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.

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What’s that ticking noise?

This might be the question your non-musical friends and family members ask when they hear the incessant clicking from your practice space. Knowing how to use a metronome is important, simple and very useful.

This device, nowadays purchasable as a phone app, is a musician’s most trusted tool for inner rhythm development, technique practice and more. It provides us with a consistent and never wrong (unlike foot tapping) “click” which represents the beat in any tempo or rhythm you may need.

It helps us physically hear something we would otherwise only feel; the beat.

How does it work?

The metronome works by providing a beat anywhere from 30bpm to about 252bpm, where the lower the number the slower the click. BPM stands for “beats per minute” and it has to do with time signatures.

For example in 4/4 time, there are 4 beats per measure and each beat is a quarter note. If you need to brush up on basic music theory check out this awesome little website. So, if I was playing Mary Had a Little Lamb in 4/4 time I could set my metronome at a comfortable 86bpm and play a quarter note on each click. If I wanted to play it faster, I would turn it up to say 120bpm and follow the same method.

The metronome’s job is to keep you steady in whatever you play to avoid speeding up or dragging the tempo.

But I don’t know what tempo to pick!

While some sheet music clearly states a metronome marking at the top, most fundamental exercises simply say “Slowly” or “Steady.” This is to promote self-reflection and mindful practice as opposed to playing through fundamentals for the sake of getting them out of the way. If you see the word “slowly,” play the exercise as slowly as you need to to focus your tone, notice the flow and feel the feedback from the instrument.

However, sometimes it’s good to play fundamentals with a metronome, especially if you are having a hard time playing slowly, steadily and if you feel like your inner rhythm is out of wack. Here are some go-to tempo markings, but keep in mind they’re just suggestions.

Long tones: 60bpm

Flexibilities: 60-86bpm

Tonguing/Articulation: 60-94bpm

Can I use it to play something other than fundamentals?

Yes, and please do. Use your metronome to practice anything and everything! It’s great for mastering pesky passages with quick moving notes and complicated fingering patterns. My favorite practice technique is “chaining”.

Have you ever played a piece of music that has this one part with a bunch of notes going really fast and you just can’t get it right? Yeah me too, and I’m going to tell you how I fixed it. Chaining comes from the idea of an actual metal chain, which is made of single links put together. Once the links are welded in place it is impossible to pull the chain apart. In practice, we can do the same thing. Take the measure that is causing you trouble, turn on your metronome to something slow like 60, and play the first two notes. Play those two notes three times. If, and only if, you got it right all three times, add another note. See how it works? Once you complete the measure or section you can speed it up slowly.

Another way to chain is to do the same thing but with the metronome at full tempo, an approach I recommend for intermediate and advanced players.

Get more tips on this page: “Practice Techniques”

Get started

There is a lot more you can do with metronome apps nowadays, but that is a topic for another time. I will leave you with some suggestions on my favorite metronomes.

First, the simple, free and easily accessible Google metronome. Just do a google search for “metronome” and boom…it’s right there!

The second is the awesome app “Tonal Energy”, available on android and apple devices. It is a metronome, tuner, recorder, tone generator and coffee maker. The last one is a lie…but it’s basically that great.

And finally, I would love to recommend a metronome that never failed to be loud enough, the Korg KDM-2, but it’s hard to come by these days. Instead, look for any hefty Korg metronome with a visible speaker and you should have enough volume to annoy the neighbors.

For more recommendations check out this dedicated page: “Tuners and Metronomes.”

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Impatience is your enemy

For me, finding ways to dissect difficult passages in music has become a habit and I will share three ways to practice a difficult lick with you. But first, let’s talk about patience.

If there is any one area I could say almost all of my students over the years have had to improve on, is dissecting sheet music. It’s not a particularly difficult task per se, but it does require a lot of patience. The world we live in today leaves little room for patience as wifi connections get faster, videos load in a couple seconds and information is literally at the palm of our hands.

I used to actually have to go to the library to find information. I would have to wait until the library was open, until I could get a ride, until I found the book and only then did I find what I was looking for. Assuming of course I already had a library card.

I grew up waiting 5 minutes for the internet to connect.

Most of my students grew up waiting less than 10 seconds.

It’s not surprise then that patience is their biggest obstacle. Is it your biggest obstacle? Do you find yourself repeating the same phrase over and over, only to continue making the same mistakes the next day? Do you ever sit and practice just those 2 difficult measures? Do you become frustrated often? Do you use a metronome most of the time?

Tell yourself that enough is enough and make a change with these three ways to practice a difficult lick:

Don’t rush!

I’m sure you know what Kung Fu is, but what about Tai Chi? Tai Chi is the practice of slowly moving through the same and similar forms used in the fast paced Kung Fu. By moving the body without hurry the martial artist gains control, smoothness and balance.

In the same way musicians can learn a lot about their playing by playing at turtle’s pace. When you play slowly your will hear the areas that need attention much more clearly.

Issues in intonation, rhythmic accuracy, articulation, tone cleanliness and dexterity will become very noticeable, which brings me to my next tip…

One click at a time

Now that the tempo is much slower we can use the metronome to break it up and work on the music. I recommend that you set your metronome at half the full tempo to start.

Play only the first beat of the passage. If the first beat has just one note, then play just that, but if it has four, then play all four. Repeat the first beat 2-3 times without making a mistake. Only then can you add the next beat and continue doing this until you have completed the passage. Once the entire passage can be played mistake-free, add 1-5 clicks to the metronome speed.

How much speed you add will depend upon the overall difficulty and your needs. Remember to be patient.

Make sure that you only play 2-3 measure at a time. This will help you to deeply examine smaller sections, as opposed to attempting too much and becoming overwhelmed.

When you finally arrive at your final tempo, or close to it, you will notice how much better everything sounds.

Take out the ties

More often than not, ties make technique more difficult for learning trumpet players. Since a tie adds the values of two or more notes, it has the potential to wreak havoc on your rhythm.

Sure, a tie connecting two quarter notes is simple. The two quarter notes become a half note. Easy peasy.

But what about when the tie connects an eight note at the top of a beat to a sixteenth note, which is followed by three 16th notes? Such is the case in the example below. 

A quick and reliable way to perfect this rhythm is to take the tie out completely. Play it a few times as if the tie wasn’t there at all. Really allow this broken-down rhythm to sink in; it’s the skeleton of the tied rhythm.

Now you add the tie, but be sure to maintain the skeleton of the rhythm in your mind’s ear.

This method is very effective and it can be used in any situation.

Applying these tips

Now that you have read about these three tips, put them to work immediately. Don’t wait until tomorrow, or else your drive and excitement to try something new will diminish or completely disappear.

Get to work as soon as possible and try at least one of the aforementioned practice techniques. If you want to learn about a few more check out this page with ten practice tips.

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