Inflexions
Lesson time: (2min 18sec)
Mike Lovatt shows how to bring swing trumpet phrases to life with inflexions and falls, using little valve flicks to add spice to a line.
Course preview
This lesson is part of the course Play Authentic Swing Trumpet
Watch a preview of the full course below.
Lesson transcript:
Adding Spice to Your Music
We've got some good ingredients together now. It's really starting to cook. Let's add some spice to it!
Using Inflections
Did you hear the way that I was playing around with the music there? I was using what we might call inflections. I used the valves to affect the way that I attack a note a semitone lower, like this:
- Onto that G, I played a little F sharp with a little flick onto the G.
If we put that into the whole phrase, it sounds like this. That adds some spice. That's what we're after.
Exploring the End of the Piece
Now, let's look at the end of the piece. The last two notes, if we play them as they're written on the page, sound like this:
[insert sound example]
But what I did was what we call a fall. There are two ways of doing a fall:
-
Wiggling the Valves:
It's literally falling from one note to another. We can do that by wiggling the valves and slurring the note. We wiggle the valves and blow through like this:[insert sound example]
We wiggle the valves, and it creates a fall. A little rattling sound like that. It really finishes the piece off really well.
-
Half Valve Technique:
The other way is to do it with what we call a half valve on this pea trumpet. I need to show you this way:[insert sound example]
The valves go halfway down, so we get this kind of sound.
Let's dive deeper into these techniques in our next session!
About the instructor
Mike Lovatt studied at Trinity College of Music, where he was awarded the Jon Kelly Jazz Scholarship. He has performed and recorded across a huge range of styles with artists including Quincy Jones, Robbie Williams, Eric Clapton, the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Michael Buble, Oasis, Michel Legrand, Tony Bennett, Shirley Bassey and Danny Elfman, among many others. As Principal Trumpet in London's West End, Mike has performed in Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, The Producers, Billy Elliot, Guys and Dolls, Saturday Night Fever, My Fair Lady and Spamalot, amongst others. He has played on movie soundtracks including the James Bond films, Harry Potter with the London Symphony Orchestra, the award-winning Chicago, Kevin Spacey's Beyond the Sea, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Madagascar and The Corpse Bride. He is featured on trumpet and cornet in George Fenton's Mrs Henderson Presents, and on trumpet in Looking for Eric. Mike is principal trumpet with the Grammy-nominated John Wilson Orchestra and has been featured in their celebrated BBC Promenade concerts and recordings. Mike is sought after as a teacher and clinician, and is a professor of trumpet at the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music. In April 2013 he was proud to be awarded the prestigious Derek Watkins' Chair of Trumpet at the Royal Academy of Music, London. In his MusicGurus courses, Mike shares the secrets behind his versatility, showing you how to nail authentic swing, rock and Latin trumpet styles so you can play any of them with confidence and the right feel. read more