Abi:

Everything is sounding great! Continue to have a health balance of time spent practicing technique & musicality.

Technique: Lead pipe buzzing – Try to always warm up with this. Play around with dynamics, pitch, and try to incorporate you tongue into this too. This is a great way to get you air, lips and tongue ready to play. Lip Slurs: These are coming along nicely. I think you could be trying to attempt slurring from C->G->C->E->G during your practice sessions. You’ll surprise yourself with how well you can do it. Remember, full breath on these and support from your stomach.

Musicality: Scales: Continue to work on the 6 major scales you know now. Try them in thirds, and triads – which are different! :) Work on the chromatic scale on the full range of your instrument. Focus on the clarity of your tongue when going up and down these ones. Duets: Nice job getting through these. What else needs to improve before you get it 100% of the way there? Have Russian Hymn ready and Sacred song close as well.

Matthew:

Nice to hear you play and get to know you this lesson. I think you’ll have a great time getting everything ready for the grade two RCM test. Should be a blast!

For this week, continue to get comfortable back on the trumpet and remembering all the things you used to work on. Think a lot about nice breaths, and relaxation – a good sound is a result of these. Play some of the songs you like/ have worked on, and check out the C, and F major scales/ arpeggios too. Also try to work on those lip slurs. Use ONLY air to move from C->G. Engage your core and really think about speeding up the air to achieve the next note. We can chat about the requirements from grade 2 RCM when I see you next, and we will have more scheduled homework moving forward from there.

Check out these play lists I made. They have excellent examples of how a trumpet should sound – both in a jazz and pop setting. Try to absorb these, and think about how they sound when you play.

https://music.apple.com/ca/playlist/listening-examples-jazz/pl.u-V9D77GJh10WN4E

https://music.apple.com/ca/playlist/listening-examples-pop/pl.u-mJy88YPTBKA0Wy

Enjoy!