Trumpet Training Bible

How to Transpose

admin — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 19:54:45 +0000

Why learn to transpose?

Transposition is a fundamental skill of all professional trumpet and horn players, particularly those who play in orchestras.

Historically, brass instruments (other than the trombone and its predecessors) had no valves, which limited them to the notes of the “open” horn. Baroque composers wrote for the extreme high register of the instrument — above the 8th partial, where notes are closer together, allowing a full major scale (with some fudging of the pitch of the 4th scale degree). But few players could play in this strenuous ranges, and it still did not enable a full set of chromatic notes.

So classical composers settled for giving trumpets the “bugle notes” — the root, fifth, and third scale degrees (1, 3, 5, or C, E, and G). Trumpet players made use of tuning crooks of different lengths to play music in different keys.

Even after keyed bugles, and then valved cornets and trumpets, were invented, composers continued to write for trumpets in different keys, including A, Bb, C, D, Eb, E, F, and G.

This compositional habit lasted well into the 19th century, even as the music became highly chromatic. Many of the symphonies of Mahler, for example, are written for Trumpet in F. If you want to play these symphonies (and others like it) on a Bb or C trumpet, you need to learn how to transpose.

There are other reasons a musician may choose an instrument other than the one for which it was written:

It may put the part in a more comfortable range for the instrument
It may solve difficult fingering problems
It may deliver the response and/or tone quality the player prefers for the piece. For example, higher trumpets have a crisper response and a lighter sound.

Transposition also gives you the ability to play music written for other instruments — such as violin, or horn, or sax — that are in C, F, or Eb respectively. You can play duets with your friends!

Finally, transposing is a fun mental challenge! So how do you do it?

How to Transpose

When I started transposing, I simply learned to think “every note up a whole step (e.g. from Bb to C) or, “every note up a fourth” (e.g. from C to F). But that is a bit of a brute force method. The following is how I was taught to do it by Don Green, who was at the time the Principal Trumpet player in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

Ask yourself:

What is the key of the horn I have in my hand? (C trumpet, for example)
What is the key of the horn for which the piece was written? (Eb, for example)
1. Is it higher or lower? (higher)
2. By what interval? (a minor third)
3. What is the difference between those keys? How many sharps or flats are added or subtracted going from my key to the new key? (C is no flats, Eb is three, so add three flats)
What is the WRITTEN KEY SIGNATURE of the piece? (G, for example; one sharp)
Add or subtract the appropriate number of flats or sharps to the written key. This is your new key! (add three flats to one sharp, and you get two flats — the key of Eb!)
SOLUTION: Play up a third into the key of Eb

Another example:

The Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 is written for Trumpet in F. I chose to play it on the C trumpet. C to F is up a 4th, adding one flat. Since the written key of the piece was C, that meant I was playing up a fourth into the key of F, which has one flat (Bb).

If I was to play the Tchaikovsky on Bb trumpet, I would be going from Bb to F, which is up a fifth (a more difficult interval), removing one flat from the written key of C (which is the same as adding one sharp), putting the piece in the key of G (one sharp).

Where it gets tricky is when you see accidentals. You have to recognize whether the accidental is a “courtesy” accidental (i.e. reminding you to play a flat or sharp that is already in the key signature), or whether it is truly changing the note. But otherwise, it works exactly the same way — a flat lowers your transposed pitch ½ step; a sharp raises it ½ step. In the Piano Concerto, Tchaikovsky at one point wrote a B#. Because I would otherwise play an E on that note, I knew to raise that E to an “E#”, (basically an F).

Of course, a professional player quickly learns their part well enough that the page is simply reminding them what to play. The hard parts are worked out in practice, so that when it comes to rehearsal, they know it well enough to focus on ensemble, intonation, etc. But it all starts with transposition!

The post How to Transpose appeared first on Trumpet Training Bible.

Mouthpiece pressure

admin — Mon, 11 Sep 2023 17:20:40 +0000

How much mouthpiece pressure is necessary? How much is ideal?

The short answer is, “as little as you can get away with.” The longer answer is more complex.

Mouthpiece pressure affects endurance, range, flexibility, and tone quality in various ways. Too much pressure can not only hurt your endurance, but can actually damage your lip muscles — in extreme cases, permanently.

First, let’s talk about the role of the mouthpiece.

The Role of the Mouthpiece

The pitch of any vibration is determined by the length of the vibration and the tension of the vibrating body (string or membrane). A violin string is stretched at a fixed tension between the bridge (on the body) and the nut (near the pegs). To change the pitch, the violinist uses their finger to change the length of the string… shorter is higher. The pitch of a drum is determined by the diameter of the rim and the tension at which it is stretched. By contrast with a violin, the length (diameter) of the vibration of a timpani is fixed; the player changes the pitch by using the foot pedal to change the tension on the drum head… higher tension makes a faster vibration and therefore a higher pitch.

The mouthpiece acts like the rim of a drum, or the bridge and nut of a violin string. The diameter of the mouthpiece determines the maximum length of the vibration. But we have more complex control of the vibration within that perimeter. Using our lip and facial muscles, we can:

Increase and decrease the overall tension of the membrane (our lips) using the dynamic tension between the lip muscles (which pull the lips together) and the facial muscles (the “sneer” and “smile” muscles) which pull them apart.
By pressing the lips together (and with the help of the jaw) we vary the size of the aperture, affecting the length of the vibration inside the mouthpiece.

Another way we control pitch is by varying the speed of the air through the lips and the shape of our oral cavity, using our support muscles (abdominal muscles) and tongue. Faster air causes the vibration of the lips to interact with the impedance of the instrument to cause our lips to vibrate in higher harmonics with the standing wavelengths in the instrument, making higher notes.

Mouthpiece Pressure and Flexibility

When we use too much pressure, we trap the lip and facial muscles. They lose the ability to move freely and easily from higher to lower tension, which limits our ability to change pitch, perform lip slurs and trills, and move between higher and lower registers of our instrument.

Mouthpiece Pressure and Tone Quality

Mouthpiece pressure stretches the lips. Thinner membranes make brighter sounds. This is true of drums and violin strings, and it is true of lips.

Perhaps you aspire to be a lead player in a jazz band, who likes a bright sound. But given the downsides of mouthpiece pressure, there are better ways to achieve it, e.g. using a shallower mouthpiece with a tighter backbore, or a lighter weight trumpet. Lead players also need “chops” — range and endurance — and mouthpiece pressure destroys both.

So Why Do We Press?

Ideally, mouthpiece pressure constrains the vibration and counteracts the outgoing pressure of our air stream.

But it can also become a crutch. Pressure also stretches our lips against our teeth, increasing the tension of the vibrating membrane (our lips), which gives us a higher note. We often do this when we are tired — our muscles just can’t create the dynamic tension mentioned above to create the higher note, so we stretch our lips mechanically using arm strength. But here are the problems:

Our arms are stronger than our lips. They win. Our lips give up and collapse.
Our mouthpiece pressure cuts off the blood flow to the lips. Blood delivers energy (oxygen and sugars) to our muscles. Without blood, our lips lose energy, and tire faster.
Our mouthpiece crushes the muscles. They become bruised or, in extreme cases, they tear.

In the larger scheme; when we get in the habit of using pressure, we get out of the habit of strengthening our lips in ways that can give us progressively better endurance, range, flexibility, and tone quality.

The post Mouthpiece pressure appeared first on Trumpet Training Bible.

Tuning your Instrument

admin — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 17:36:33 +0000

About Perfect Pitch

Some people have what is referred to as “perfect pitch”, which is really a very highly refined pitch memory. These people can name notes that they hear, and can often hear even tiny variations in a pitch from the standard A= 440 Hz reference. Perfect pitch can be learned — particularly if you start young, but even older people can develop it with practice.

I happen to think that perfect pitch is overrated. While convenient, it can also be a liability — what is essential is not that you play in tune with a theoretical piano, but with the musicians that surround you! If it annoys you that they are not playing in “perfect pitch”, or you insist on playing “perfectly” while the overall pitch of the ensemble is higher or lower, it is you who will stand out as being out-of-tune.

However, it is good to have a consistent starting point, and a tuner, while not absolutely essential, is a very important and useful tool. Fortunately, there are simple smart phone & tablet apps that are both very inexpensive and do a great job.

Why use a Tuner?

A tuner is indispensable for understanding:

Where to position your main tuning slide
How the pitch of your instrument changes as it (and you) warm up
The pitch tendencies of specific notes and finger combinations — including alternate fingerings — on your instrument
The way pitch changes in different registers of your instrument
How pitch tends to change on a note between playing loudly and softly
How to correct pitch with your airstream, support, tongue and lips
The effect of various mutes on the overall pitch, and the pitch of specific notes
How your pitch changes as you tire

When and How to use a Tuner

I use a tuner primarily when I am warming up: during mouthpiece buzzing, long tone and pedal tone exercises. I will also occasionally check notes in the course of practicing — particularly solos, such as when I am playing softly in the low register after strenuous high passage, or when using a mute, or when I sense that a note sounds sharp or flat. If the note is consistently wrong, and it seems too much work or too risky to “lip it” into place, I will often choose to use an alternate fingering for the performance.

Tune a Warm Instrument

You will notice that, as you warm up, the overall pitch of your instrument will go up — become higher (sharper). This is particularly acute for marching bands and other outdoor performances in cold weather, and is due to the warming of the metal. Make note of how much you have to move your main tuning slide from when the instrument is cold to when it is warm. Many bands start by tuning cold instruments; don’t assume that your instrument will remain in tune as you warm up. One way to mitigate this is to blow warm air through your instrument for several seconds before you tune, and during long rests to keep it warm.

Using the Valve Slides

There is not a professional player in the world who does not make liberal use of the first and third valve slides to tune 1-2, 1-3, and 1-2-3 valve combinations, especially in the low register. These valve combinations (without using the slides) are inherently sharp due to compromises between the lengths of valve tubing and the need to make first valve and second valve fingerings in-tune with the open horn.

Why is this? Fundamentally, each valve makes the instrument a bit longer by diverting the vibration into an additional length of tubing, thus lowering the pitch. The exact lengths of each valve tubing are designed to add a fraction/percentage to the length of the open (no valves pressed) instrument, thus lowering the pitch (remember, a longer instrument is a lower instrument) as follows:

1st valve: (open +) 2 half steps (1 whole step), as from G to F, or from C to Bb
2nd valve: (open +) 1 half step, as from G to F#, or from C to B natural
3rd valve: (open +) 3 half steps, as from G to E, or from C to A

A more detailed, mathematical explanation of this phenomenon can be seen in the section How Trumpets Work / What the Valves Do / Pitch Tendencies of Fingerings – the Math.

Example: 1st + 2nd valve combination

The instrument with first valve pressed (e.g. when playing an F) is longer than the open instrument. Adding the second valve to the first valve adds a smaller percentage of the length of that longer instrument than it does to shorter, open horn. We therefore move the first valve slide out a bit to make the combined tubing slightly longer, putting it back in pitch.

Because third valve is typically used in combination with the 1st valve, the 2nd valve, or both 1+2, instrument manufacturers often make the 3rd valve slide just a bit longer than needed to lower the note 3 half steps from the open horn. While this means that the 2-3 combination is often nicely in-tune, it also means that playing an E (for example) with just the 3rd valve may tend to be flat. Unfortunately, it is not enough to make the 1-3 and 1-2-3 combinations in tune, so we must use the first and/or third valve slides to tune these combinations.

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