How to Learn Trumpet at Home by Yourself
Some of the most prominent musicians in musical history were trumpet players, with the likes of Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gilespie, and Miles Davis being the most widely recognized. The music that they play ranges from blues, jazz, and some popular music. Thanks to the influences of these and many other musicians, the trumpet is a fairly popular musical instrument. Unfortunately, far too many people have busy lives that do not leave them a lot of free time in order to learn how to play a musical instrument like the trumpet.
Read: Methods to Learn Trumpet Quickly
However, today, thanks to technology, there are many new ways for people to learn how to play the trumpet for those who happen to lack free time. For this article, we did a lot of research and came up with five good ways that a person can learn to play the trumpet on their own. Below is the result of our research and we hope that you are able to find at least one of them will work for you.
5 Top Methods on How to Learn Trumpet at Home by Yourself
By far the most well known of all online websites for training courses and lessons for self-paced learning of musical instruments is called ArtistWorks. This membership-style website features a massive database and powerful search tool designed to make it easy for its members to find the best option for them. When it comes to the trumpet, ArtistWorks offers a number of well-known trumpet players including David Bilger. Each of the artists that they have recruited to be a part of their offerings, put together a program that is filled with dozens of video-based lesson.
2) Udemy Trumpet Lessons Online
Udemy is an online website that offers a variety of university-style training courses that cover a wide range of subject matter. By simply searching for trumpet, you will be able to find several different courses available. Each of the courses is all video-based and fully accessible to all paid members of the site. All of the instructors are chosen for their knowledge and experience with the trumpet. As long as you have reliable Internet access you can view the course material.
3) YouTube Videos
YouTube.com is one of the most popular websites on the Internet and it gives the visitor access to the billions of video clips that have been uploaded into its database. With “How To” videos making up the biggest percentage of the available videos, the likelihood that you would be able to find some helpful ones that you can use to learn to play the trumpet is very strong. Many of the top professional trumpet players and even those people who just like to play frequently record their sessions and share them with anyone who wants to listen to them play.
4) Instructional Books
Instructional music books have been around for hundreds of years and today’s technology brings the digital era to the musical instrument instruction market with specialized e-books. Both of these types of books offer step by step instructions on how to learn to play the trumpet. They also include lots of illustrations to help make it easier to follow them. Many of the books have been authored by professionals with many years of experience playing the trumpet.
5) Online Tutoring
You can also find numerous examples of people offering to tutor people online for a nominal charge. Thanks to today’s video chat technology like Skype and other streaming video chat services, these tutor’s can offer one on one sessions without leaving their home or studio.
5 Simple Tricks to Make it Easier to Master the Trumpet
- Choose the right trumpet
Finding the right trumpet for you to use when you are first getting started is really important. You need to realize that spending a lot of money does not guarantee that you are going to get the best instrument. There are several different options that you should consider depending on your budget. If money is no object, then you can look at a “brand name” instrument, if you are on a much tighter budget you may consider a second-hand instrument store, pawnshop, or even business that specializes in musical instrument rental. Whichever situation fits you best, just be sure that you find a trumpet that fits you absolutely the best.
- Use lip exercises to warm yourself up before playing
If you are new to musical instruments then you may or may not already know that an instrument from the brass or wind instrument requires you to be able to produce the sound with your mouth. In the case of the trumpet (brass family of instruments), you produce the familiar sound by blowing into the mouthpiece attached to one of the ends of the trumpet. Embouchure is a term used to describe how to make sound by blowing air into a mouthpiece of a musical instrument. To ensure you are getting the best results as a beginner you should be doing some of the more popular lips and facial muscle exercises.
- Know what makes your trumpet work
As a beginner, it is very important for you to get to know the trumpet before you get started. By having a better understanding of how the instrument works and what goes into the playing of one is one of the most important factors that go into ensuring the best results. There are several parts that make up the trumpet including; a mouthpiece, the brass pipes, three valves, and the bell. The combination of all of the parts, the air being blown into the mouthpiece and the fingering of the three valves will determine what type of sound you can expect to come out of the trumpet as you are playing it.
- Good posture is everything
When it comes to playing the trumpet your posture is extremely important. One of the primary reasons why your posture is so important is that it can directly affect your quality of breathing. Since you play the trumpet by blowing air into the mouthpiece your breathing will definitely play an important role in how well that you play the trumpet. Along with breathing, the way that you hold the instrument will also play a role in how the sound that comes out of the bell of the trumpet is heard. By sitting or standing as straight as possible you will be in the best possible position to produce the best sound.
- Slow and steady wins the day
You should never be in a rush, slow and steady is the best way to go when it comes to learning to play the trumpet. You should not expect that you will instantly begin playing like a professional overnight. It takes a whole lot of practice to get good enough to play like a professional trumpet player. Using one or more of the above-listed methods for learning how to play the instrument you are able to self-pace your lessons and take your time. Even if you get discouraged that you are not getting better fast enough, you should not push yourself too fast. Just know that with enough practice you will eventually become good enough.
Steps to Self-Taught Trumpet
The trumpet, which is a musical instrument in the brass family that when played correctly creates a unique sound that can be heard in a number of musical genres. If you are interested in learning how to play the trumpet there are many different ways that you can go about it. We hope that by reading this article you were able to get enough information in order to figure out which of the methods for teaching yourself how to play the trumpet.