I need help with my trumpet?

Okay, so I play the trumpet in my school band. It's everyone's first year, but they're all really good. Then there's me: Whenever I try to play a note, it makes a sound like a tuba. Our first "trumpet test" is next Friday, and I need help fast!!!!! Serious answers only please. Ten points and best answer to most helpful!!!

I need help with my trumpet?
A tuba ya say? I'm not sure if your description is adequit but I'll take a swing at this.


First let's start with your embrochure (your lips). Without the horn, draw your lips into a light pucker, not a big smoochie pucker but a gentle pursing of the lips with the corners of your mouth drawn in tight to the teeth. Take a deep breath of air and try and to create a buzzing sound with your lips as you force the air between them. Do not puff your cheeks out. Once this is working, take out the trumpet mouth piece and place it at about center on your lips and try the buzzing again. By tightening and loosening the tension of your lips, you should be able to change the pitch of the buzzing up and down. Again no cheek puffing.


Once you have this working, put the mouth piece into the trumpet and try this again. Don't bother with the valves, just try to get a steady tone out of the horn. It will probably sound fuzzy being that you are a beginner but you should get a trumpet sounding pitch.


If you experience problems of not getting tone or seems like too much air is getting out or you can not get air through the horn then there could be a problem with the instrument. Things to look at are the water keys on the horn. These are the little spring loaded valves that cover small holes in the tubing at different points on the horn. Check to make sure that they are snug and are plugging the holes properly. They have a bit of cork on them that helps to seal the holes so that air does not leak when you are playing. The cork should not be dried out or cracked. Are any of the big valves stuck or not functioning? If so, consult your teacher.





Good tone on a brass instrument takes daily practice. You will need to develop the muscles of your embrochure so that you can maintain control of pitch as you play. It is much like body building only on a smaller scale. You have to do the reps to build muscle.


I hope that this helps. Remember to practice and have fun with it. Good luck.
Reply:I am a high school band director. Your sound is like this because your mouth muscles are not tight enough to play the higher notes you are wanting to play. I am sure you already know this, but to play lower notes you need to loosen up your mouth. To play higher notes, you need to tighten up. This takes a lot of practice to master. It also takes time. If you continue to practice these higher notes, you will eventually get it - sooner or later, depending on how much you work at it.





Good luck!

Crooked Teeth