A great early study for beginning students. The top line is played by the student and the bottom line is played by the teacher. Every note the student plays has four beats. Notice that the teacher plays 4 notes for each one the student plays. This will help you count and will help you learn about beats.
The name of the note is listed above each note, and the fingers are listed below. The fingers are counted as follows: 1 is the closest to your face, 2 is the middle valve and 3 is the one closest to the trumpet bell.
Please STARE at the notes while you play them and think to yourself what the name of the note is that you’re playing, what the fingers are, and how it looks on the page.
Click here to view/download the first lesson in Clark Elementary Studies.
Play along with the following video for lesson #1
“Embochure” is just a fancy way of saying how you hold your mouth when you play.
I have heard many ways that people explain how to do this, from saying the letter “M” and holding the corners of your mouth against your teeth to pretending to spit a grain of rice out of the middle of your mouth.
Both of these have worked for different students at different times, as have many other methods of explaining how to make the “buzzing” sound with your lips. Ultimately, though, I feel that visual references are a bit more useful.
With that in mind, here are some images of the embouchures of a some of the trumpet players from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, as seen through an embouchure visualizer.
Please notice that there is no one perfect way to hold the lips. Also notice that the muscles around and under the lips/above the chin are engaged. These add the strength to your embouchure so your lips are not too taut, or tight.
This piece is for my recorder class at Lynwood, chosen by Izel.
Notice that the fingerings are a lot more complex than the fingerings in the C major scale; especially where the right pinky and ring finger are required to only cover half of the holes at the bottom. This is why I put the fingerings below each note.
Click here to view/download Golden Hour, by JVKE, for recorders.
I will add to this piece as we go along if everybody practices enough for me to do so. It is in the same key as the real song so you can play along.
I use this for almost every class. The songs are simple, fun, and aren’t too repetitive. Again, try to write your fingerings in as little as possible so your eyes lock onto the music.
For early, but not brand-new, students who wish to familiarize themselves with some basic fingerings. I repeat the notes a lot so if you do need to write fingerings, try to only do so over each initial long note. This way, you will be looking at the music rather than the fingerings and will therefore learn your fingering a lot quicker.
This particular exercise is a good way to get introduced to how different rhythms look and sound.
Click this link to view/download the C Major Rhythm Warmup that was originally written for my Lynwood Beginning Trumpet Class.