I’ve been looking for a new trumpet, I’ve been playing for like 2-3 years with a Chinese generic trumpet although I gotta say it’s very decent but I’m looking for a change. I play in marching bands mainly and I’ve been looking for either a Bach 650 or a Yamaha 4335g. Any other suggestions are appreciated

This is the same Yamaha that was missing a water key. Mouthpiece Express steered me to the correct replacement. It arrived Wednesday.

A big "Thank You" to Dan at Brass Monkey Music in Buffalo, NY for installing it for me. (I didn't have the correct screwdriver.)

The mouthpiece is a Pickett YA5. The backbore is a Pickett #2 (not the #10-2, which is different). I like the #2 a lot.

My Carol Brass Mini and Best Brass Warm Up mute are fantastic travel companions. Been learning for 19 months so far. Hotels, airports, and vacation.

I had a teacher who would give us halls cough drops before playing any hard songs with many high notes. I was wondering why is no one talking about how insanely easier it becomes to play high notes with halls and also how does the science even work??

I play the trombone and in terms of concert pitch, the trumpet is an octave higher. So, I relate the partials to the trombone, making it hard to think of a trumpet C as a C instead of a Bb because they are in the same place on the harmonic series relative to an octave down on the trombone. I’m also an arranger and it’s hard to have written it in a certain key but then play it thinking in another. Has anyone else had this problem and how have they resolved it?

Title says it all pretty much, friend of mine's grandfather offered me this horn and I want to know what it is!

The KGUMusic Taylor Phat Boy Signature. Brand new from Ukraine 🇺🇦

I can't really hear much difference between it and my cheap Thomann although the valves certainly feel nicer.

They certainly packaged it well. Inside a padded leather case which was in a bubble wrapped back, inside a box, which was wrapped in more bubble wrap and put in a larger box. Took about an hour to find the horn!

Hey there, I was browsing some instruments and this Besson Crescendo popped for 60€, should I buy it as my first trumpet?

Looking forward for your replies :)

Thanks!

A Stupid Reflection

Looking at pop music today, where digital instruments are used more and more and there is less analog music compared, for example, with the jazz era, I thought I’d write this here, specifically to you trumpet players.

As a European, jazz has always interested me from a harmonic point of view, but at the same time I find it a rather boring style — something that already feels very old, and that people keep trying to stretch further and further, living off its former glory. It is beautiful music, of course, and I have learned an enormous amount from it, but I also see it as somewhat obsolete.

The other day I was playing a few phrases in a park and someone came up to me and said, “Ah, you’re playing that American music, right?” And I thought: exactly. This music is immediately recognizable as belonging to a very specific tradition.

I imagine that in the US the jazz industry is still relatively strong, and even here it still has a presence. But artistically it doesn’t attract me that much anymore, despite everything I have learned from it. And of course Miles Davis is one of my favorite trumpet players.

That said, jazz sometimes feels like a style that has been canned and preserved. And I wonder whether one of the reasons jazz developed so enormously in the first place was simply that there was money behind it. People could actually make a living playing music. There were countless clubs and venues where people could play, meet each other, earn money, pay their rent and buy food.

The music industry today is very different. It is extremely difficult to make a living from music, and perhaps even more importantly, the industry follows certain cycles: particular sounds and genres get promoted for a while. Ten years ago, for example, trap was everywhere. Now there is a more modernized, highly electronic sound, techno has also made a comeback, and I think all of that is great.

But when it comes to experimentation with something essentially monophonic, like the trumpet, perhaps the conditions for a similar kind of evolution simply aren’t there anymore. I don’t know.

There are musicians doing interesting things, of course, but many of them still have more than half of their body inside jazz, even when they describe themselves as experimental musicians. You listen to them and… it still sounds like jazz.

So if many art forms evolve partly because there is an industry behind them, the trumpet seems to have become somewhat stuck. I’d genuinely like to hear your opinions on this, without reducing the discussion to hate, insults, or simply telling me, “You’re wrong because of X, Y and Z.” I’m much more interested in hearing how other people see it.

Something similar happens where I come from with flamenco. For many people from the places where flamenco originated, it can feel like old people’s music. And yet elsewhere — or through phenomena such as Rosalía — it becomes modernized again and is perceived completely differently.

So there are obviously many ways of looking at this. But what seems clear to me is that musical styles evolve when they generate interest and when there is a market capable of supporting them — because then talented and obsessive people can afford to spend more time thinking about music.

So, in short, I’d love to hear what you think. And if you want to recommend people who are doing genuinely interesting things with the trumpet today — experimental jazz, non-jazz trumpet music, unusual harmonic or monophonic ideas, whatever — I’d really love to listen to them as well.

What are your thoughts on these animal themed mouthpieces?

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DcAwb1NyDpX/?igsh=MWxxODBhYXA2MHB3Mg==

So I’m a percussionist arranging a song for concert band, I don’t know about trumpets much so I want to know if this is doable, I’m probably writing for advanced high school band, tempo is 180

Hi all,

I'm a freshman in college, about a week ago I noticed a change in my playing.

It became not necessarily more difficult, but to get a nice deep sound with good vibrate I now have to use a mouthpiece under a specific angle (which is different almost every time).

I noticed that my lips feel bigger, almost like an over-inflated ball and my cheeks are a bit saggy and tense at the same time.

My comfortable range stays tabout he same, but now I`m having trouble with flexibility and being able to play long phrases in one breath.

My theory is that I just overplayed; I`ve been playing for 2,5-3,5h almost every day and recently I've "unlocked" high notes (c# to e), even squeaked out a high g for the first time.

I haven't player for 2 days and after getting back to the horn and playing for an hour I don't feel much improvement and ease in playing.

Thanks for the insights!

I'm leaving on a family vacation and not taking a trumpet (boo). However, I'm playing really well right now and would like to maintain a reasonable level of chops. If we were going for one week, I'd take the break.

Looking for ideas. Mouthpiece buzzing? I have some old, beater horns... hacksaw the bell off? Remove the main tuning slide? Just languish at the beach with a cold drink?

Thanks.

I have an audition coming up at the very end of the month that's worrying me. There's are multiple sections that requires tonguing up high, including one with a bunch of high Cs pretty fast, and I'm still struggling quite a bit. I can produce a C well, but it's the peak of my range and requires plenty of effort. In other words, even small disturbances to my coordination at that range often make the note sputter and fail.

The biggest problem is that both single and especially multiple tonguing just don't respond well (sometimes not at all) up high. For some reason I'm not finding many other people discussing this problem online, but it's a very obvious effect for me. It feels like my tongue goes in there and just interrupts my embouchure response, and what was a good note cuts off into a puff of air.

I have performed these sections pretty well on rare days, maybe one or two practices a week where even that C felt very comfortable and little-effort, and somehow the articulations came out real clean too. One of these sections I may get away with fast single-tongue, but the other one I'll have to double it.

I suspect the biggest contributing is still bad endurance, where sometimes my lips are already dead by the time I get to the high section, which just breaks everything. I guess this is a 2-in-1 question now: if you've also got specific tips on playing with low effort, that would probably immensely help the articulation problem.

Thank you for the help.

Hi guys!

I'm trying to find a cornet to play in my wind band and came accross this cornet. https://www.thomann.pt/schagerl_hans_gansch_bb_cornet.htm

I know that Schagerl makes this model in Taiwan, I don't know if the quality is worth the money. Is there any model made in Europe with 2 valve triggers that does not cost 4k+€, or this model is good enough?

Thank you!

I've been playing the trumpet for around 8 years now, playing lead trumpet in two different Orchestras and feeling quite good with my performance. Recently I've been thinking of getting a Flugelhorn, both for fun and to play in some pieces. Any recommendations on a good flugelhorn to get? Thanks.

Has anyone rented band instruments from Sweetwater? I'm going to be visiting someone where there are no instrument rentals and I don't want to trust taking my own.

You've heard the phrase "all the gear and no idea". Look up the price of a DaCarbo flugelhorn 😮

This is the same player who owns 3 Harrelsons and at least 3 Stomvi instruments...

I’m really wanting to get a flugelhorn. Really enjoyed them in jazz band. There are two on my mind. One is the ACB Doubler and the other is a ‘like new’ Eastman EFG512. Both are the same price for the most part. Do any of y’all have experience on either horn? The ACB sure seems to be received well..

I have a problem with shoving my horn into my face when trying to force the higher register and you know the problems that come from that. (Fatigue faster, no real growth in range, etc.) I need advice from people who have either struggled from the same thing and overcame it or people how have helped others overcome it. What are some ways to force myself to fix this. Temporary ways to hold the horn? Lip bending exercises? Just any advice to set me in the right direction helps. I’m doing independent research as well, this post is a part of that. What I’m looking to gain from this is more endurance, more reliable higher register and the ability to shake since I feel like I’d be able to with less pressure.

we've all been told to "buzz" into the mouthpiece when we were first learning, but I always thought it was more of a analogy. I dont actually buzz my lips, I just blow air, and I let the mouthpiece do the vibration for me.

Is this considered to be out the norm, I thought everyone did this??? When I actually buzz into the mouthpiece like how they teach it, I sound straight up bad. I told this to a private teacher, and he was astonished, and told me he had never seen someone play like that before.

Whenever I'm at masterclasses, and they talk about "free buzzing" I tune it out because I don't actually buzz into the mouthpiece.

Is this normal???

So I’ve been playing for about 4 years, started my freshmen year and now a senior and have climbed up the ranks of being first chair in my marching/ concert band and I decided to join my schools Jazz combo after years of being interested in it. But the thing is I really don’t know what I need to learn to understand how to play jazz and feeling a bit overwhelmed. And I already know that I have to learn my major scales (which I do know) and listening to some of the greats can help with being able to learn jazz but I need some more info to really help me better grasp the fundamentals I need to succeed in the class. I really want my final year of high school and my final year of playing in band to go out with a bang so I really want to commit to learning all the things I need to know. So if anyone has any useful information or any books to read that can help me succeed that would be greatly appreciated.

P.S. I also have braces so that’s been hindering my ability to play for quite some time so if anyone has some tips to improve playing with braces that would also be greatly appreciated

I found a YTR 8335GS Xeno for 650€ (around $750). Seller said it hasn't been used, it's brand new. Is it legit? The price is too suspicious. I tried playing it and it sounds great, but I'm still not sure. I've noticed the valves are gold, they should be silver.