(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 put them in print. Another format might be better for some of them, so there will be the occasional reference to another platform. It will evolve as topics find their way here and include items unrelated to Trumpet students – like the Bass fingering chart -as folks share them.
This post might find its way to somewhere else that is more open to contributions and discussion. Right now I just want to publish it so that the Bass fingering chart is available (see below).
Care and Feeding of Your School Trumpet Section
Here’s a post to get you started.
And furthermore …
The post linked to above is in a place where everyone can see it. This one is just as visible but probably won’t get read by a lot of kids. There’s a thing that we sometimes do as Band teachers. We push our Trumpet players to do things that damage their chops. If a professional player does that, knowing the risks, the costs and the potential disruption to their career that’s their problem – theirs and the people they play with. If a kid damages their chops because they desperately want to meet the excessive demands of their teacher then it’s mirror time for that teacher. I know that our students will go where we ask them to go. Your Trumpet players do need to be encouraged to expand their range. That encouragement has to be matched with reasonable strategies for improving that range, with the acceptance that range building is a years-long (decades in some cases) process, and with a willingness to change arrangements that require those high notes that your player(s) can’t reach. Failure to do these things can force your young players to hurt themselves and they might not get better. Everybody loses.
When you choose your music you already look at the parts to make sure that they meet your program’s needs and that they’re playable by your students. It’s easy to overlook the inexorable creeping up of those first Trumpet parts. If there’s a piece you really want your band to play and the first Trumpet goes a step or two out of range you have a choice to make: choose something else; rewrite the trouble spot by taking the high part down an octave or re-voice the Trumpet section’s parts; figure out which other part or player can play those notes and write them out; or listen to bad playing while your trumpet players hurt themselves. The last choice is the easiest and the worst by far.
If you teach in a big program with lots of good players and never seem to have this issue then you’re either doing things right (see above) or you’re missing something. In your case it’s quite possible that the pressure to play too high, too soon is coming from other Trumpet players. You may have to mitigate against that.
The internet has made listening to great players so easy. Unfortunately, it has also created a cult of extremity. It doesn’t matter what player your students listen to and admire, there’s always someone who can play just a little higher. Let’s not set that as the sole criterion for judging Trumpet playing.
Things I wish I learned in Music School
There is no real standard teacher training program let alone one for Music teachers. Every Music School or University Music Education Department has put a lot of thought into what it teaches prospective teachers, and every credentialing jurisdiction has its own standards but there are always gaps between what a teacher needs to know and what they needed to get certified (to teach, not that other thing). My preparation had some gaps in it and my guess is that yours did too. I’ll list some of these and either tackle each or link to some helpful resources.
Using a PA system.
Teaching improvisation.
Effective conducting for Music Teachers.
The power of being organized.
Raising/securing funds for your program.
Memorable Excuses
“We (siblings) don’t have our Trumpets because we washed them last night and they’re still wet – on the inside.”
“I can’t play because someone threw a 5 pound vape and it hit me on the head.”
“I’m not playing because I forgot my music … in my locker.”
Small Ensembles in Schools
Pending
Other Thoughts
same
THINGS THAT HAPPEN IN SMALL BAND PROGRAMS like:
You might have to become an arranger
Yes, that’s a thing. I hope you were paying attention in those theory and orchestration classes. If your reality means that you have a band (or a bunch of bands) that just doesn’t fit neatly into a commercial band arrangement (Concert Band, Jazz Band or something else) call a music store that sells plenty of sheet music and see if they have some arrangements for flexible instrumentation. They exist and might be a lifeline for you. If, for example, you have a Concert Band with no Alto Saxes and no prospect of switching someone take a good look at the arrangement and see where you can’t do without that part. This is where you get out the pencil (or, more likely these days, the laptop) and write that key music into someone else’s part. if your situation is more dire – like you have only several students – you might have to change your mindset. There is good news! You actually have access to way more music, you’re just going have to arrange it yourself. There are some sharing sites sponsored by music software companies that you can go to and download arrangements. These can often be altered to suit your needs. If that isn’t enough you can pick a tune and start arranging. That can be really rewarding but is surprisingly time consuming.
String Bass and Electric Bass in the Concert Band
Having String Basses in your Concert Band can be a real blessing. Electric Bass might be a curse, but you know what your program needs. An issue results from the fact that Tuba parts are written at pitch, unlike Bass parts which are written an octave above where they sound. When String Bass players eased their way into the orchestra they snuck in the back door and read over the shoulders of the cello section. As a result they got used to playing those parts and sounding an octave lower. That tradition remains in place and was adopted by Electric Bass players and by publishers. The Tuba had an entirely different history and players of that instrument read the notes where they sound. Publishers of Concert Band method books and/or sheet music publishers don’t always provide Bass parts, because there was a time when the Tuba was their only bass voice. One solution to this challenge is to have Bass playing students learn to read Tuba parts . My friend Brenden recently made this hybrid fingering chart for his students because he got tired of either re-writing the parts up an octave or having his students play a Baritone BC part (some of the other solutions). Thanks Brenden!
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