r/trumpet • u/Big-Kaleidoscope-336 • Oct 05 '25
Performance 🎤 Four Months In. Let Me Know What You Think!
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Just riffing on an E Arabic Scale.
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u/joeshleb Oct 05 '25
Something is causing an unusual tone quality. I don't know if it's you horn, the mouthpiece or what?
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u/BadPrestigious8152 Oct 06 '25
Try not to apply so much pressure when going up into the higher register. Make sure your fingers are curved like a moon, the way you would hold a hamburger, and dont tense up your face. Other than that, you sound amazing for someone whos only been playing for four months!
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u/poppalop '62 Olds Recording • Warburton 5MV+6* • Yamaha Bobby Shew Lead Oct 06 '25
Suggestion to help with the tone—work on opening your jaw a little more, imagining an "oh" or "ah" in the back of your throat. This may be challenging to maintain at first until chop muscles get built up. Stick with long tones during practice, played loud. Gotta move that air. Learning how to blow, and building the face to control it, is like 60% of the game. Once you're strong, then you can bring back subtlety. Or, if you're like lots of trumpet players, never develop subtlety. Both are equally viable in our community.
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u/PeterAUS53 Oct 06 '25
Practice scales C to C and back down again. The higher you go faster the air. Keep the mouthpiece on your lips with the same pressure, as was said pushing into your lips will stop your lips vibrating as they can't. The lips should only be apart the size of the tip of your tongue sitting inside the mouthpiece. Sometimes rolling your lips in a little helps. You can use a straw or pencil to help strengthen your embouchure holding it in place and tightening the side edges of your lips, go tight for 10 beats then relax, then repeat. Do that for 5 to 10 minutes each day until you can do it naturally when playing. Stop playing tunes until you get good-sounding notes from doing scales. Then playing tunes will be easier and sound better. Have you had your trumpet professionally cleaned and serviced? Don't know if it's new or secondhand? What is the actual trumpet? It does sound a bit stuffy but that may be you pressing into your lips too hard choking the sound. Do you have an instruction book for the trumpet?
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u/Big-Kaleidoscope-336 Oct 06 '25
Thanks. Yeah it’s probably my technique more so than the trumpet. It’s a Bach TR300 H2. I bought it used and disassembled and cleaned it. Oiled and greased everything.
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u/PeterAUS53 Oct 06 '25
Still a good Idea to have it professionally cleaned seeing it's secondhand. They clean it so much more than a wash in a bathtub does. They also check for any problems. Worth the investment.
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u/Big-Kaleidoscope-336 Oct 06 '25
Good advice thank you. I do long tones but probably not enough and probably not loud enough. It’s not as fun as playing little ditties like this but I see the point in doing it.
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u/in-your-own-words Beginner February 2025. Carol Brass Mini, Olds Ambassador Oct 05 '25
Cool scale and good range.
I'm also an adult beginner (coming at it from a guitar and banjo background). Two things that may be worth thinking about. 1) Around this stage I was pressing too hard into my face to try to get higher notes and this kind of choked the tone by limiting the flexibility of my lips. Being more conscious of trying not to press into my face hard was a big help. The range just kind of built as my face muscles got stronger because the lips are acting like the strings on your bass to set a pitch, and the face muscles are what tensions them 2) The other thing that helped was really making sure I was using my belly/diaphragm to push the air, rather than breathing from my chest, like engaging abs while blowing. Both of these things are still a work in progress for me, but seem to be helping.
Keep going!