Trumpet

The trumpet is the highest brass instrument in register, above the tuba, euphonium, trombone, sousaphone, and french horn. A person who plays the trumpet is called a trumpeter or, trumpet player.

Technique

As with all musical instruments, there are physical challenges to playing the trumpet. The knowledge of operating the instrument is called technique. Almost all aspects of technique are controversial, since different people have different problems to overcome, and different successes to celebrate.

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Several important aspects of technique:

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• Breathing properly. Breathe from the diaphragm. That is, use the muscles in your lower abdomen to push a steady, full column of air up through the mouthpiece. There does not have to be a huge volume of air (which might make a very loud sound), but it has to be full so that the lips vibrate constantly.
• Strengthening the embouchure (muscles of the face). Some commonly accepted ways to do this are:

a) Lip slurs: playing exercises that change notes without changing the fingering. This forces all of the work to come from the facial and tongue muscles as well as changes in breathing.

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b) Tonguing exercises: playing exercises that have many notes started with a sharp definition produced by the tongue.

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c) Practicing on the mouthpiece: playing exercises on the mouthpiece only, without the trumpet. Without the resonating chamber of the rest of the instrument, the pitch may vary much more freely. To be able to play something requires development of control. Also, this may reduce the amount of pressure one can apply.

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d) Playing high: playing in the upper register, at the top of the player's comfortable range. This is an excellent way to increase one's range, as eventually the higher notes will become easier and the player can move on to progressively higher top notes.

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e) Reducing pressure. To play higher notes on the trumpet requires compression of the embouchure (the muscles of the face and lips), as well as air pressure to provide the energy for the vibration of the lips. One way to compress the lips is to press the mouthpiece firmly onto them, however this is counterproductive in the long-run and is not an effective way of playing in the upper register. Blood cannot flow into the lips, so they become stiff and swollen, unable to vibrate. Also, the other muscles necessary to play without pressure are not sufficiently developed.

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• Avoiding bad habits. There are many bad habits that can develop while learning trumpet that can ultimately lead to slower improvement, a poorly developed sound, lessened endurance, or even pain. Common bad habits include pressing the mouthpiece to the lips (as explained above), uneven pressure (see Double buzz), inflating cheeks when blowing (although this is debatably a bad habit considering some of the greatest jazz trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie, Harry James, and Charlie Shavers were known for it), playing with poor posture, and closing the throat (tensing of the throat muscles, resulting in partially choking the air flow.).
• Having too tense a posture is another bad habit . Producing notes becomes easier when the body, especially the embouchure and shoulders, are relaxed. Try not to extend the arms more than 90 degrees from the elbows.

Fingering

Table of valves to press down to play various notes, from low to high. "0" means all valves up, "1" means first valve, "1-3" means first and third valve simultaneously.

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If the valve says 0, no valves are pressed, and different pitches and notes are attained by changing the embouchure, or lip position and tightness The standard fingering of notes after double high C maintains the same pattern established in the octave leading up to it. Virtually any fingering combination may be successfully used as an alternate in the register above high C, hence alternate fingerings are left undefined after "E above the staff."

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Note that the fingering schema arises from the lengths of each valve's tubing. Valve "1" increases the tubing length enough to lower the pitch by one whole step, valve "2" by one half step, and valve "3" by one and a half steps. Extending the third valve slide when the third valve is in use further lowers the pitch slightly. Air passing through longer lengths of tubing produces a lower pitch.

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