When I was in high school I had a friend who was not in the band and didn’t play music. He loved music, he just had never learned to play an instrument. He was really in to rock music, specifically bands like ACDC Led Zepplin, and Guns N’ Roses. But of course, being my friend he was around me a lot and had seen and heard me play, seen and heard the bands I played in, and he heard me often listening to my favorite music, jazz.

I don’t remember if there was a specific point when it happened, but he decided that he wanted to learn the trumpet. I think, it may have been after hearing this recording of Dizzy Gillespie with Arturo Sandovol, which I was really in to at the time. Of course, I thought that was awesome! And I told him I would be happy to teach him. He was I think a sophomore in high school, which is admittedly much later in the game than young people usually learn to play, but it is never too late! His parents were on board, but they told him he would have to wait a little bit until they could come up with the cash to get a horn.

But he really wanted to learn and was desperate to get started, even though he knew we couldn’t actually start on the horn yet. So he asked me what he could do in the meantime to get started. I told him:

1. Flash Cards: Start learning the clef (in his case, the treble clef), basic notation, etc.
2. Embouchure work and fingerings: We started working on the basic buzz concept we use to play the trumpet, which can be done with the lips and no mouthpiece at all. We started learning the fingerings and in fact he learned his C Major scale (how to buzz it on his lips and finger it) before he ever got a horn.
3. Lots of Listening: I encouraged him to listen to lots of trumpet players. For pure enjoyment, yes, but more so, for motivation and investigation. To ask questions like, what do I want to sound like? How does the trumpet go real low like that? Or real high like that? How does it get that wavy sound (vibrato), or that raspy sound (like a growl)?

Many in his situation would have just given up, but I kept encouraging him to be patient.  It was worth it. He finally got a horn and by the fall, he was playing in the marching band, concert band, and, the following summer, some local drum corps. He played all the way through high school and to this day music is still a special part of his life.

We are so excited to work with you and can’t wait to meet you and get started! And we know you are probably wanting to get started right away. I promise you it will be worth it! Every one of you could benefit with the flash card work, and these ones I linked here are great. If you are unsure of which ones in the deck you should start with, drop us a line!

Fingering work can be started with every instrument (and sticking with drums), again, reach out if you need help—we could do this over a brief FaceTime chat or something even. Need suggestions on some great musicians on your instrument to listen to? Drop us a line! But surely you probably already have some in mind!