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Lesson time: (2min 19sec)
Kay Charlton teaches beginner trumpeters the note D - getting your hand position right and remembering to press the valves all the way down.
This lesson is part of the course Are You Ready part 1: 5 tunes for beginner trumpeters
Watch a preview of the full course below.
Lesson transcript:
Okay, in order to play this next song, we need to learn the note D.
We've been playing C, which is no fingers. The valves are all the way up, by the way.
Make sure you've got your three fingers securely over each of the valves:
So, remember: three fingers on top of the valves.
When we start to use these valves, you must press them all the way down. If they only go halfway, they don't really make a clear sound.
For D, we need to press down valves:
So we've got 1, 2, 3.
Note: Number 2 just hovers just above the valve because we'll need it for some more notes later on. So, this third finger is a bit lazy, make sure you press it all the way down.
Now, if you're getting a clear sound on D, it'll sound like this:
You need to press the valves down, but of course, you also need to tighten the corners of your mouth a bit more. As we go up in pitch, we need to get our lips a little bit tighter and get the air vibrating a bit more quickly.
That was a clear sound on D. If this finger comes up by mistake, you'll hear that the sound goes horribly wrong.
This is what we don't want to happen:
If your D is not going higher than C in pitch, it may be that you haven't got your lips tight enough.
So really listen to the difference in the two pitches:
Push from your tummy muscles a bit more and blow the air out a little bit faster.
D should sound like this.
So let's try playing:
Here we go.
Well done!
Don't forget: to use your tongue every time you play a note and press your fingers down securely.
Kay is a trumpet player, composer and teacher of brass and curriculum music, specialising in primary classroom teaching - KS2, First Access/WCET (whole-class ensemble teaching, where a class learns an instrument together) and teacher CPD (continuing professional development). She completed a Masters in Music Education - 'Teaching Musician' at Trinity Laban Conservatoire in 2018. Kay plays trumpet with the Bollywood Brass Band, a 9-piece band of brass and drums whose 2017 CD Carnatic Connection was nominated for a Songlines Magazine 'World Music Award' and given a 5-star review in the London Evening Standard. Kay composes and arranges for the band and leads on their education work, founding the Bollywood Brass Academy in 2017. Kay has presented her research into whole-class teaching at the Music Education Expo and the First Access Forum. She has designed and led CPD for LSO Discovery, Trinity College London, Music Education Solutions and the Bollywood Brass Band, and is an education consultant for Warwick Music. Kay's book of beginner repertoire, 'Are You Ready?', is published by Warwick Music; in 2017 Kay was commissioned by Warwick Music and Music Education Solutions to compose songs for a new KS1 scheme of work for the pBuzz, which was nominated as 'Education Resource of 2018' by the 'Education Awards'. Other publications include pieces for Trinity's Initial (2015/2018) and Grade 1 (2018) piano syllabus, Bollywood Blast! (Spartan Press) - a series of brass and wind tutor books with backing tracks in a Bollywood style - and Whole Class Bollywood Blast with David Rose (Bedford Music Hub), which is aimed at teachers of whole-class instrumental lessons and includes an Arts Award Discover programme. Her MusicGurus courses bring that classroom experience straight to you: from your very first trumpet lesson through two sets of tunes for beginners, Kay sets out exactly what to play and how to play it. www.kaycharlton.co.uk read more
