Texas Bandmasters Association
Bandmasters Review • September 2014
15
I was recently invited to provide
a session on the teaching of
beginner trumpet players at the
TBA Convention/Clinic. Although
I have much experience teaching
beginners, the truth is that as a
college professor for over twenty
years, my days of teaching beginners
were a while back. For that reason,
I decided to prepare for the clinic
by combining what I think with
the thoughts of a few other talented
and respected teachers who teach
beginners in our state. Answering
my call for input, folks like
Bene Davis, Melodianne Mallow,
Cindy Bulloch, Jason Tucker
and Chris Wurtz shared their
thoughts. It should come as no
surprise that none of these gifted
teachers do things exactly the same
way as anyone else, and I was,
frankly, happy to learn that. In my
opinion, there is no one way to
teach students new to the trumpet
how to play it. Even for my college
students, I often express the thought
that there are many ideas about how
to play the trumpet, andmine are the
ones I am comfortable with. With
that being the mindset, I am pleased
to offer a few thoughts that I hope
might prove helpful to someone.
The good news is that you
don’t have to reinvent the wheel.
Teaching someone how to play the
trumpet from scratch has already
been done successfully by a lot of
people, so all you have to do is find
something that works that you also
believe in.
Perhaps the first
pertinent questions
to address regard
equipment. People
ask me if I believe
students should
start on cornets or
trumpets. Though
these instruments
were decidedly dif-
ferent early in their
histories, nowadays
they have become
a bit homogenized.
Cornets are general-
ly more cylindrical
than originally conceived, and
trumpets incorporate more conical
tubing than they once did. Though
it’s possible that, in some students’
hands, a youngster may achieve
a better tone on a cornet than a
trumpet at the earliest stages, to me
the best reason to consider using
cornets over trumpets is simply
because the center of gravity and
proximity of the mechanism to
their faces better fits their typically
small stature. In terms of tone
quality, in the hands of most
beginners the difference between a
cornet and a trumpet is negligible,
in my experience. Although there
are some school districts that are
afforded the luxury of being able to
insist on exact brands and models
of instruments,
I think it is
important to realize
that in many dis-
tricts students are
going to have to
play whatever is
most convenient,
including whatever
is the least expen-
sive option. It is
important
for
teachers to learn to
make that work!
The choice of a
mouthpiece size
is something about which most
have a strong opinion. I started
on a 7C, which many still use.
I have been a part of programs
where the standard issue for
beginners was a 5B. If you compare
mouthpiece measurements in a
published manufacturer’s brochure,
you will find that the difference
in the dimensions between the
mouthpiece size options employed
by most is miniscule. In my
opinion, B cups are generally too
much for a beginner to handle.
While they may help produce a
Teaching Beginner Trumpet
Students
Dr. Gary Wurtz
F ind a mouthpiece
that works for a
student based on the
size and f leshiness
of the l ips.
Perhaps the biggest
trumpet ki l ler
is placing the
mouthpiece rim
direct ly on the red
of the l ips, especial ly
. . . the upper l ip.