Building Blocks of Trumpet

A Complete and Modular Method Book for the Beginning Trumpeter

A 250-page Method Book DesigneD with over 500 Different Exercises, Including:

175 ROUTINE EXERCISES
50 RESOURCE EXERCISES
112 SCALE SONGS
86 ETUDES
22 DUETS
7 SOLOS WITH PIANO

AND helpful resources for learning how to play the trumpet and how to read music

The Building Blocks of Trumpet is designed to be approachable and accessible, providing a reliable resource for both starting students and teachers alike. The book aims to tackle and answer the major questions and challenges that beginning trumpeters often encounter at the onset of their musical journey. Its content is structured in a way that naturally guides performers from the initial steps of learning their instruments and progressively leads them to mastery of foundational musical concepts. These concepts equip students with the necessary knowledge to actively participate and contribute to Western cultural communities.

A key feature of this method book is its emphasis on fostering independent learning. It encourages students to delve into their private studies of music, guiding them through the process of perfecting their technique through routine exercises and understanding musical compositions through repertoire studies. Moreover, the progression presented in this book is not merely linear but also modular in design. The book is designed with plenty of material and organized in a clear and thoughtful manner. This allows students and teachers to design personalized lesson curriculums. The book's ultimate goal is to empower students to perform these exercises, etudes, and solos effectively and confidently to express their music to an audience.

This will be a FREE Downloadable Resources Available to the Public

Projected Release Date: August 20th, 2024

Scales with Character
Scale Exercises with Character Studies

Scales with Character Video Series

Centering Studies

Centering Studies

The Centering Studies simply are long tone exercises the work on air flow and positioning notes. The goal of the exercise is creating an easy start and ending on that same note with a better sound. 1a creates a home base for the player. As the exercise develops, the farther the player ventures off from home base. Players should strive to move effectively to farther away pitches, but always return to home base as firmly as they established it. Once the players finished a full exercises, the home base changes. There are three major levels: Centered on G, C, and E.

This is a great way to start your daily routine. The design of the exercise helps establish quick response and see how effectively you are playing on that given day. For younger students, you can use it as a way to develop high range in a healthy manner. The exercises guides students to the high range in step-wise motion from the given home base. This helps students establish correct habits, then test new possible notes.

Slur Studies

The Slur Studies follow a similar structure to the Centering Studies. The three major levels return: Centered on G, C, and E. This means that the slur exercises start on that centered note and end on the centered note, so the philosophy carries over, You want to create an easy start and end the last note with a better sound. This time, everything is a lip slur. This can add extra challenge, especially for younger players.

Slur studies are great for improving flexibility. However, it is hard to play certain notes correctly if you don’t know where they are on the horn. To effectively find the note, the exercises are divided into two different versions; Fully slurred, and divided by tongue. The Fully Slurred exercises develop the flexible movement between pitches. However, it is not effective in keeping efficient habits when kids are just trying to “hit the note”. Using light articulates can help position the note in the correct spot without using extreme manipulation. The back of the tongue becomes engages when you articulate and slots the pitch in to the correct position without blowing out the chops. This developed the idea of the divided by tongue technique.

You can use both versions to compliment each other. One good practice approach could be:
(Check Example #1)

1. Play the divided by tongue version
   (C Slur Study #7)
   Focus on the articulated notes, if the slurs didn’t come out, that’s alright.

2. Perform the full slurred version
   (C Slur Study #6)
   Remember what the articulate pitches sounded like and try to replicate it.

3. Perform the divided by tongue version again
   (C Slur Study #7)
   This time, focus on both slurs and articulated notes.

Example #1