Trumpet Heroes Blog
Here are some of the most recently published posts:
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Trumpet Spit Valve Issues
Trumpet Spit Valve Maintenance So, maybe you’re here because you have a spit valve issue with your Trumpet. You might be the smart kid who just doesn’t ever want to have a spit valve issue. There are no guarantees, but let’s look at some things. If you’re just interested you might want to start at…
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Trumpet Spit Valves
… referred to as “Water Keys” by more polite folks. Let’s get that one out of the way right now. It is true that the vast majority of the liquid that comes out of those things is water. It was just moisture in your breath before it condensed on the cooler (probably room temperature, not…
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Trumpet Cases
Most young Trumpet players will start on a trumpet that comes from either a music store or a music room at their school. It will come with a mouthpiece and a case. You need all three. The case might not be necessary if there was never going to be anyone else near your Trumpet or…
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Trumpet Players’ Equipment
That photo shows you the simplest answer to the question about what we need. A Trumpet, a mouthpiece and a case to put them in is the bare minimum. Just as there is no lifetime limit on learning for any musician there is no limit to how much equipment a Trumpet player might want. Fortunately…
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First Easy Tunes for Beginning Trumpet Players
If you’re new to this site WELCOME! Here’s a jumping off post for beginning Trumpet players looking for some easy melodies to play. These are mostly close our old friend – the Concert Bb major scale but there will be the odd one with a different note or a key signature just to keep you…
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Dream Angus
[From the collection “First Easy Tunes for Beginning Trumpet Players on TrumpetHeroes.com] This is probably the least known song in this collection and I’ll confess that I’m on a one-man crusade to popularize it. In Scotland it’s as well known as all of the other ones but in North America it’s only known in concentrations…
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Joshua Fit de Battle of Jericho
[From the collection “First Easy Tunes for Beginning Trumpet Players on TrumpetHeroes.com] This great old spiritual appears in hymn books, band methods and a thousand other places, often with the title and lyrics “modernized”. This seems to be the most authentic title but if you don’t like it, change it. I must have sung it…
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Happy Birthday!
[From the collection “First Easy Tunes for Beginning Trumpet Players on TrumpetHeroes.com] Of these three versions you won’t see one with no sharps or flats here. The big jump in the middle would just go too high. If you have a reliable G at the top of the staff then go for it! (It would…
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Amazing Grace
[From the collection “First Easy Tunes for Beginning Trumpet Players on TrumpetHeroes.com] This tune really needs no introduction. It’s used often to celebrate the lives of people who were clearly not wretches in spite of the lyrics. It’s in this collection because it’s a great song. It’s also here because in the first two keys…
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Oh When the Saints
[From the collection “First Easy Tunes for Beginning Trumpet Players on TrumpetHeroes.com] If you had to find one tune that has introduced more musicians to jazz than any other it must be this one. These are the bones of the tune but the very first thing to do once you learn them is to start…
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God Save the King
God Save the Queen America … a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. (W.S.) [From the collection “First Easy Tunes for Beginning Trumpet Players on TrumpetHeroes.com] I grew up singing God Save the Queen at the start of every school day, so this seems like Queen Elizabeth II’s song. Tempus fugit. Try…
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Alouette
[From the collection “First Easy Tunes for Beginning Trumpet Players on TrumpetHeroes.com] This old French tune might have disappeared without the Voyageurs using it as a paddling song as they plied the rivers and lakes of what is now Canada in their fur-trading canoes. If you sing it, the repeated bar makes each verse longer…
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I’s the B’y
[From the collection “First Easy Tunes for Beginning Trumpet Players on TrumpetHeroes.com] This old Newfoundland folk song is probably the best known music from “The Rock”. That’s a bit like saying that french fries are the best know food from France. Anyway, it’s here because it’s fun and it’s in 6/8 time. In 6/8 time…
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Old MacDonald …
[From the collection “First Easy Tunes for Beginning Trumpet Players on TrumpetHeroes.com] This old beauty of a tune was originally written for adults to sing in a musical theatre production in England. Yikes. Anyway, it’s a lot of fun – feel free to substitute animal sounds or weird squawks when you like! The first version…
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Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
[From the collection “First Easy Tunes for Beginning Trumpet Players on TrumpetHeroes.com] Everybody knows “Twinkle” because Mozart and some other composers played around with it. Most of us learned the alphabet using this melody. In the very first bar it asks you for the first two open (no valves down) notes on the Trumpet. The…
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Down in the Valley
[From the collection “First Easy Tunes for Beginning Trumpet Players on TrumpetHeroes.com] This is a short, easy melody to get you going. It’s in 3 different keys. If there’s one that looks easier, start with that one. Once you’re good at it try the other ones. The key signature tells you which notes aren’t “natural”,…
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Key Signatures
Ok, I know that I promised to keep the theory lessons to a minimum, on a need-to-know basis, so that you can be a better Trumpet player. Key signatures are important enough that you need to know what they are, why we bother with them, how they work and so on. The simple reason that…
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Tuning and Intonation
This page is “in progress” more than most of the other ones. First off – You can spend as much money as you like and your Trumpet will not play in tune by itself. Second – Your Trumpet was built just a little short on purpose so your main tuning slide will have to be…
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Trumpet Tuning and Intonation
This post is “in progress” more than most of the other ones. First off – You can spend as much money as you like and your Trumpet will not play in tune by itself. Second – Your Trumpet was built just a little short on purpose so your main tuning slide will have to be…
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How to Hold a Trumpet: A Beginner’s Guide
This topic is covered in my YouTube Lesson #1 at around the 5 minute mark but I’m happy to write about it too. If you’re watching Trumpet players you’ll see all kinds of ways of holding their instruments. Whatever way you grab the thing it requires that you be able to: The grip that I…
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Music Teachers’ Corner
(This Post is nascent and will fill out as time and topics permit.) This Post is intended for school Music teachers – mostly those who might have Trumpet players in their classes. Some of the topics are specific to dealing with those Trumpet students and others are more general but I felt the need to…