Education is a lifelong journey, and a journey that often starts in schools around the world that suffer from a lack of funding in music. It is more important than ever to find good quality and reliable resources to help children on their musical journey, as well as adults and advanced learners too. Trumpet Headquarters is a wonderful resource set up by Estela Aragon who was kind enough to talk to me here.
One of my favourite lockdown revelations over the past few months has been seeing the instagram posts of beautiful handcrafted leather products from Trumpet Bags. It's creator, Tomasz Dabrowski talks to me here about getting this great new project off the ground.
At the recent 2021 NAMM show I was fortunate to spend some (virtual) time with Melvin Quinones, founder of Victory Music Instruments based in Port Saint Lucie, Florida. He was kind enough to talk me through the Victory trumpet range and has also shared his fascinating story in this article:
How can we develop jazz vocabulary?
Belgian trumpet soloist Jeroen Berwaerts combines immense technical prowess with beautiful sensitivity across a huge range of styles. His CV is extraordinary, boasting solo appearances with orchestras across the globe, teaching commitments in Hannover and London, as well as a really interesting relationship with Yamaha.
“Mental practice preparation” - Getting ourselves in the right frame of mind, and then planning and executing our practice goals - an article by Sam Neufeld of 'Trumpet Warmup'.
Back in September 2020 I wrote about the new solo repertoire that I had discovered in 'Lockdown Part 1'. Now that we are into 'Lockdown Part 3' in January 2021, I thought that I would share some of the variety of study books and etudes that I have been taking a look at with the help of the nkoda app.
Brass players, including those at the top of their professional tree, have experienced Focal Dystonia that has either permanently, or temporarily, halted playing. Marcus Reynolds was a ‘pro’ player who overcame the challenge and here offers his personal (as opposed to medical) perspective on the road to recovery.
Transcription is a great skill to develop in itself, but is also invaluable for developing our ears and our general musical awareness. Darren Lloyd from 'Jazz etudes' talks here about how to actually go about this and develop this important musical skill:
Jazz Etudes is a new resource that helps and supports students new to the world of jazz improvisation. The approach is centred around developing your jazz vocabulary and although primarily aimed at intermediate players, is receiving praise and endorsements from musicians at the top of their game. The creator of jazzetudes.net is Darren Lloyd, a professional player … Continue reading Do you want to improve your improvisation?
It is always intriguing to receive new trumpet gadgets through to try out and review. I have always used mouthpiece buzzing as an important part of my practice as well as my teaching, so the Buzz-R looks like an interesting prospect. Finding an effective embouchure calisthenic aid that can realistically be incorporated into a practice … Continue reading Buzz-R : Product Review
In May 2018 in San Antonio (TX) I had the great pleasure of meeting Tom Clary at the annual ITG conference. Tom is the founder / designer / master craftsman behind Clary Woodmutes, and was there to display his range of beautifully-crafted wooden trumpet mutes. Two years on, Clary Woodmutes continue to go from strength to strength with a broad range of exquisite looking (and sounding!) mutes - I was delighted to sit down and spend some time with him (socially-distanced over Zoom of course) to chat about this great progress:
From conception, to design, to manufacture these all have incredible style, durability, attention to detail, and above all ... quality.
Over the past few months, many of the articles that I have worked on and industry pros that I have interviewed, emphasise how working life has changed drastically since the start of 2020 lockdown. With that in mind, it would be great to explore how we can successfully manage our recordings remotely now that we are all having to work with a greater degree of isolation.
The Ft Series mouthpieces are new from Fultone Brass. A range of 6 mouthpieces (with many more developments in the pipeline!) aiming to bring efficiency and great intonation across a broad range of styles, to a wide range of trumpeters. Many top UK trumpet players have been involved in the development of this range since 2016, and now they are available!
Trumpet Warmup (trumpetwarmup.com) is a great new online portal for trumpet players, allowing you to customise your routine with the aid of resources from top artists and educators. Sam Neufeld, the website's founder, speaks to me here about his exciting new venture. Can you give a little background to your relationship with the trumpet? At … Continue reading Trumpet Warmup
