Harpists spend 90 percent of their lives tuning their harps and 10 percent playing out of tune. ~Igor Stravinsky
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Want to learn more about the best ways to practice? Get an e-mail with a discount code when The Practice of Practice by Jonathan Harnum is published (June, 2014). To learn more about the book, check out a sample from The Practice of Practice.
This Chapter Covers:
- Tuning basics,
- tuning the whole horn,
- things that affect pitch,
- the role of the left hand trigger,
- chronically out of tune notes and how to fix them.
Terms to Know:
- tuning slide: The largest slide on the trumpet. Used to tune the entire instrument.
- flat: slightly below the correct pitch.
- sharp: slightly above the correct pitch.
- intonation: the accuracy of pitch matching
- leger lines: Small lines used below or above the staff for notes beyond the range of the staff.
- concert pitch: International tuning pitch of A440. Additionally, can mean instruments whose notation is in concert pitch (no transposing) including piano, guitar, flute, trombone, tuba, oboe, violin, ‘cello, etc….
Extra Resources for This Chapter:
- METHOD BOOKS
- …Warm-ups and Studies for Trumpet, James Stamp
- …Mouthpiece buzzing routine, by Lynn K. Asper
- …Arban’s Complete Conservatory Method
- TUNER/METRONOME
- …Boss Tuner + Metronome, TU-80
- …..Tuner Only: Korg Large Display Chromatic Tuner, CA-40
- DIFFERENCE TONES
- …..Interesting information on difference tones here: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/sound/subton.html
The Usual Resources:
- The Practice of Practice: a blog on music practice.
- April 2010 giveaway #1: a free digital copy of Sound the Trumpet: How to Blow Your Own Horn
- Free mp3 examples from the book
- Other free printable practice aids
- Free trumpet video lessons
- Trumpet method books
- Buy a hard copy of Sound the Trumpet
- April 2010 giveaway #2: Free digital copy of Basic Music Theory: How to Read, Write, and Understand Written Music
- Buy a hard copy of Basic Music Theory
Essential Trumpet Lessons 