Why you need faster fingers

In my years teaching the trumpet I’ve had many students who pick up the instrument with many beliefs, one of them being that it will be easier than instruments with 17 or more keys. We only have 3 valves, what could possibly go wrong?!

Well, we get only 3 valves to play at least 31 notes. This means that we must not only learn how to change notes that use the same fingering combination, but also to be as fluid as possible when switching valves. This skill is separate from others, because it depends solely on your finger speed and strength. It has nothing to do with air, tone or tonguing. You can have a beautiful tone, but slow fingering will quickly stop you in your tracks.

Trumpet players need quick fingers to advance. Period. The demand for it begins rather early with the first set of sixteenth notes and never stops. Progress is highly dependent on this technique.

Learn how to improve your dexterity on the trumpet with the following tips, which I encourage you to implement slowly into your daily practice.

LIFT!

Too often beginner and intermediate trumpet players have lazy fingers, which results in valves not making it all the way up. When this happens, the transition between notes becomes smudgy and undesirable.

You can train yourself to not do this by purposely lifting your fingers higher than necessary. This acts as a double whammy exercise, because the extra muscle effort needed to do this strengthens your fingers, which in turn makes them faster.

Train the 3rd finger

That ring finger sure loves dragging itself and causing trouble!

This is due to the interconnection between the branches of radial and ulnar nerves hampering the complete independent movement of the ring finger. So, since anatomy is working against us, we must work that finger a bit harder than the others.

I recommend to focus on dexterity exercises that use the 123, 13 and 23 combinations. Going from 13 to 2 is especially difficult and therefore more important to spend time on. You can easily come up with exercises on your own. For example:

1) Set the metronome to 60.

2) Play D (13) to F# (2) in quarter notes for 1 measure.

3) Repeat the notes in eight notes for 1 measure.

4) Repeat again in sixteenth notes.

Chromatic exercises

These types of exercises, such as those found in Clarke Technical Studies 1, are incredibly helpful for improving your dexterity. However, they can be intimidating and simply too advanced for some. Instead, you can focus on two other exercises to work your way up to Clarke.

Use major scales in incremental speeds. First in quarters notes, then in eight notes etc. The goal is to achieve cleanliness and fluid fingers.

You can also use chromatic scales in the same manner. The key is to keep track of your tempo and go up when you are ready. Without tracking speed, you cannot see the progress or tempos in which you should spend more time.

SLAM

If you want to take your lifts to the next level, you can not only lift high, but also slam down! You may be thinking I’ve gone off the rails, but this technique really works and is taught in the well-known Claude Gordon Systematic Approach to Trumpet Playing.

The idea is, again, that the added muscle use strengthens the fingers. And trust me, you want those fingers strong and quick!

The right hand grip is everything

The way you hold the trumpet with your right hand will make or break your ability to move your fingers freely, especially in the first 3 years of playing.

Make sure you do not:

1) Hook the pink into the hook.

2) Hook the thumb behind the first valve and under the lead pipe.

3) Press the valves with the middle of the fingers.

4) Keep your palm close to the valve casing.

Make sure you DO:

1) Free the pinky and allow it to float.

2) Rest the thumb under the lead pipe and between the 1st and 2nd valve OR under the lead pipe and in front of the 1st valve.

3) Press the valves with the balls of your fingers.

4) Leave space between your palm and the valve casing, as if holding a baseball.

Last thoughts

Good things come to trumpet players who work on dexterity! So get to work and avoid overwhelm by applying these tips incrementally into your daily practice routine. You absolutely shouldn’t throw them all in at once.

When in doubt, consult a professional instructor. I cover this and many more topics extensively in my trumpet lessons online course right here at THQ.

Please leave questions and comments below.

***

SUBSCRIBE to my newsletter for the best warmup guide and exercises. Plus stay up to date on the latest sales, blogs and news.

Bad habits are hard to break, but it’s not impossible!

Here is a scary statistic: 99% of new students that come to me not only have no idea how to practice, but they’re actually making themselves worse on a daily basis by doing the things listed below.

That’s a fairly accurate percentage, seeing as maybe one student every couple of years actually knows how to approach the trumpet. Beginners simply don’t know how to avoid bad habits. Why? Because they don’t know what the incorrect habits are. Like the game “telephone”, incorrect trumpet playing habits spread and get worse from person to person until it finally lands on you…and you end up ¨smiling to play higher.¨

Sometimes you’ve been doing something for so long and you’ve dug a hole so big, that you have to work 20 times harder to get out and never fall back in. But like an old teacher once told me, do something everyday for 3 weeks and you will be on the right track. Here we go:

 

Your first note of the day is always a C below the staff

This is one of those things I burn into the skulls of my students. You are making your life so much harder by letting your first note be that low.

Let me put it this way: pick the easiest way to climb to the top of a mountain. 1) You start at the very bottom and hike OR 2) You get dropped off in the middle and hike.

The answer is obviously #2!

Trumpet playing works in a similar way. Starting below the staff everyday prepares your mind and chops to be “low,” and the journey to the top will seem much higher.

Instead, start in the middle, on middle C, and you will soon find yourself realizing that C above the staff is not so far after all. If you’re still working your way to middle C, try starting on a G on the second line of the staff. Just stay away from low C as your first note of the day.

 

You don’t warm-up before playing other things

If I had a penny for every time I say this every week…

Not warming up before playing anything else is the best way to destroy your chops. This is like not stretching before doing hard exercise, and then pulling a muscle. What you have to realize is that the embouchure is made up of tiny muscles that need exercise to become stronger. When you don’t warm-up, you shock these muscles and don’t give them time to “wake up.”

This is bad…very very bad. I have seen so many players ruin themselves by picking up the horn first thing in the morning, blowing a few high Cs and playing some marching band music. If you truly want to get better, begin your day with some long tones/Cichowicz studies and slurring drills. Try to fit at least in 10-15 minutes of warming up. It’s a wonderful thing and your future self with thank you.

 

When practicing a solo, you always start at the beginning

This may seem like a good idea but in reality, it’s a great way to waste time. If you already know the beginning, skip it! Start in the middle or the end and work on the stuff you don’t know. It may be frustrating to not sound as good for a bit, but by the time that solo & ensemble/honor band try out/church gig rolls around you will start strong and end with confidence!

 

You never practice performing

This is a big one. If you practice your solos but never play a run-through like it’s the real thing, you’re not practicing performing.

Performance is a learned skill and you have to practice it too. If you don’t, you will find yourself performing your solo and stopping when you make a mistake because this is what you do when you practice. Or suddenly realizing mid-performance that you’ve actually never run the piece top to bottom. That is not a good feeling!

A really great way to practice performing is to prop your phone on your night stand, press record video and go! Don’t stop no matter how many mistakes happen. After watching the video you will be able to hear the trouble spot you may have already forgotten about. Now you can work that spot and record again.

So record yourself, perform for your family and you will soon feel more comfortable come performance time. Also, I wrote a post on how to transform your mistakes during performance, check it out if that’s sounds up your alley.

 

One good habit at a time

If you’re finding yourself guilty of a few bad habits, its alright. Tackle one at a time and above all, try to get guidance from a qualified teacher. Going solo on learning the trumpet can be a real roadblock, as can studying from an unqualified instructor. A student of mine tells me his former teacher told him to puff his cheeks…because that’s what Dizzy Gillespie did. Oh boy.

Although the internet is a great place to learn, it’s also chalkfull of ill advice by players who are also just learning. Stay on the right path and follow the THQ facebook, instagram, or twitter and ask questions there. I’m also on youtube with some videos.

Of course, the absolute best way to learn is with a teacher. However, if traditional weekly trumpet lessons are not possible, check out the online lessons offered here. They’re extremely effective and I’m always one message away for guidance.

I truly hope this helps you and your students.

* * *

SUBSCRIBE to my newsletter for the best warmup guide and exercises. Plus stay up to date on the latest sales, blogs and news.

Playing high notes on the trumpet is one of those things that is consistently at the highest demand from beginners and intermediate players, mostly because they see others do it and they want to join in. Probably the same reason why I always buy a cupcake after watching someone else enjoy one.

First off, by high notes I mean notes around C above the staff, known by many as “high C”. This could include A, Bb and B above the staff for you, or maybe you’ve got the high C/D and are struggling to hit those E/Fs. Also, this post is not about learning how to play high and it’s also not about dismissing the high range as something unimportant. This is for those trumpet players out there stressing about high notes and making it their practice priority. If that’s you, please please read this:

ONE – Focusing on high range practice without a balance of fundamentals is just another way to achieve hurting your chops. Be sure to  play flexibilities, long tones and low notes before your high range practice. This is why marching band can be so damaging to players that do not warm-up properly and then go on the field and blast high Ds until their lips bleed…literally.

TWO – If you’re planing on auditioning for all-state, college or a competition, the judge listening to you will rather accept someone who can’t yet play above high C but CAN play rhythmically and musically, than someone who can play double high Cs but can’t for their life keep the beat or play dynamics. That’s reality. Believe it!

THREE – If you have a hard time playing with good rhythm, jumping around intervals, playing in tune and understanding musicality, there are a lot of other things you should be worrying about other than high notes. The best part is that when you really start nailing all those other things, your high range will start expanding bit by bit. Now that doesn’t mean that the high range develops on its own. It doesn’t. You actually have to play up there to be able to play up there. However, focusing on fundamentals now will help you focus your tone and air flow, consequently aiding your high range development in the future.

FOUR – The kids that can play super high in middle and high school are usually not the ones making it big. Why? Because all they care about is playing high and that doesn’t really work in the professional world. So don’t stress about what they’re doing. You do you, and focus on fundamentals. Very soon, you’ll be breezing past the competition!

So there you have it! Focus on fundamentals, tone production and technique and you will fly past your peers…even the one kid that shows off playing super high after band practice. The phrase “slow and steady wins the race” is actually true in trumpet world.

Trivia question: This famous lead trumpet player says “I never worked on high notes, I never did and I never will.” Know it? Leave your answer in the comments or come back next week for the blog post with the answer!

* * *

SUBSCRIBE to my newsletter for the best warmup guide and exercises. Plus stay up to date on the latest sales, blogs and news.