3 Common Mistakes of Comeback Trumpet Players

Hi trumpet player, if you have ever picked up your trumpet after 10 or 20 or 30 or even 40 years away Only to feel like a total beginner again, then this recording is for you If you're frustrated because your endurance is gone and your range feels stuck You're not the only one and I can say this because I make a living now helping people just like you So you're not the only one Most comeback trumpet players do struggle and it's not because they've lost talent No,

because the music is inside of you. You can't lose the music they struggle because they're making three common mistakes So today I'm going to teach you what they are and how to fix them so that your comeback is smoother and more enjoyable Welcome to the trumpet lessons HQ podcast alright, so the first common mistake that I see in a lot of Returning trumpet players is that they skip the fundamental practice routine and I understand why because They're eager to play music It's really that simple and this is actually a good thing because we're attracted to the trumpets so that we can play music So it's good that you're eager to practice and play music Because of this you just pick up the horn straight out of the case and start noodling on whatever is on your mind That's okay every once in a while,

but bad habits tend to add up and they cause all sorts of problems that are hard to overcome so The main thing that I see one of the main things that I see one of the top three is skipping the fundamental practice routine And it's simply because people want to play music.

That's good, but another reason that people skip the fundamental routine is because they don't know what that even is. They don't even know what is included in a fundamental routine. Or they think practicing is just boring.

So if you're somebody who thinks practicing fundamentals is boring, let me tell you I submit to you how can you become as good as you say that you want to be unless you do the boring things. And this is what I've come to understand.

You already know that at some level. For example, let's take your job for example, your profession, whatever it is. Thankfully I've had the opportunities to work with people in various fields of work.

Psychologist, economist, doctors, pharmacist, teachers, fill in a blank. The This is what I know for sure. there's no way that you could be good at your profession unless you first learn how to do the thing that you thought was boring or do the thing that you didn't necessarily want to do so trumpet playing is no different it's really no different in that way and for us it's practicing a fundamental routine now the good news is your fundamental routine can be as long or as short as you desire it to be all right and the length of your routine really is going to be based on your personal habits and your goals but you do need to have something in place all right this is what we need to do to get the body in shape to play the horn it's really that simple and once you get a fundamental routine in place that's where your growth begins okay so really quick in case you don't already know there's seven parts of the fundamental trumpet routine now this is not the only way to approach practice but this is a great starting place and this will get you a long way all right so really quick the seven parts of a fundamental trumpet routine include breathing exercises which can be and should be done totally away from the trumpet second is buzzing even though buzzing is controversial and people believe some people believe that more damage comes from buzzing than good it doesn't have to be the truth i i say if you're buzzing in good form good things will happen so buzzing is the second thing if you choose to buzz third is long tones all right whether you choose static long tones or moving long tones doesn't matter everybody needs to do long tones fourth is flexibility studies i love flexibility studies because it addresses three of the core parts of trumpet playing and to do flexibility as well you have to have good form.

All right. You're going to struggle if you don't have good form. Flexibility will expose that and it will also help develop that. Okay. Flexibility studies are incredible. The fifth thing in the routine is the tongue exercises.

You got to get your tongue in shape. A good byproduct of having your tongue in shape is actually to develop the embouchure. All right. I learned this just by practicing tonguing. It also helps you to extend your range when the tongue is in shape.

It's easier to play in the extreme registers. The sixth thing on the trumpet routine is the finger dexterity exercises. When your fingers are in line, or shall I say in coordination with the tongue, then everything about your trumpet playing becomes smoother.

So it's really a a matter of getting coordination with the fingers and the tongue and the wind, all right? Now, finally, after all of these things, you'll play the music, okay? So that's the order. At least for someone who's just returning, it's great to stick to this list in this order.

Why in this order? Because breathing exercises are first and you're forced to deal with the body exclusively. There's no trumpet in your hand yet. And this is how music is made. Music is actually made in our heart.

There's some intellectual part of it, I suppose too. But the point is, it's independent of the trumpet. So we need to come to learn how to use our body to make music, all right? That's why one of my maxims is, my body is the primary instrument because everything does start with the body.

If you're talking about breathing, if you're talking about blowing wind patterns, if you're talking about singing or buzzing, free buzzing, a lot of things can be done with the body first. And as you move down this list in the practice routine, laid out before you here, then you add different parts, different fundamental parts of playing.

So it starts with the wind and then you introduce the tongue and then you work out the tongue some more, but in a different way. Then you add the fingers and then you add the music when everything is warmed up, okay?

A lot of people are gonna ask, how long does a routine take? That's a whole different episode, but it can be as long as a short or as short as you need it to be, okay? I wanna move on to the second common mistake that I see among a lot of returning trumpet players.

And I kinda hinted at it today and that is playing in bad form. Bad form is a big mistake because it leads to low endurance. So if you're struggling. with low endurance and then come back and check your form.

Bad form leads to a terrible sound. Bad form can also lead to limited range. So you see bad form leads to all of the common problems that you think that you have. Okay and I said those things are symptoms anyway of something more serious.

In this case bad form. Limited range is a symptom of bad form. Low endurance is a symptom of bad form. Okay and so is a bad sound. Bad form. Okay so bad form can also kill your confidence. So if you think you're not cut out for trumpet playing it's bad form that can be causing you to think this.

The good news is bad form is really simple to correct and change into good form. So really quick let me define what bad form is. Alright let's just define form period. Form is the way that you hold your body for a trumpet playing.

Alright, and that can be from head to toe. Form is how you hold your body for a trumpet playing, okay? So it can be how you hold the trumpet with your left hand. For example, some people like to have two fingers on top of the third valve slide and two fingers on bottom.

Some people put all four fingers on top of the third valve slide. Some people put three fingers on top of the third valve slide. I'm talking about the left hand. So those are variations. I've seen some people lately holding the trumpet with the left hand with the first finger on top of the bell.

Alright, so that's one example of form. How you choose to hold the horn. How you form your armature. Do you play with the pucker? Do you play with puckered lips or do you play with your lips tucked? That's form.

How firm are your corners? How flat is your chin? That's form. How wide are your feet when you stand up? Are they shoulder-width apart or are they closer in or are they further out? That's form, okay?

All of this is form. Do you play with flat fingers in the right hand or curved fingers in the right hand? That's form. Do you play with your chest up and out? Or do you play with your chin angled down?

All of this collectively is form. If you change even one of those things, trumpet playing is either going to become more simple or more difficult based on what you're changing. Do you have bad form or good form?

Okay, so playing in bad form is a common mistake that most trumpet players make. The good news is, very simple to correct bad form. It just takes, usually it just takes some attention being brought to it.

Okay, so that's That's the second thing. Hold on. Cool. Got it. I got a call soon. Uh, but I have time still to tell you about the third most common mistake that I see in trumpet players and that's waiting too long to ask for help.

Now think about it. This is a great life lesson in life. I don't, I don't know you yet personally. We haven't met yet, but maybe we hopefully we'll meet soon, but I know sometimes it can just be hard to ask for help.

Sometimes it's a pride thing. Maybe it is a pride thing all the time. I don't know. You don't want to ask your friend to help you move, even though they're your friend and they'll likely do it and be cool with it.

Right. Um, I'm trying to think of some other good examples, but in general it's hard to ask for help. but it's good to ask for help because we're not alone we're not alone in this life and if we're fortunate enough to have friends good friends they're willing to help now friends aside it's okay to ask for professional help and to pay for professional help first thing that comes to mind I love going to the chiropractor because once upon a time I had such severe back pain and tightness that I couldn't even get out of bed okay what do you know I stumbled upon a bandmate who was a doctor and I had been working with her for at least two years and I didn't even know that she was a doctor and then I heard that she was a doctor the same week that I was having severe back pain and I asked her what kind of doctor are you and she told me that she was a chiropractor and I said I'm having the most severe back pain can I please come to your office and I went into her office and she adjusted me and that was the beginning of my recovery and I saw I will go into the office on a regular basis and get adjusted and she changed the quality of my life I will remember that forever because I was I was in some serious pain and she really helped me with that because she was a professional and I asked for help in the area that she was a professional in so why suffer through pain when you don't have to when there's someone whose job is to help the exact scenario the exact painful scenario that you're going through so don't let pride stand in the way of you overcoming your pain all right so that's that's the main thing that's the third main thing i see is people wait way too long to ask for help i'm guilty of it myself i could have i could have sought a chiropractor out well before i even got to that situation but i didn't it took me not getting out of bed i couldn't get out of bed if i wanted to i couldn't i couldn't do it for like two days that's not good so um i see this in trumpet players too it happens more often than you know two of my students who are now i will consider them success stories and they're still working through their their progress but two specific students come in mind one of them told me they had been playing four years um on their combat before they reached out for help.

And a different guy took two years before he asked for help. So I don't know why, but it's a common mistake. Waiting two years, waiting four years before asking for help. Now the good thing is, when you ask for help, I also see that the turnaround happens relatively quickly.

It doesn't happen the next day, obviously. But I'm talking three months, six months, 12 months. It seems to happen around three, six, and 12. The huge changes that even the student notices seems to happen around three, six, and 12 months.

But we're talking four years, two years, three years, four years, without seeing significant progress. And it doesn't have to be that way, all right? So eventually people say, hey man, I'm not getting better, let me ask for help.

I'm telling you, since you're listening to me right now, don't wait any longer to ask for help. At least you have me here to help you, okay? So with all that said, I wanna ask you a question. Which of these mistakes have you made?

So we have, I'm gonna do a quick recap. Skipping the fundamental practice routine, it's a big mistake I see. Playing in bad form is another big mistake I see. And waiting too long to ask for help is another big mistake.

Which of these have you made? Let me know. Let me know in the comments section or write me an email that just let me know which one are you guilty of. Now, if you wanna fix these mistakes and make your comeback to trumpet simple, then I want you to book a call to speak with me about how I can help you overcome your challenges on trumpet so that you can get your confidence back, okay?

I want you to get your endurance back and I want you to be able to share music with the people that you love in your life. So book a call to talk to me about this. Go to trumpetlessons.com. hq.com slash apply you're going to have to fill out a few questions if there this multiple choice just click a few click a few boxes and one essay question just one it's gonna help me get to know you a little bit go to trumpet lessons hq.com slash apply book a call so that we can get you on a really good path on your return to trumpet in the next episode we're gonna talk about the one skill you need to regain your endurance and your range even faster than you think was possible all right so stay tuned press play on the next episode and thanks for pressing play today I'll see you then God bless you