.
Buzz through trumpet, to warm up lips.
60 BPM Caruso "6 notes"
80 BPM Arban "First Studies": 11, 12, 13
120 BPM Arban "First Studies": 16, 17, 18
120 BPM Arban "First Studies": 46 (all keys, long). A real struggle, a few notes at a time.
Arban "Duets": A few simple pieces.

4.3. 6 months (May 2008)

Now able to do 1 hr, with 30 min on technique and 30 min playing tunes.

10 long breaths (no buzz) through trumpet, to warm up trumpet.
Buzz through trumpet, to warm up lips.
60 BPM Caruso "6 notes"
80 BPM Arban "First Studies": 11, 12, 13
120 BPM Arban "First Studies": 16, 17, 18
120 BPM Arban "First Studies": 46. Playing longer phrases and getting most of the fingering right.
Arban "Duets": A few simple pieces.
"The Deluxe Herb Alpert and the Tiajuana Brass Souvenir Song Album". Pieces I used to be able to play. Now rhythm, range and fingering are a struggle.

4.4. 9 months (Aug 2008)

Due to illness, had to lay off for several weeks, then tried too hard when I came back, and hurt my lips. So another couple of weeks off. Gradually regained reasonable tone but no range above F.

10 long breaths (no buzz) through trumpet, to warm up trumpet.
Buzz through trumpet, to warm up lips.
60 BPM Caruso "6 notes"
80 BPM Arban "First Studies": 11, 12, 13. Getting cleaner tone.
120 BPM Arban "First Studies": 16, 17, 18. Play each in one breath.
160 BPM Arban "First Studies": 46. I can finger the notes at speed, but lips slide out of place about half way through and I struggle to get back in position. Still don't know what to do about the impossibly long piece with no breaths. Need to breath through nose to continue playing?
80 BPM Arban Chords (48-Major, 49-Minor, 53-Dom 7th). I rotate (if today is major chords, next practice is minor chords, etc.). At first a struggle to find and hit each note, then getting to fairly smooth runs (but slow if there are more than 4 sharps or flats). For the first time in my life I am hearing chords.
Rotating different tune book for each practice session. See Musicality, below. I generally do all marked pieces in a book in a given session, in 30 min. My lip is shot by the end. More like getting through them rather than doing them well.

4.5. 12 months (Dec 2008)

After a long and frustrating month with nothing going right, I stopped doing the tune books above and turned to "The Ultimate Christmas Fake Book". The pieces are easier (slower and lower range), so this is a recovery time for lips.

I marked 35 pieces out of the 200 available. Last year (after 1 month on the recovery road) I couldn't do any of them acceptably well. This year they sound about right. Except Handel's Messiah, which is above the treble clef where I can visit occassionally but not for a whole tune.

10 long breaths (no buzz) through trumpet, to warm up trumpet.
Buzz through trumpet, to warm up lips.
60 BPM Caruso "6 notes"
80 BPM Arban "First Studies": 11, 12, 13. Getting cleaner tone.
120 BPM Arban "First Studies": 16, 17, 18. Play each in one breath.
80 BPM Arban "First Studies": 49 (intervals) and 50 (octaves). On good days they are complete and clean. On bad days they are a struggle.
Christmas Fake Book.

4.6. 13 months (Jan 2009)

Right after Christmas, dropped the carols and returned to solo pieces. Dropped the Arban 11, 12, 13, and added the slower 9 (to get the low-and-slow effect but with all keys). Also added a few pieces from "Solos for Trumpet 23 Recital Pieces".

10 long breaths (no buzz) through trumpet, to warm up trumpet.
Buzz through trumpet, to warm up lips.
60 BPM Caruso "6 notes"
60 BPM Arban "First Studies": 9, using slurs.
120 BPM Arban "First Studies": 16, 17, 18. Play each in one breath.
80 BPM Arban "First Studies": 49 (intervals) and 50 (octaves). Getting cleaner.
Now alternating chords and scales.
1. 80 BPM Arban "Major Scales": Doing first exercise in each key. Work forward from no flats, and backward from 1 sharp. Stop and work on the first one that is a struggle. Currently working on 4 flats and 3 sharps.
2. 80 BPM Arban Chords (48-Major, 49-Minor, 53-Dom 7th). Still rotating per session.
30 min of solo pieces. Rotating the tune books (and thus the genres). See Musicality. Am now concentrating on 1 or two pieces per session, and working on the hard passages.

4.7. 18 months (Jun 2009)

The magical "18 months" to recover from a long layoff. Actually I passed my lifetime personal best somewhere in March. It was due entirely to shifting from Arban to to Vizzutti's Book 1 (Technical Studies)(vizzutti_b1) and Book 2 (Harmonic Studies) (vizzutti_b2). Call these "VB1" and VB2".

There were several factors that made VB1 and VB2 a breakthrough for me:

VB1 has actual "low and slow" exercises. I had never seen that before. Nor had I seen lip flexibility or finger flexibility exercises.
Each exercise is musical. You want to concentrate and do it right because the music deserves your respect. With Arban I sometimes felt I had to just grimly get through the exercise.
The exercises add just enough at each step that it is do-able yet still a stretch. In contrast I felt Arban was either same-old-grind, or impossibly difficult.
As a new skill stabilizes, there is an etude to show how it is used musically. It is tempting to jump straight to the etude, but a few disasters will quickly remind you to do the exercises first.
Once an etude is fairly solid, you feel empowered to move along to the next challenge. In a few cases, you reach the terminal exercise for a section, in which case that may become part of the normal daily regimen.

Current regimen:

10 long breaths (no buzz) through trumpet, to warm up trumpet.
Buzz through trumpet, to warm up lips.
VB1 warmup process (see pg 3). At first I could only do the middle sections of the "Technical Studies" (no low notes and no high notes), but can now do them all and am picking up speed.
VB1 Single Tonguing, exer. 4. I play it at 80 BPM to remember the tune, and then at 120 BPM. At 120 BPM, the quintlets actual do sound like a beat each.
VB1 Double Tonguing, exer. 28-34. I would never have learned to double tongue from Arban.
VB2 Intervals, exer. 13 and 14. These are the terminal exercises. Far more musical than the equiv in Arban.
VB2 Chordal studies, one of exer. 18, 19, 20. Sometimes I fall back to etudes 4, 8, 14 when I need a break.
VB2 Scale Studies, one of exer. 28, 29, 30.

That takes about 30-40 minutes, with some resting (probably not enough) along the way. Then do c. 30 minutes of musical pieces.

For 3 months I had very little energy (or lip) left after the VB1 and VB2 work Now I can go on to solo pieces, and I find I have much better tone, control, and flexibility that I could have obtained by just working on the solo pieces.

4.8. 22 months (Oct 2009)

Current regimen:

10 long breaths (no buzz) through trumpet, to warm up trumpet.
Buzz through trumpet, to warm up lips.
VB1 warmup process (see pg 3).
VB1 Single Tonguing Etude, exer. 4 (terminal exercise). At 120 BPM, the quintlets actual do sound like a beat each. On any given day I may or may not get the whole thing right, but it is do-able.
VB1 Double Tonguing Etude exer. 34 (terminal exercise). Gradually getting better tone and speed.
VB1 Triple Tonguing exer 51. There is a vast leap from exer 50 to exer 51. Vizzutti recognizes this in his New Concepts book, with lots more triple tonguing exercises. But I find the same problem there: The moment I go from same-note triples or simple runs up or down, I get tongue-tied and revert to double tonguing. SInce VB1 exer 51 has most variations on that, I stay with it.
VB2 Intervals, exer. 13 and 14 (terminal exercises). Far more musical than the equiv in Arban. On any given day I may or may not get clean tone and hit every note.
I sometimes use VB2 Chords and Scales but mostly have shifted to working from Clarke's Technical Studies, exer 3 Etude.

Since I've been at this 2 years, and am still using a rented instrument, I looked into buying. Yikes, $2000 for a professional instrument. So I looked into just getting a better mouthpiece (MP). After a lot of on-line reading:

I discovered the MP that came with the rental (Yamaha 11B4) is for D/Eb trumpets. I'd assumed all along it was a Bach 7C equiv.
I bought a Bach 3C. Instantly had richer tone. It took about 2 weeks to settle in to it. Until then, every once in a while my buzz would stall. I'd be playing right in the middle of the range and suddenly no sound. I had to hit a note hard to get buzzing again. After settling in, no problems. Range was at least as good as with the 11B4.
Delighted with the 3C result, I got a Schilke 14A4A to explore high notes. It has a notably brassier tone, and notes below the staff seem tentative, but it works. I don't seem to play any higher than with 3C, but it is much easier to do so, and for longer.

4.9. 24 months (Dec 2009)

Current regimen:

Warmups: 10 long breaths (no buzz) through trumpet, to warm up trumpet. Buzz through trumpet, to warm up lips. VB1 warmup process (see pg 3), which includes buzzing, low-and-slow, and technical studies. The technical studies (done in rotation through the week) are getting easier and more fluid.
VB1 Single Tonguing Etude, exer. 4 (terminal exercise). VB1 Double Tonguing Etude exer. 34 (terminal exercise). VB1 Triple Tonguing exer 51. Gradually improving tone and speed on each.
VB2 Intervals, exer. 13 and 14 (terminal exercises). Gradually improving tone and speed on each.
Clarke's Technical Studies, exer 3 Etude.
Music
During December, I shift over to holiday music, from The Ultimate Christmas Fake Book for Trumpet (HL00240130).
The first year, after playing 1 month, I could barely do a few easy ones like "Good King Wenceslas".
The second year (12 months), I could play pretty much anything I could recognize, except for high-note items like "Hallelujah Chorus".
The third year (24 months) (this year), the pieces are much easier and I'm paying more attention to intonation and phrasing. Using the 14A4A, I can play pieces that linger above the staff, like "Hallelujah Chorus" and "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring"

4.10. 30 months (June 2010)

In January I started lessons at the local music shop. My instructor started with basics (posture, breathing, tone). To get better posture, I decicded to practice and play standing up.

He also sent me to a couple of trumpet workshops to hear other trumpeters. E.g., Mic Gillette and Allen Vizzutti.

Next he had me work on H L Clarke's Technical Studies #2 until I could do them rapidly (as phrases instead of as notes). That gave me the courage to work on faster treatment of VB1 technical warmups (roughly same pattern, but more range and more modes).

At this point I had a comfortable range of g...c''', could do some double and triple tonguing, but could not stay in time with a metronome or a partner for a simple 10 bar exercise piece.

It came to a head as we tried to do duets. It took weeks (with me practising every day) before I could play in time with the instructor. There was a sense of relief when it finally worked. We quickly went on to other tasks.

Next he asked what I wanted to accomplish. I wanted a rich tone for classical pieces, so he had me try a 1HC Bach MP. That gave a richer tone riht away and is now my std MP, though I keep a 3C available.

He then ask me to pick a piece, listen to a professional play it, understand their phrasing, and emulate that sound. I picked Haydn's Concerto in E, with the accompanying CD by Boris Schlepakov and the Rusison Philharmonic. This is overkill for my current abilities, but it is worth trying.

All this was while I was fighting a sinus infection which was aggravated by trumpet playing. Finally had to take 2 months off to fully recover, and then go back to trumpet.

Current regimen:

Warmups (20-30 min):
Start with pre-warmups from Bobby Shew: Pedal buzz lips (like a horse snort), buzz lips, buzz mouthpiece. A minute or so total.
Then VB1 warmup process (see pg 3), using the low-and-slow and the technical studies.
As a recovery piece, do VB1 Single Tonguing Etude, exer. 4
CLose with VB2 Intervals, exer. 13 and 14. I tried skipping these for a month and found I was losing lip flexibility.
Rest at least 2 hrs. Then either Technical or Music.
Technical (20-30 min):
Arban (scales, turns, trills)
Music (30 min)
Doing either Recovery, Normal, or Serious.
"Recovery days": Randomly from
- Definitive Jazz (played as-is, with no jazz improv)
- Patsy Cline (low-and-slow)
"Normal days": Randomly from
- H. Hartley "Gaiety Polka"
- H. Vandercook "Dewdrops"
- E. Brooks "The Message"
- F. Sordillo "The Francis Polka"
- W. Smith "The Cavelier"
"Serious days": Work on 1 piece for a week.
- Haydn "Concerto in E" I can play the notes; I can play section 2 at about the right pace; but I cannot do the whole piece as a musical entity. Also, I'm straining too hard -- need to learn to relax all but the lips.
- Arban "The Beautiful Snow". Some days I get a section or two to work right.
- Arban "Carnival of Venice". At about 1/2 speed.
- Bizet "Habanera (from Carmen)" (arr. Rapheal Mendes). I can get most everything but those blistering runs of 10-notes-per-beat (declets?).

4.11. 31 months (July 2010)

Found page=exams/gradedMusicExams/latestSyllabuses.html and decided to do the trumpet syllabus. This meant buying a lot of new music.

Moved rapidly to grade 5, spent a week on 5 amd then slowed down on 6. All on my own, so don't know if I would have received passing grades on any exams along the way. Also, I have not been doing the scales.

Other than this, mostly the June routine.

4.12. 32 months (August 2010)

Completed grade 6. Went on to 7. I overused the lip and had to back off for a couple of weeks. Looking for ways to practice more efficiently, I read through practice books (Arban, Clarke, Gordon, Sandoval). Also thought of it in terms of physical conditioning.

A beginner has little embochure strength, and doesn't attempt anything hard, so he/she can gradually work up to quite a bit of practice. This is like a couch potato going for daily walks and gradually working up to jogging several miles per day.

As you move to more difficult pieces (e.g., Baroque, all above the staff), it is more like running an 800m race -- it takes intense focus to do it at all, and you sure can't do them back-to-back for hours at a time. Yes, you are in much better shape than the recovering couch potato, but the exercise is vastly harder.

Therefore practice becomes a series of short (under 30 min) efforts separately by at least 1 hr rest periods. This is the basis for recommendations from many instuctors.

Carmine Caruso (rest as much as you practice)
Claude Gordon (15min warmup, at least 1 hr rests between sessions)
Jens Lindeman (practice is in 10 minute chunks scattered through day).
Wynton Marsalis (before school, after school, in evening)

So I now do:

Immediately after work: 30 min Warmups mostly from Vizutti, followed by Sandoval's pedal exercise,
1-2 hrs later: 30 min Technical drills (scales, tonguing, intervals, etc.). Interspersed with 2 min rests.
1-2 hrs later: 30 min "hard" music or "easy" music" (alternating days).

4.13. 33 months (September 2010)

Completed ABRMS grade 7.

It took weeks to solve Vizutti's Flamenco. It really isn't that hard techically, but I just couldn't get all the phrases to work. I clearly needed a better way to practice difficult (for me) passages.

Everyone says you must start so slow that you can play it note-and-timing perfect, and only then increase speed. One person suggested trying at a reasonably pace and backing off 10 bpm if you have trouble. Keep backing off until you nail it, then work up 4 bpm at a time. That is emotionally unsatisfying, but not as unsatisfying as failing to get a phrase for weeks on end. So I tried it, and lo-and-behold, it worked.

Then I began ABRMS 8. Haydn "Trumpet Concerto in Eb" and Copland "Fanfare for the Common Man" are in reach, but Arban #2 is unlikely. I need better technical skill.

So I've detoured to a new grand adventure: Play all of Arban by end of my 4th year.

In a couple of weeks, I'd done the "easy" stuff, and had identified what remained... 230 pages of ever harder exercises and pieces. Daunting, but worthy.

4.14. 34 months (Octomer 2010)

Finished Arban scales (except the 32nds) and triplets. By finished, I mean I have at least once played each piece reasonably cleanly and inside the range of metronome settings given. I am not saying I have mastered them. This usually takes 1-2 sessions, with up to 10 attempts each session. If that doesn't do it, I move on.

Now working on harder exercises in each of several sections:

Lip flexibility ("slurring")
Preparatory for turn
Advanced - Intervals
Advanced - Rhythmic 16ths
Phrasing - Melodies
Phrasing - Duets
Characteristic Studies (2)
Fantasies (3,5,11)

Decided I deserved a "professional" trumpet so got a Yamaha YTR 8835 RGS. Immediately sounded richer, and I now understanding the term "slotting" -- notes just snap into place.

Still working on ABRMS tasks (Haydn, Copland, Arban #2) as checkpoints, but focus is on ramping up skills.

4.15. 35 months (November 2010)

Closing in on 3 years. We'll consider that the completion of "recovery", and open a new page for on-going studies.

Still working the Arban sections. Slogging away at chromatic triplets, and 16th note rhythms. Sometimes several days go by before I can tickmark another exercise. If so I go solve a few melodies and duets to maintain a sense of progress.

My current quest is speed for double and triple tonguing. I could stumble along sounding like a dieseling engine, but not get to that high-revving purr you want to hear on, e.g., Carnival of Venice.

I've tried Clark's "tongue it as you walk". I've tried Arban's exercises. I've played all the exercises in Vizzutti's Methods and New Concepts. Still no purr.

First step was to find out how bad I really was. I had a mechanical metronome, and could not stay in time with it at all (didn't even notice it once I started playing). I had no idea what pace I was actually doing. I even tried counting measures and calculating BPM from a stopwatch. No joy.

So I got a Korg TM-40. I still can't hear it when playing, but if I put it on the music stand, I can see the LED wand swinging back and forth, and can use that to (try to) stay in time. Also, I can do tap-in to find my current pace on a piece I've played a few times.

This told me my start point was 16th notes at about qtr=72 BPM. Not even close to c. 120 needed.

So I went back to Vizzutti and did the drills over and over, trying to gradually increase speed. The breakthrough was MB1, #24, with lots of repetition of the same note. I was doggedly playing ta-ka-ta-ka, when a few notes rushed by at twice my normal pace. I couldn't get it to happen again that day. The next day there were a few more notes.

After a few days it seemed I could get in the grove for same-pitch runs, but not for changing pitches. For that I'm going back to Vizzutti New Concepts, which seems to work very gradually from same-pitch to complex pitch changes. This time around, I'll focus on doing the exercises at or above qtr=96 BPM before moving on.

4.16. 36 months (December 2010)

Finished "recovery period", so will close out this web page. Still lots to learn, but that will be on another web page.

5. Musicality

5.1. Playing in different genres

I'm aiming for good clean tone, proper rhythm, appropriate-to-the-genre phrasing -- so that it sounds effortless (and more or less is effortless). Currently working on:

5.1.1. Arban Complete Conservatory Method

Carl Fischer Inc.

Section 12,

Number 3 (Fanatasie Brilliante)
Number 5 (Vois-tu la neige qui brille)
Number 11 (Carnival of Venice)

5.1.2. Cornetist's Joy (Carl Fischer Inc):

Sordillo: The Frances Polka
Smith: The Cavalier
Hartman: The Favorite
Tong: The Tower of Jewels
Davis: Aurora
Brooks: The Message

5.1.3. Herb Alpert and the Tijuauna Brass

About 33 pieces

5.1.4. The Definitive Jazz Collection

About 30 pieces

These are intended to just give the basic melody and chords. The performer is expected to improvise around that. I'm just doing them per the book so far.

5.1.5. Al Hirt On Bourbon Street

At the Jazz Band Ball
Clarinet Marmalade
Stompin' at the Savoy
Wabash Blues

5.1.6. Solos for Trumpet 23 Pieces

Carl Fischer Inc, 2003

Grade 3:
- pg 6 Andersen "A Glad Tune"
- pg 25 "The Rainbow"
Grade 3-4
- pg 28 Hartley "Gaiety Polka"
- pg 46 Vandercook "Dewdrops"
Grade 4
- pg 36 Bizet "Habanera"
Grade 5
- pg 8 Arban "Carnival of Venice" (See Arban method book)

5.1.7. Vizzutti's 20 Dances

De Haske 1999. ISBN 978-90-431-0552-1.

Comes with CD of Vizzutti playing them. These are not great music in themselves. They are exercises in different genres, to get your mind/tongue/lips/fingers in the groove for pieces in that genre.

5.1.8. Bernstein

Boosey & Hawkes, distributed by Hal Leonard.

5.1.9. Copland

Boosey & Hawkes, distributed by Hal Leonard.

5.1.10. Classical

See HL00240044. I'm still exploring.

5.1.11. 100 Solos Trumpet

AMSCO 1987 ISBN 0.8256.1096.6.

Easy playing... and easy listening. To be played when family members are getting testy about technical studies.

5.1.12. Broadway Showstoppers

Hal Leonard 1990.

Easy playing... and easy listening.

5.1.13. Bugle Calls

Obtained from Boy_Scouts and US_Army_Band

First Call
Reveille
Assembly
Mess
Drill Call
Fatigue
Officer's Call
Recall
Church Call
Swimming Call
Fire
Retreat (Evening COlors)
To the Colors
Call to Quarters
Taps

5.2. Ear training

I've set up GNU Solfege (see music/computer). Working on recognizing chords, intervals, and "identify the tone". Just started thus (Jan 2009), so we'll see how it goes.

5.3. Improvisation

Promised myself I'd try after the first year. First step is to learn to play what I hear. Will start via Solfege.

2009-12-20 Didn't get rolling in 2009. Ok, we'll try 2010. The problem is that I'm making enough progress on traditional per-the-score pieces that I don't want to waste lip-time on anything else.