Posted by glennled on November 15, 2010
When you’re chosen to accompany the choir at a Christmas concert, you’ve gotta practice your trumpet and be ready—especially when you’re a 6th grader and the music is written in the key of A (with three sharps) and the ending note is High A above the staff! And that’s how it came to be that I now have my 12th trumpet student. Besides being in band, he’s also a member of the choir at Canyon Creek Elementary School in Bothell. The choir will perform at the 600-seat Northshore Performing Arts Center (NPAC) in Bothell and the Seattle Center on 14 and 15 December, respectively.
At age 12, he’s a talented, enthusiastic, confident, responsible boy with a warm smile and pleasant, happy attitude. His trumpet tone is strong and solid, and he has an excellent sense of rhythm. For the concerts, he simply needs more practice of the right exercises to strengthen his embouchure and extend his range further into the upper register. Since he’s a quick learner, I think he’ll do very well when he plays at the Christmas concerts next month. We have about five more weeks of lessons to prepare…and that’s just enough time to “nail it!”
Posted in New Students - Intro Posts | Tagged: 6th grade, band, Bothell, Canyon Creek Elementary School, choir, Christmas, concert, embouchure, lessons, Northshore Performing Arts Center, rhythm, Seattle Center, soloist, tone, trumpet, upper register | Leave a Comment »
Posted by glennled on November 13, 2010
My newest (10th) trumpet student is unhappy with his current chair placement within the trumpet section of his junior high school band in Kenmore. He wants to move up toward the top. (I like students with goals and determination!)
We’ve now had two private lessons, and “we’re workin’ on it.” Now in his third year of playing, he was essentially self-taught. Not knowing anything different, he adopted a very unconventional way of placing the mouthpiece on his lips. As the band music became progressively more complex and demanding, his unusual embouchure became a major problem for him—but he didn’t realize it. He and his parents were smart enough to seek help. The fact is that he simply was not gonna get to the top playing that way—so “we’re workin’ on it.”
He’s accepting the challenge he’s facing. A wise man said this about challenges—“Every setback is a setup for a comeback.”
Once he turns the corner, catches on, and gains control of the new sounds he’s producing, he should advance quickly because he already has very strong practice habits and, for his age group, he already knows fingering and rhythm. I think he’ll soon be producing a better tone and will extend his range higher into the upper register. Then watch out, those of you trumpeters who are now sitting in the higher-placed chairs—move over, here he comes! 🙂
Posted in New Students - Intro Posts, Student Competitions, Honors & Awards | Tagged: 8th-grader, band, challenge, comeback, embouchure, fingering, junior high school, Kenmore, lessons, mouthpiece, practice, rhythm, setback, tone, upper register | Leave a Comment »
Posted by glennled on May 11, 2010
My 8th trumpet student of this school year, a 12-year old sixth grader in a Bothell elementary school, just started private lessons with me in late April. All year long, he had been in the 1st-year band and was struggling with his tone. It had become very frustrating. Most of the other sixth grade band members, his peers, had started playing trumpet in fifth grade and are now in the 2nd-year band. At our first lesson, I heard the tones and saw the problem: his embouchure. We made one simple, easy adjustment on how he should position the mouthpiece. The following week, his tone was twice as good as before–100% improvement! And the following week, after more practice, it was even better. Now he sounds just like some of my other trumpet students. That’s when he told me an amazing story.
He is now in 2nd-year band! How did this happen? Well, he said, the very next day after our second lesson, he went to the band director and asked to audition for 2nd-year band. He played the required music, won the promotion, and now sits in the Trumpet II section amongst his classmates. Wow! I’m impressed with both his spunk and his capabilities. Only one thing was holding him back, and he overcame it. I’m very proud of what he just did–in only 8 days!
Next year he’ll be in the junior high school band. Wonder how far he wants to go with this? 🙂
Posted in New Students - Intro Posts | Tagged: 6th, 8th, band, band director, Bothell, elementary, embouchure, fifth, junior high, lesson, lessons, music, private, promotion, school, sixth, tone, trumpet | 4 Comments »
Glenn's Trumpet Notes 