The Comeback Trumpet Player

The "CTP" system consists of four sessions per day: warm-up, tonality study, Arban's book studies, and endurance/range/musicianship studies. This will take approximately two hours per day divided into four sessions, with breaks in between. Don't try to play all of the assignments in one session, you really do need the rest to keep your embouchure fresh all day and ready again for the next day.

If you cannot commit to two hours per day, then go with one hour per day and play every other exercise in the lessons on day one, then on day two play the ones you skipped, on day three alternate back to the ones you played on day one, and so on back and forth throughout the week. And spend two weeks on each lesson instead of one week, or longer if needed, when using this pattern.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The book has a total of 138 pages, which includes 8 pages of music for the warm-up routine session, 48 pages of music for the 12 tonality studies session, and 22 pages of music for the full range studies session, plus there are 52 pages of step-by-step lessons, one per page. For the fourth session of each lesson, you will need an Arban's book for trumpet that correlates to the page numbers I have used. If you already have a copy, check a few of the lessons to see if your Arban's book page numbers match up to the lessons in this book. If your page 125 begins the interval studies and the Characteristic Studies begin on page 285, then you're fine. The edition that I used for the Comeback Trumpet Player book is a reasonably priced good edition, if you need a copy you can get one here:

www.MPHmusic.com/go/arbans

A Few Things To Remember:

- Be diligent in your practice, you will be rewarded for your discipline by following the routines in the 52 Lessons - use these lesson plans, this step-by-step system is designed to get you playing better, and much quicker, than a haphazard approach to practicing

- Rest as much as you play within each practice session, you should still feel good at the end of each practice session

- Always strive for a great sound on every note

- Always play musically - don't just play, make music

- Slow and good is better than fast and bad - you will learn faster by practicing slowly, then speed up in small increments to improve your coordination to play faster and still sound good

- Practice all of the articulations when indicated (S=Slur, T=Tongue, etc.)

- Use a metronome to help you improve your coordination as you speed things up

- If you can't reach some notes, give it three tries and then move on - they will come in time

- Each lesson can last one week, or two weeks, or whatever time period you are comfortable with - just keep progressing step-by-step through the lessons - and start with Lesson 1

- When you get to the end of the 52 lessons, start at Lesson 1 then do Lesson 52, then 2 and 51, then 3 and 50, and so on until you've done 52 and 1, criss-crossing in the middle. After that use the warm-up and tonality sections daily to keep in shape and progress to other practice materials. You can always return to the CTP system for a review to work on specific areas of your playing, or if you take some time off and need to be a comeback trumpet player all over again

- Listen to great trumpet players in all styles of music - this will help you know what a trumpet is supposed to sound like so you can model your sound by emulating the best players around

- Have fun

If you have any questions, feel comfortable in contacting me at my email address that is on the bottom of each webpage at our website.

Go for it and have a great time

Mark Hendricks - MPHmusic.com