TubaForum.net

Do you guys ever regularly play stuff from trumpet method books?

I've been working my way through Charlier's 36 Transcendental Etudes, lately, when I have the time.

I also have Marcel Bitsch's 20 Etudes on my stand, but haven't been too motivated to make any headway with it.

arpthark wrote: ↑Wed Jan 15, 2025 8:56 am Do you guys ever regularly play stuff from trumpet method books?

I've been working my way through Charlier's 36 Transcendental Etudes, lately, when I have the time.

I also have Marcel Bitsch's 20 Etudes on my stand, but haven't been too motivated to make any headway with it.

I only don't because I don't practice enough, timewise. This sounds like boasting, but I really don't have too many issues with technique when playing the F tuba. It's an instrument that I've owned for well over four decades and I know the instrument. I'm trying to do all my technical and melodic study work on the huge tuba that I acquired a couple of years ago; it's pretty challenging and requires a lot of energy as well as B-flat tuba thinking. If I can get to the point where I'm satisfied with how I sound playing (most) all of the 60 Kopprasch French horn studies, I might grab the trumpet books and pull them out again.

I've been trying to get as much face time as I can lately with the Alex 163. With the alternate fingerings, I might as well be learning an instrument in a new key.

I've been playing through the Charlier using trumpet fingerings on CC, Eb and F tuba lately, mostly just to reacquaint myself with those instruments. Until a week or two ago, I hadn't touched a tuba in a month.

Back on trumpet stuff, I had always incorporated Schlossberg into my daily routine, back when it was a routine and back when it was daily.

I also have the Clarke cornet book but found there's a little too much overlap between that and the things I'm more familiar with in Arban, Remington, etc.

I started with "Top Tones" for trumpet in the early 70s. In college, I went through both Clarke books, & transferred to the TRUMPET/CORNET Arban's. Concone, Vizzutti, Reynolds (both horn & trumpet) were all added in. I did the horn Kopprasch before I saw the tuba version.

tc

I worked from the Arban book in school. My teacher, Sam Green, had studied with Bill Bell, who taught from the Arban book--we used the trumpet version to get the benefit of the melodies included and to master reading treble clef. I performed Carnival Venice a few times, as well as similar themes and variations, on the F Tuba, but the more lasting benefits came from learning a singing style and being equally fluent in treble and bass clef.

Clarke books, Bousquet Thirty-Six Celebrated Studies, Schlossberg, and version of some of the Carmine Caruso studies all come to mind.

arpthark wrote: ↑Wed Jan 15, 2025 9:23 am I've been trying to get as much face time as I can lately with the Alex 163. With the alternate fingerings, I might as well be learning an instrument in a new key.

I've been playing through the Charlier using trumpet fingerings on CC, Eb and F tuba lately, mostly just to reacquaint myself with those instruments. Until a week or two ago, I hadn't touched a tuba in a month.

Back on trumpet stuff, I had always incorporated Schlossberg into my daily routine, back when it was a routine and back when it was daily.

I also have the Clarke cornet book but found there's a little too much overlap between that and the things I'm more familiar with in Arban, Remington, etc.

The "limited practice time thing" (you and me both...??...unless we're in the process of learning a new instrument, in which case we "steal" time away from the things we're otherwise supposed to be doing) is one reason why I don't (can't) do one or two thirty-minutes-long runs through a "compleat" list of "fundamentals" once or twice daily, and - when I DO find time to practice - pick a FEW "fundamentals" to work on each time I manage to sit down and play at home.

"Playing is playing"
Reflexive Axiom (mathematics/geometry) "The first axiom is called the reflexive axiom or the reflexive property. It states that any quantity is equal to itself."

...and "practice makes perfect", as long as a practicer is analytical/thoughtful, and studies ("practices") things that they cannot yet do well (as opposed to only playing though things already mastered...yes?)

NEARLY off-topic...
I have avoided "orchestral" excerpts" for months...and (mostly) have only "practiced" playing the huge tuba and (mostly) intentionally-selected difficult/long/not-the-easiest-key-signatures early 19th Century soprano vocal lessons) "vocalises" (ie. Rochut bks. II and III with a bit of stuff from I)...and yeah, some "low range strengthening" and "low range producing-a-very-nice-marketable-sound" reinforcement. At the end of yesterday's session, I grabbed "Fountains" and played through the excerpt asked at auditions...Hey: I was (nearly) satisfied with what I produced at c. ♩=150 (again, having not looked at it nor any other "excerpts" for months)...

...I'm thinking that "working on playing well and with particularly good control of facility/pitch/PHRASING" results in orchestral excerpts being "not particularly difficult" to play well...and WITHOUT endless repetitions of orchestral excerpts.

MiBrassFS wrote: ↑Wed Jan 15, 2025 10:45 am Clarke books, Bousquet Thirty-Six Celebrated Studies, Schlossberg, and version of some of the Carmine Caruso studies all come to mind.

To be perfectly up front, this all, unfortunately, is a much more of “in the past” thing.

I use some exercises from the Vizzutti books as warmups. I really like the long tones over various chord types (7th, minor 7th, diminished etc) as a an exercise. I play them with a drone and use it for ear training as well.

The Clarke 2nd study is a nice finger and articulation practice. I do it slurred, single tongued, and double tongued. I only pick one or two keys. Usually the flat keys the music I play is in - I really do need to spend time with those violin and guitar sharp keys, I am abysmal with them.

I usually also read parts as concert pitch rather than as transposed parts. It gives me practice reading from lead sheets and fake books, which are typically treble clef in C.

Ahh, Clarke #2...the siren song of trumpet players warming up everywhere.

Finetales wrote: ↑Wed Jan 15, 2025 1:14 pm Ahh, Clarke #2...the siren song of trumpet players warming up everywhere.

What do you mean? That's clearly by [Arranger], the little-known French composer (pronounced arran-jay)!

Finetales wrote: ↑Wed Jan 15, 2025 1:14 pm Ahh, Clarke #2...the siren song of trumpet players warming up everywhere.

... and it has to be fast, because - after all - trumpet playing is fast !!!