Trumpet Performance tips

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Making sounds is pretty much your embouchure, which is the muscles used in your mouth to buzz and the air flow vibrate. (Buzzes.) Breathing is key to making sounds on a trumpet. When you're breathing, you want to breathe in not here in your lungs that would not get in enough air to push the trumpet. You want to breathe in through your nose and hold your hand on your belly and fill up your diaphragm and your belly. Then your lungs will fill up. Then you empty out, and you want to feel your belly fill up with air, sitting up straight so that the air can go in and out into the trumpet. Once you have a proper amount of air, you can regulate how many times you breathe and it will show you how long you can play the trumpet. Breathing with a brass instrument or any wind instrument is the most important thing to learn-- to continue to breathe and not take real short.(Plays with short breaths cutting off the note.) And you'll run out of breath quickly, so breathing, breathing in through the nose and filling up and breathing out through the instrument, and all the way out.

	Before starting any trumpet playing, blow air through the horn, to "warm up" the instrument and assume the correct embrouchure.
	The most important tip of all is find a competent trumpet teacher.
	Your trumpet may have what looks like a pinky ring. This ring is for players that may have more experience. It is used to tune any note holding down the third valve better.
	If at any time you feel that your lips are about to bleed, or if you feel torn pieces of lip on the inside of your mouth, immediately stop playing for the day. If you continue playing with a hurt lip, you can damage your playing for up to a week, maybe longer.
	If you have braces, take extreme care whenever practicing, especially when you are just beginning to play. You may be able to ask your orthodontist for wax. They will most likely give you some for free. Put it on before you play, and your lips will not get scratched up. Also, some orthodontists have plastic attachments that are much cleaner than wax strips that are sized for your braces and attach painlessly! Best of all, when you get the braces off you can still play trumpet without having to loose your lip callus!
	It is easier to breathe in through your nose and may get warmer air, but to get more air faster, you may breathe in with your mouth.
	Occasionally, you should warm up by breathing in (through your nose) steadily for 8 beats and out for 8 beats, then in for 4, out for 4, then in 2, out 2, in 1, out 1. Your shoulders should not "shoot" up when you take a quick breath. Your diaphram should expand.
	Try to place the mouthpiece in the middle of your lips. If you have braces or anything on your teeth at all, your mouthpiece may be inclined to go up higher than it should, or lower. Don't get into this habit- if you do this for long, you will not be able to play trumpet with the mouthpiece correctly placed at all.
	Practice a lot! The only way you're going to get better is to practice.
	If you are blowing through your trumpet and you hear nothing or a very dull resonating sound you make sure you are blowing correctly. If you are, you may have a valve aligned incorrectly. Grab the top of the button and lightly spin the valve until it stops, this should solve your problem. If your problem persists, take it back to the store and they will help you!
	If you need your note to get higher in pitch, don't tighten your lips, FIRM YOUR CORNERS! The common misconception among brass is to tighten your lips which increases muscle tension. You will have much more success if you firm the corners of your lips and use the side muscles to support your vibrating lips.
	After you have learned to play the trumpet for a while and have moved on to more advanced music, you will notice that you can't start off playing high notes when you first get your trumpet out. This is because your lips aren't warmed up yet. To warm them up without permanently damaging them, you should play low notes, such as C, D, E, F, G, and back down again. After you play these notes for a little bit, you should be able to play higher notes. also, DO NOT practice on buzzing. that helps you get an awful habit going. Everyone says buzz, but just blow air. The sound will be more crisp.
	If you are very serious about growing and improving your skills as a trumpet player, private lessons can be an immense help. They are definitely a worthwhile investment- find a teacher that is helpful, knowledgeable, and you enjoy spending time with.

Buzz" your lips.
"Buzzing" your lips helps to develop 2 of the key areas in a good embouchure; endurance and control.
Purse your lips together and blow to make a buzzing sound. Try to keep your lips taught and together. Work up in time and force so that you can blow hard and not break your embouchure.
The recommended time is 5-to-10 minutes per day for 4 weeks. Lower your total time buzzing after the 4-week period, At this point, 1-to-2 minutes per day is sufficient.

Purse" a pencil between your lips.
Place a pencil between your lips, with the eraser in your mouth resting on your tongue, and press your lips down on it. Hold this position without letting the pencil drop from your lips.
Practice this 3-to-4 minutes per day or until you feel the muscles in your face start to burn. These are the same muscles that are used to reach higher notes.

.3.	Work on "soft" playing. This technique refers to playing basic music very softly so you can barely hear it. This encourages range control and also improves small lip control to reach the higher notes
4.	Relax the abdominal muscles when playing the trumpet. Contrary to popular belief, tensing stomach muscles does not effectively pressurize the lungs. It only prevents you from drawing the breaths you need for continuous play. Instead, contract the muscles around the girdle bringing the abs in toward the spine. This will promote lung pressure.
5.	Project notes to specific distances. This sounds difficult at first, but it can be accomplished with the help of someone with a musical ear. Have him or her stand at the distance that each note is to reach. For instance, a low G projects to 5 feet, while a high C projects to 40 feet. Make sure to listen as well. You will be able to do this alone when you understand the intonations that occur at the various distances.
6.	Practice each lip set point. Each note has a different lip set point on the mouthpiece of the trumpet. Learn these aperture points and develop them for your embouchure.

Warm up thoroughly from lip buzzing, tonguing, flexibility, range and scales. PLAY from your lowest notes to your highest in your warm up. If someone handed you a lead to a Basie chart you should be able to play it easily after your warm up! The idea is: You should be able to PERFORM after your warm up. Make sure you do it correctly!

Prepare the piece over many months, practice the hard parts completely until your lips and muscle memory can do it automatically.

Practice the entire piece and be able to play it to 'performance standards' 3 times in a row.

Performance Day - About 1.45 hours before the performance, you should begin air exercises. One and a half hours before the performance play pedal tones on the mouthpiece for about a half hour. Slowly get the lips moving and allow for plenty of rest time. RESIST the urge to play high. By the end of this time your lips a pliable mush. Completely and totally relaxed. An hour before the concert, get the horn and begin to play long tones, consciously going for the richest, warmest tone. Next, concentrate on tonguing and flexibility. Finally, as stated before, you need to warm up in the upper register to PERFORM in the upper register. Play various sections to gain confidence, without over practicing.

Mental Preparation
If you have practiced the piece and are prepared to perform, these are some quotes that will have a deep mental impact. As you prepare for your performance, say many times to yourself:

	I will perform and play to the best my ability.
	I can't wait to show my expertise on the trumpet.
	I know I play well and now is the time to show it.
	I'm excited about this opportunity to make music and create musical experiences for others.
	I am satisfied with myself and who I am warm up the body/mind and your performance will shine.

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