Music Lesson: E Minor Arpeggio Technique

This piece starts with an arpeggio in the key of E minor. The third beat, having the short note there, gives us a fantastic landing point for that arpeggio.

Technique Overview

The technique of playing that arpeggio that I'm using is tonguing. There is a slur mark or a phrase mark over the top of it. However, if you play it completely legato, it doesn't quite sail as much, it doesn't quite travel as far.

Listen and Compare

• Legato: Have a listen to me play it completely legato.
• Tonguing Technique: Now I'll play it using the technique I use, which is tonguing.

A while back, I mentioned using a pattern like this:
D, D, D, D, D, D, D, D, D, D.
You can try saying that:
Do, do, do, do, do.
Now try playing it like that after me.

Air Support

Using the air behind the tongue helps to go up that octave and up the arpeggio. When we practice arpeggios, we can use the air and a slight push of air to help with that arpeggio.

E Minor Arpeggio Practice

Here's the E minor arpeggio, using a bit more air:

• Go up to the top note.
• Then come back down again.

We can take the foot off the gas a bit.

Understanding Air Speed

When we go higher on the trumpet, we need to think about the speed of air. Many people believe that as we go higher, we need more air. That's not entirely true.

• As we go higher, we need to get the air faster.

If I speed up the air, I tend to adjust my tongue position within the oral cavity.

Tongue Position Exercise

• Think about where your tongue is when playing a middle G on the second line of the treble clef.
• Play a middle G and see if you can feel where your tongue position is in your mouth.

I'd say it's quite low in your mouth, and that position is correct for achieving the right speed of the air.

Whistling Analogy

We want the speed of the air to be almost at the pitch of the note, as though you're whistling.

"Like, hopefully, you can hear that note in my airstream."

So as I go up that arpeggio, I'm using the air at the speed it needs to be to play that note.

If I was going to do that just with the air, without the trumpet, it would sound like this:
(Whistling sound)

See if you can replicate that. It's almost like whistling in your mouth.