Enhancing Our Music with Intonation and Slides

So now we've looked at some of the phrasing and some of the rhythms, the shorts and longs, the gaps between notes, and inflections.

Making the Piece Come to Life

Let's now explore how we can make this piece really come to life by focusing on our sound and intonation.

Understanding the Key of A

In that first phrase, we go from the A. We're in the key of A, aren't we? So, let's look at how we can transition from A to that C sharp. Notoriously, the C sharp on a trumpet can sound sharp.

Let's have a listen to what it sounds like:

• If I just play it where it is:
  "That's very sharp. That C sharp kind of sticks out."

Using the Third Valve Slide

Now, let's try using our third valve slide. It's important to ensure this moves as we are playing.

1. Play the A and then shift that slide out.
2. We also need that slide out for the bottom D.
3. However, be very careful! By the time the next note comes, which is the D sharp, we need to ensure that the slide is right in; otherwise, the D sharp is going to sound flat.

Let's try doing that first phrase using the third valve slide.

Continuing with the Next Phrase

For the next phrase in the second line, we also need to use the third valve slide for the bottom D.

1. Let's see what it sounds like if we don't use it.
2. Now, we will use the third valve slide.

Important! The next note I'm about to play requires us to ensure that the slide is back in again because it's a D sharp. If we keep that slide out, then the D sharp is going to sound flat.

Hopefully, you can hear that difference.

Practicing Intonation

You need to practice going from one note to another to see if you can actually move that slide without moving the trumpet. Otherwise, the trumpet starts to rock around on your face and sounds like this:
"and we can't really play."

Make sure that the slide is nicely greased, so you can move it and play those notes in tune. This helps us play musically, resulting in a lovely sound.

The Importance of Centred Notes

Centred notes are very important! Hear the note in your head. That's crucial too. You can really focus on the bass in the recording, as we can get our notes from the bass we're hearing or the keyboard.

• Have a go at doing that:
  Listen to the track and play along to see if you can get it really in tune with where they are playing.

Master Your A Major Scale

You really need to know your A major scale. Playing an A can be difficult because we use the third valve and the third valve slide, as we just talked about.

Try this:

• Play an A major scale. You can even try doing it an octave higher.
• You may have noticed that I went up to a really high A.

Fun Idea: What you could do with this piece is try playing some of it an octave higher. Of course, in that case, we won't have to worry about the third valve slide because the fingerings do not involve the third valve.

Let's just try a bit of playing that up the octave from the beginning:

And 1, 2, 3.