The Indie Trumpet Lab

Trumpet playing, done properly. I'm Nick, session player, teacher, and trumpet obsessive, and The Indie Trumpet Lab is where I write about what actually moves the needle: breath, body, sound, and the practice habits that stick. Expect real technique, honest stories from the studio and the practice room, and no shortage of opinions on how brass playing really works.

[theindietrumpetlab]

Hi, I’m Nick.

I’m a trumpet player, music educator, and lifelong learner.

I’m currently the Brass Strand Lead for In Harmony Opera North, leading brass provision across primary schools in Leeds and Halifax. Alongside this, I teach private brass students of all ages and abilities.

Teaching is at the heart of what I do. I’m interested in how people learn, and I enjoy helping musicians develop not only their technique, but their confidence, independence, and curiosity.

I continue to perform as a freelance trumpet player, and I believe that playing and teaching continually inform one another.

Away from the classroom, I’m dad to two brilliant children (10 & 3), usually with a filter coffee close by and a book never far away.

This page is a place to share ideas on music education, trumpet playing, practice, and the craft of teaching.

[theindietrumpetlab]

Routine, Regimen or Ritual?

They all mean the same thing but they also mean different things to each of us. Routine: something we do regularly but flexibly - warm-up, long tones, flexibility exercises for example but we might use different books or exercises depending on how we feel. Regimen: feels a lot stricter, the word itself feels very militaristic - 0900 Lip Buzzing, 0902 Vizzutti Mouthpiece Buzzing, 0905 Frink Integrated Warm Up part 1 and so on. Ritual, however, feels far more spiritual, more reverential, more time-honoured.

We all have our routines, regimens or rituals in our practice sessions which we’ve either spent months or years honing or we’ve taken from our favourite book or we’ve been given by our teacher. For a number of years I had a ‘Therapeutic Daily Routine’ put together for me by Noel Langley, my teacher at the time. I also, after a lesson with Roger Ingram, use a pre-warm up stretching and buzzing routine that he gave me. I still use both now and again but not religiously.

I may talk about my practice routine (although one could argue it’s not practice if it’s a routine) in a later post but it won’t be today. This post is going to focus on routine outside playing, daily routines, that help keep us on the right path… we all have them, even if we don’t realise it, and I bet most of us feel a little bit ‘out of sorts’ if we don’t perform it.

I’m going to spend the next part of this post talking about what my routine is, how it came into being and what benefits it has for me:

I set two alarms 10 minutes apart but I don’t snooze either of them. That 10 minutes is where I roll over and (I’m not ashamed to admit it) I cuddle Mrs J. We don’t see each other a lot in the day so it’s a few minutes of connection - even if she’s still asleep.

The very first thing I do after getting out of bed is to go down the two flights of stairs to the kitchen, warm up Little Miss J’s milk and head into the garden to do some simple breathing exercises. I normally inhale through the nose for 4 seconds, exhale through the mouth for 6 seconds although I’ll sometimes inhale 4, hold 7, exhale 8. I find the fresh air and controlled breathing are great for my mental health (more on that later) and they start to build my energy levels up. It can also be quite invigorating if it’s raining!

Next, I complete my Duolingo daily quests - all three of them - to start engaging my brain. At this point it’s not do much about learning French specifically but about using language learning to improve my cognitive skills.

Following Duo, I use the ‘Balance’ app for guided meditation. It might be 10 minutes, it might only be 5, but it’s always there, focussing on positivity, loving-kindness or self-esteem depending on where my head is at that day.

Once I’ve woken my head up, it’s time to move on to waking up my body. After meditation I’ll jump in the bath. Sometimes I will have a really hot bath (benefits include improved circulation, enhanced mood and enhanced flexibility) and sometimes I’ll ‘Wim Hof’ it and have a cold (not quite ice yet) bath - I’m doing cold every single day of July - as this can improve mood, increase energy levels and increase focus and concentration.

Moving on, I do a series of stretches (I’ll outline these in a follow up post) followed by a 60 second plank and 30 squats to work on my core strength and maybe burn a few extra calories. My morning ritual concludes with a breakfast of at least four fruits (normally strawberries, grapes, apple and tangerine), some yoghurt - often with granola- and a mug of freshly ground black coffee (see my stunning photography below)

This ritual came into being while I was on Shared Parental Leave with Little Miss J and developed over the months into its current state. It was originally to help me to lose a bit of weight - or at least not put it on - and generally improve my health. I’ve adapted it to fit around work too. It’s really come into its own recently after I was diagnosed with depression - sometimes just getting through my ritual can stop a low mood in its tracks which can make a massive difference to my day, especially if I’m in the classroom.

Whatever your routine, regimen or ritual is, it will have its benefits for you even if you’ve never stopped to think about it. Perhaps that’s something you should explore…

While my routine isn’t centred around playing, it certainly impacts my playing - from building my core strength and helping my lungs to being focussed on what I’m practicing, performing or teaching - and there is a lot of value in that.

[theindietrumpetlab]

Got The Horn?

Actually, have you got 2 horns? 3? 4? If not, why not? Horn sections are the way forward! Legit, quite a lot of the session work and live work I have done has been as part of a horn section. I know you’re thinking ‘well, of course, it’s obvious’ but if it’s that obvious why haven’t you got your own horn section yet??

Synthesised sounds of the 80’s not withstanding, horn (or brass) sections have been around in popular music since 1959 - give or take a year or two. Ray Charles’ song ‘What’d I Say’ is generally credited as the first recorded use of a horn section in pop music. If something has stood the test of time then it makes sense to get in on the action.

Just in case you aren’t aware, I’m not referring to a section of French horns like you have in an orchestra - however awesome the sound - I’m referring to the other sort. Horn is a generic term for any brass or woodwind instrument in the popular music world…

In this post I’m going to talk a bit about different horn section set-ups, give you a few examples of horn sections, maybe some songs with horn sections in and a few other useful bits of information.

Generally speaking, if you play trumpet you will know someone who plays sax and someone who plays trombone - get in touch with them and get practicing together. Here’s why:

Horn sections come in different shapes and sizes and can look like any of the following:

1-Horn:

Saxophone (normally Alto but could be Tenor)

Trumpet

2-Horn

Trumpet and Saxophone (could be either Alto or Tenor)

2 Saxophones (normally an Alto and a Tenor)

2 Trumpets (not the most common although I have played in a 2 Trumpet section when I worked with British breakthrough rap artist E.N.V.)

3-Horn

Trumpet, Saxophone (Alto or Tenor), Trombone - this is the standard 3-horn line up.

2 Saxophones (Alto/Tenor, Tenor/Bari or, the less common Alto/Bari), Trumpet

3 Saxophones (A/T/B, A/A/T)

There are other 3-horn combos but these are the 3 most common.

4-horn

By the time you get to 4 horns it can be any combination of trumpets, saxophones and trombones. My favourite is trumpet, alto sax, tenor sax and trombone with 2 trumpets, tenor sax and trombone a close second.

Within these groups I would expect the trumpet to double flugel (which 99% do) and saxophone to double flute, possibly clarinet but I’ve never seen it in a pop setting.

If you want to have a look and listen to some horn sections check out:

The Killer Horns

Blackjack Horns

The Air Horns

Komodo Horns

The Horny J’s

The Regiment Horns

The Muscle Shoals Horns

The Phantom Horns

These are just a few but a bit of an internet search should turn up some more….

Once you start working as a section, you will probably definitely need to start doing some arranging. If you are doing standard charts there are plenty of sources, free and paid, of horn charts of differing qualities which, again, an internet search will turn up. You can use your own judgement on how good the charts are…

If you’re new to arranging then you need to check out the following books:

Stickley, F., Jazz & Rock & Roll Horns - an e-book with written and audio/visual examples. It’s a bit of a quick start guide rather than an encyclopaedia but it’s a great starting point.

Runswick, D., Rock, Jazz and Pop Arranging - not horn specific but, nonetheless, a great resource focusing on popular genres.

Gates, J., Arranging for Horns - published by Berklee, this is my favourite on the list, it’s not perfect but it’s got good examples and is more in-depth than the others.

Of course, the other way to learn about arranging for horn section is to listen, listen and listen some more. Horn sections play various roles in songs so try and cover as much as you can. I’ve played on tracks where the horns have been part of the ‘ambiance’ and not really heard in the mix, tracks where we played pads (long notes) and stabs (short notes) or a mix of both, and tracks where we’ve had solos or a horn soli (think Sir Duke). Once you’ve listened to examples of all three you’ll have a better idea of what the horns can do to a song, how they can elevate it. Hal Leonard have released a series of Transcribed Horn books so you can follow the charts through, see how they’re written and how they fit. There’s 5 in all - Jazz/Pop, Jazz/Rock, R&B, Pop Hits and Pop/Rock - with 15 songs in each to keep you occupied for a while.

If you want to think about exploring working in a horn section but you’re not sure where to start or what to do, Rockschool now offer horn section grades 1-8 with repertoire suitable for each level - all the info is on the Rockschool website but I believe it’s the same rep for all three instruments so you can play together with the backing tracks.

I’ll finish off by telling you a little bit about my horn section. Called The In-House Horns, because we specialise in remote recording (although we do live performance and studio recording), we formed in 2011. We have played on a number of tracks and albums including a UK Top 10, appeared in music videos and live on stage. Officially there’s 3 of us but actually there’s been 6 of us in various forms over the years, all of us multi-instrumentalists. Roughly speaking we have 2 trumpets/flugels, 2 reeds, 2 trombones/tuba but us brassers can actually play all brass and, as a section, we can cover pretty much everything. Versatility is key to a good horn section!

Hopefully, this little bit of generic advice has piqued your interest and has maybe encouraged you to think about starting your own horn section…

[theindietrumpetlab]

Commercial Trumpet Playing

‘Commercial trumpet playing’ wasn’t in my vocabulary when I was studying. As far as I was concerned you were either ‘classical’ or ‘jazz’ and I didn’t feel like I fit into either category, I was just ‘a trumpet player’. Years after I’ve left university most of the work I have done has been Indie, Rock, Pop, Country, even Symphonic Metal. It wasn’t the path I chose, it chose me and I am a self-professed commercial trumpet player.

‘What is a ‘commercial trumpet player’?’ some of you may be asking. Put simply, it is a trumpet player who plays music that isn’t classical or jazz… however, they may also play classical and/or jazz as part of what they do. There is a bit more to it than that but that’s the essence.

A commercial player will be able to switch genres and styles at the drop of a hat and, not only will they be able to play those styles, they will be able to do so convincingly and consistently. I think (although don’t quote me on it) that the days of back-to-back recording sessions, TV shows, radio shows and club dates have dwindled to basically nothing, however, for the diligent and consistent trumpet player, there is work to be had if you know where to look.

Before looking for the work though, you need to be ready. You need to know your genres and be able to play convincingly in those genres. The first step to playing convincingly is listening and lots of it. Create playlists on Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music of songs from each genre - particularly ones with horn sections in. Get online and see if you can find transcriptions of the songs so you can play along or, even better, create your own transcriptions as this is a super useful skill to have as a trumpet player. If a song doesn’t have a horn section grab some manuscript paper and create one or, even better, improvise one. I’m not talking improvised solos, I’m talking ‘on the fly’ pads, stabs and riffs. Give it a try!

In addition to listening there are a few books out there to help you learn about playing in different genres. I’ve used both of these a lot and think they’re great. As usual, no links because I don’t want to play favourites but get hold of the following:

Eric Murine, The Progressive Guide to Commercial Trumpet Playing. It’s downloadable, legally, for free. Murine covers Blues, Soul, Motown, Bebop, Funk, Funky Soul and Pop. In each chapter there are 2 exercises and a duet based on music in that style, a suggested listening list and there is a 14 week plan and a 7 month plan to cover all of the material. As it is Murine’s doctoral thesis (don’t let that scare you off) there is also extra information and interviews included too.

Tiger Okoshi & Charles Lewis, Berklee Practice Method: Trumpet. Available in hard copy from various retailers, this book comes with a CD and covers Rock, Blues, Blues Swing, Funk, Light Funk, Hard Rock, Bossa Nova and Stop Time. Each chapter has sections on Technique/Theory, Learning the Groove, Improv and Reading as well as a daily practice routine. The really great thing about this book is the fact that it marries up with the books for the other instruments so you can work on playing together as a horn section or even a full band. It’s a solid investment.

Between these two publications you should have everything covered in terms of genres. I like to complement these in the practice room with fundamentals written with modern playing in mind. Clarke, Schlossberg and Arban are great but they don’t really cater to the needs of the modern player. To help with this Clint ‘Pops’ McLaughlin has rewritten the Arban and the Clarke - both are available on his website.

It might be a bit of a placebo thing but I actually prefer modern books that have been written with commercial players in mind. I use The Beast Series by Matt Fronke, Modern Flexibilities for Brass by Scott Belck, Technical Studies for the Modern Trumpet Player by Pat Harbison and Randall Reyman’s Technical Drills and Duets for the Jazz/Commercial Trumpet Player to work on my fundamentals. I find they get me in the right mindset.

There is a pervading idea in the trumpet world that you need a certain sound to be a commercial player - bright, focussed and brilliant - and that may be true but you also need to be able to blend in with a section too, whether that’s in an orchestra, big band, pop band etc. so just be aware the sounds you are aiming for and think about how you can change it for different settings.

A quick note on gear because aren’t we all gearheads when it comes down to it…? You can play anything on any trumpet and get the sound you want, however, it’s not always efficient. Playing a 3 hour funk gig on a large bore horn would be a killer. Think about smaller bore horns for those gigs. If you’re not sure where to start Yamaha and Bach make ‘commercial’ trumpets - the YTR6335RC and the LT190L1B respectively - which might be worth having a blow on to see what works but remember that other horns can work just as well for you. The same can be said about mouthpieces… Bach produce a commercial mouthpiece in a variety of sizes and Warburton, Pickett-Blackburn and Patrick Mouthpieces all offer a range of ‘commercial’ backbores for their 2-piece mouthpieces and they are all available as one-piece mouthpieces too. Again, this is just a note, buying a horn and a mouthpiece just because it says commercial on it isn’t necessarily going to give you the sound you want or need… I am not saying go out and buy a new horn and mouthpiece combo. Take advice from your teacher or another trusted trumpet player before embarking on that journey.

My take away tips are:

Listen to a lot of music in a lot of genres.

Include the right things in your practice: different styles, sight reading, range.

Learn to write horn lines to songs - on paper and by ear. A good starting point is learning your pentatonic and blues scales. It will get you started but you will need to build on those pretty quickly.

[theindietrumpetlab]

‘Practice makes perfect’ and other BS!

I was engaged in a chat on a musician’s Discord server this afternoon - it was enlightening, uplifting and a perfect example of musicians supporting musicians.

The original conversation (which I missed) centred around a user apologising for not being better at arranging and not being very good at jazz. This elicited responses from other users which included ‘I don’t know why you feel the need to put yourself down like this so often’ and ‘beating yourself up about it won’t make you better’. Later on in the thread appeared a comment about being one’s own harshest critic and encouraged the original user not to stop criticising their work but to ‘keep it kind and constructive’. It was to this I added my reply. I won’t copy and paste it here as some bits are contextual but I shall paraphrase and expand as I think it’s something people - musicians especially - need to hear!

As musicians, we’re always expected to strive for perfection, but to what end? You may never be the next Miles Davis, Alison Balsom or Maynard Ferguson but do you want to be? Do you need to be? I think not! If I demanded perfection in everything I did I would never get anything done, I would never send off any of my session work, I would never finish planning lessons and I certainly wouldn’t post here on Tumblr.

Here’s the shocker: it’s not about being perfect, it’s about being ‘good enough’!

I’ll say it again in a bigger font:

It’s not about being perfect, it’s about being ‘good enough’

I’m not saying we should adopt a slap-dash ‘right, that’ll do’ attitude but that we should adopt an attitude of ‘I’ve worked really hard on this, it’s the best I can play right now and I’m happy with it BUT I’m also going to learn xyz from it’. We should absolutely be holding ourselves to a high standard but not to an unattainable/impossible one.

When I auditioned for uni I thought I played pretty poorly but I still got in. When I left Uni, I asked the Head of Music why he let me in, he said ‘I saw potential’. A few years later, when I was brave enough to ask if I had fulfilled that potential, he followed up with this: ‘You are not and never will be the best trumpet player in the world but you work hard at whatever you do. You are reliable and dependable, you show up for the gig and you get the job done and done well and that is what it’s all about’

I’m now a very experienced brass teacher and my current role is Lead Brass Tutor within the education department of a (really quite big) opera company - I’m not saying this to show off just to demonstrate that you can achieve lots of things if you work hard - and I make a point of not demanding perfection from my team or our students. Demanding perfection achieves nothing and prevents people from learning either through unachievable goals, feeling discouraged or, more often, both.

Be it in the practice room or on stage, mistakes happen, some you learn from, others you don’t need to learn from but as long as you strive to be the best you can be then that’s good enough and good enough is good enough!

‘Practice makes perfect’ can do one! ‘Practice makes permanent’ is more accurate but if I had to choose I personally prefer the 5P’s:

Practice Prevents P*ss Poor Performance

and that’s all we can ask for - prevention of a poor performance.

[theindietrumpetlab]

Lips for life!

There's no two ways about it, our chops are mega important when we're playing. We spend ages honing and toning them - lip slurs, chop builders, lip flexibilities etc. - but do we really look after them?

This post isn't about using exercises to keep them in shape, it's about looking after them between playing sessions. Aside from the usual advice to make sure you warm up properly and avoid playing while injured or tired (if you can), I'm going to offer the following few tips to protect them whether it's hot or cold outside:

Stay hydrated - this is good for your general health anyway but our chops are one of the first things to suffer when we're dehydrated. If we've not had enough fluid, our lips become dry, cracked and/or flaky making playing difficult or even painful.

Use lip balm - there are lots of lip balms on the market, some are great, some are not so great but everyone has their favourite. My favourite is from Lush however Chopsaver, Carmex and Vaseline all work for me too. I prefer one that isn't too greasy if I have to play. Try to avoid flavoured lip balms as you'll be tempted to lick your lips. In summer try to use one with sunscreen to stop your lips from getting burned (Try Chopsaver Gold SPF15 or similar).

Try not to lick your lips - I find this one really difficult and have to really think about it. Saliva evaporates really quickly in hot weather so your lips are drier after you've licked them than before. In cold weather licking your lips takes away the moisture and can cause the outer skin cells to freeze.

Avoid going out in the cold or, if you have to, wear a scarf around your mouth. True, you're probably going to look like you're off to rob a bank but cold air can really dry out your lips.

Exfoliate and moisturise - use something like a sugar scrub (again, I like the ones from Lush - they also have cool names like Galaxy (it's bright blue)) to exfoliate and get rid of the dry/dead skin followed by Blistex Intensive Moisturiser (or similar) to do just what it says on the tin.

Following these tips won't guarantee that you won't get dry or chapped lips but it will certainly minimise the risk and help to heal them quicker. And as I'm writing this, I'm sat here with a giant split on my lips so i'm off to follow my own advice... for a change...

[theindietrumpetlab]

Doubling - Two for the price of one...

Playing brass is just about the best thing ever (well, it is to me) but it does have it's drawbacks... especially as a trumpet player as you can end up buying, carrying and playing more than you expect.

Most of us brassers end up playing, or at least teaching, at least 1 other brass instrument. On the whole, that's not too bad, lots of the instruments use the same fingering - especially if you're reading in treble clef. It's important to note that the real odd ones out are French Horn and Trombone. The fingerings on Horn differ depending on whether you're playing a B-flat horn, an F horn or a double horn using a mixture of the two and trombone (in case you hadn't noticed) uses a slide. If you're required to teach two, three or all of the brass, it's worth just reading up on what you're doing but the basics are easy (in my opinion).

What I really want to cover in this post is what else, as a trumpet player, you need to play in what setting. It's not a 100% complete and definitive list - it's developed from my own personal experience and a bit of reading - but it should give you an idea as to what sort of gear you may be looking at and carrying around or, more specifically, what to take with you to a gig/rehearsal/recording session. I'm not going to analyse too much, it's mainly going to be a series of lists, but I may mention an odd piece of music here and there.

Orchestra:

Trumpet in Bb ('The Norm' or 'The Status Quo')

Trumpet in C (I believe this is favoured over Bb in US orchestras)

Trumpet in D/Eb or E/Eb (Apparently D is more useful than the Eb and E - Bach Mass in B Minor is a popular excerpt for D Trumpet)

Trumpet in A (not common, would usually transpose the part)

Piccolo Trumpet in A/Bb (useful for Bach, in particular the Brandenburg Concerti)

Cornet (Bizet's Carmen is a great example of orchestral cornet)

Rotary Trumpet in Bb or C (particularly in Europe - especially, but not limited to, French and German orchestras)

Big Band:

Trumpet in Bb

Flugel (Georgia on my Mind rings a bell for this one)

Concert/Wind/Military Band

(some wind band music is written for Cornets, some for Trumpet and occasionally both - Holst Suite in Eb 1984 edition has 3 Cornets and 2 Trumpets which isn't an unusual combo. I've played in wind bands where the 3rd Cornet players double on Trumpets 1 &2)

Trumpet in Bb

Cornet

Flugel (fairly rare but not completely unheard of)

Herald or Fanfare Trumpet (particularly in military bands. Gordon Jacob did an amazing arrangement of God Save The Queen utilising fanfare trumpets and trombones)

Musical Theatre

Trumpet in Bb

Flugel

Piccolo Trumpet (Jesus Christ Superstar has optional Piccolo in Trumpet 1, Shrek The Musical also has Piccolo as does Book of Mormon - not the only ones but a good start).

Cornet (Billy Elliot is a good example of cornet usage in musical theatre - it emulates the sound of the brass band (brass bands being inextricably linked to mining))

Kazoo (Oh, yes, you read that right - How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. Ok, it's not actually written in the Trumpet parts but when I played it in London the entire band doubled the kazoo chorus)

Tambourine (Our House - The Madness Musical... enough said)

Pop

Trumpet in Bb

Piccolo Trumpet (Penny Lane by The Beatles is the only actual example I can think of) (edit: I think Whitney Houston’s One Moment In Time has one too but I need to confirm it)

Flugel (again, not overly common but I've used a Flugel whilst in the band accompanying a rap artist)

Bass Trumpet (Rashawn Ross of The Dave Matthews Band doubles on Bass Trumpet... he's not the only one but he's my favourite)

Just to reiterate, this list is not exhaustive but it should give you an idea of what you're getting yourself into in some of the more common settings.

One last thing to note: Reeds players get paid extra for doubling... Trumpet players don't... it's rubbish but that's the way it is! (2026 edit: I believe this may have changed - check with the MU)

[theindietrumpetlab]

Listen in...

As we're taught from the very beginning of our musical journey, we need to listen - listen to our teachers, listen to our elders, listen to the MD/conductor, listen to ourselves, listen to the rest of the band... It's a lot of listening to do for one pair of ears. I'm hoping this post will shed a bit of light on making listening and hearing easier in a live setting - be that on a stage, above a stage or under a stage - and in the studio.

First things first though, our hearing is a sensitive thing and once it's damaged it can't be fixed. If you're not wearing In-Ear Monitors (IEMs) or headphones (Cans), then it's imperative you wear earplugs. There are a lot of good, cheap, reusable earplugs out there or, if you can afford it, there are lots of good custom earplugs out there. I highly recommend (and no, I don't get any pennies for this) ACS - I've used their universal fit (ER20) and custom fit (Pro20) earplugs for years with no issues.

Now we've covered the safety bit we can look at the rest. There are 3 types of monitoring that I have encountered - acoustic, stage monitors and IEM/Cans. There are pros and cons for each and each can serve a different purpose but at some point in your career you will encounter most, if not all, of them and everyone has their own preferences and their own way of doing things.

99% of the time in the studio monitoring/listening is done through cans. This enables you to hear what's going on and to hear yourself without it bleeding into the mix. If you're overdubbing it is essential to be able to hear what has previously been recorded in order to stay in time, follow the dynamics and make sure your intonation is correct... contrary to popular belief, it can't just be fixed in the mix.

If you play in an orchestra or a big band, and sometimes in musical theatre, you will probably not have any kind of personal monitoring and you'll have to just use your ears to blend with the rest of the section and the rest of the ensemble - this is the most natural way of doing things and we all spend years doing this while learning so there's no effort required really.

If you play in a rock, indie, ska, punk (it happens) or other small ensemble of that ilk, you will either monitor acoustically/naturally or through a stage monitor. Monitoring naturally isn't ideal when you're working with amped instruments as it can be quite difficult, if not near impossible sometimes, to hear yourself let alone any other horn players. You can buy an acoustic monitor which clips on to or just behind your mic - there's a few different ones out there but I use a SoundBack Acoustic Monitor. These are just a clear plastic/plexi circle which bounces your sound back to you so you can at least hear a bit of yourself. Some sound techs don't like you using them and some people say they don't work but I've never had any issues with mine. A stage monitor is much better in this setting, however, normally (or at least on all the gigs I've done) the horn section end up sharing a monitor so there needs to be a compromise on what mix you have coming out of it. This is usually placed either just in front or just behind you and angled up so you can hear it.

In some bands - function bands, backing bands for singers/artists, etc. - it may be that you're lucky enough to have an IEM setup (wired or wireless - again pros and cons to each but it's not going to be your decision which you use). As suggested by the name, these go in your ears, just like a pair of glamorous earphones (in fact, some people do just use earphones) and you can normally have your own preferred mix of the band and talkback from the MD. These earphones plug into a belt pack which has a volume control and will either plug in to the sound desk via a really long lead or connect wirelessly depending on your role in the band. Some guitarists, singers and horn players may be wireless then they can move around the stage or even on to the dance floor. It's also worth remembering (learn from my experience) to unplug yourself before you leave the stage...

If you play in a theatre or a circus you may very well have a set of cans to help you hear what's happening in the band and onstage and may have talk back from the MD to help with the smooth running of the show. In some shows you may also have a click track to make sure everything is absolutely spot on. It can be a little disconcerting having a whole lot of stuff going on at once in your ear but you soon get used to it. Prior to working for Imperial Show I had never used click tracks for live performance nor had I had talk back from the MD so during the tech rehearsal I was desperately trying to get my head around sight reading new music, listening to what Alex the MD was saying - either giving musical direction or counting us in to the next number or even a humorous comment or two - and staying in time with the click which could change tempo with no warning depending on what the act in the ring was doing. It seemed daunting but within 20 minutes or so I had settled into it like a seasoned professional.

Things to take away from this post are:

Get a set of IEMs you are happy with - you can get cheap ones which do the job very well or you can splash out on some nice custom ones (again I recommend ACS).

Have a think about what you may like in your mix for different setups and settings. I tend to have a bit of everything but an extra bit of drums, bass, vocals and the horn section.

and

WEAR EAR PLUGS!!

[theindietrumpetlab]

Online and Recorded Auditions

Live auditions are one thing, online are a whole other kettle of fish... Worrying about travel and getting to the right place on time are replaced by worries about whether your internet connection is going to hold up, where your laptop charging cable is and whether your printer is working.

I've had the opportunity to take part in a couple of online auditions - both for cruise work. One of them was a follow up of a live audition and the other was the second part of a 2-stage process (recorded audition with prepared material and a sight-reading audition).

The pre-recorded section of the audition was straightforward - all I had to do was record myself playing the music they emailed to me with the backing track. Some of the music was notated, some was a chord chart to improvise a solo to give them a feel of what my playing was like over a few styles and roles (lead trumpet/second trumpet). The video could be filmed on my phone and it could be recorded in sections (i.e. each piece separately) and edited together. This may seem like effort however it means you don't end up ruining the entire thing for the sake of one or two notes - you can just rerecord that one piece. Once this was completed all I had to do was upload it as an unlisted video on YouTube and send them the link.

The online section of the audition - and this was the same for both - is also fairly straight forward if you are organised and prepared. For each audition I was given an audition time - obviously - and half an hour prior to the audition I was emailed the required music. The next job is to print the music, making sure it's all there, and then you have a bit of time to look through and tackle some bits of it before logging on to Zoom/Skype/whatever 5 minutes before the official time (this is not me being super organised, this was an audition requirement). It worked out at roughly 20 minutes practice time between receiving the music and the audition which is roughly 2 to 3 minutes on or one run through each piece. This may seem like not a lot - and you would be right in thinking that - however, if you are working on a ship you would only have one run through the pieces in a rehearsal with the cabaret act before the evening's performance so sight reading needs to be of a very high standard. When it was time for the audition I was let into the Zoom/Skype call and it was a case of 'Hi, nice to meet you, please play ~xyz piece~ ... thank you, now play ~abc piece~' until all of the required pieces had been performed. This was followed by a 'thank you for your time, we will be in touch to let you know how you got on' and that was it, audition over.

In my experience, it feels quite clinical, quite impersonal, but it's worth remembering that the folks running the auditions may have any number of candidates to get through in a day and it's nothing personal against you - they've just got a job to do.

My advice, should you have an online audition, is to make sure your printer is working and has plenty of ink, your internet connection is stable (perhaps use an ethernet cable instead of WiFi), and that your speakers, camera and microphone are set up properly well before your audition time. In terms of practicing sight reading, there are plenty of horn transcriptions (or bass or drums or piano etc.) out there on the internet so just download some, put the song on YouTube or Spotify or Apple Music or whatever system you use and just play along. Like anything, the more you do it, the better and more confident you get.

For the pre-records, make sure you've got good lighting and you're stood a good distance away from your phone's microphone to get the best sound you can. They're not looking for Howard Shore-esque videography but it's no good playing everything perfectly if they can't see or (most importantly) hear you because you're too far away or too close so it distorts or you're drowned out by the backing track. I suppose these are also valid points for your Skype/Zoom audition so bear them in mind for that too.

Best of luck if you are offered or are looking for auditions for cruise work or circus work or whatever!

[theindietrumpetlab]

Live Auditions pt.2

In 'Live Auditions pt.1' I talked about my cruise and circus audition experiences. In part 2 I'm going to talk about 2 significantly different orchestral auditions.

The first audition I'd like to write about was in Paris, France in February 2013 and the second was here in the UK in February 2014.

Audition 1 (incidentally, the first orchestral audition I ever did) was a bit of an eye-opener for me. In terms of getting an audition, I found the job vacancy on musicalchairs.info (a great place to look if you want to find a job in an orchestra - muvac.com is another although there are often a few duplicate between the sites). I sent my CV to the Artistic Co-ordinator as per the instructions and waited to hear back. As luck would have it, I got an audition and had to report to IRCAM Studio in Paris at 0915 on February 4th 2013. I was also informed that at 0920 we would be drawing lots to determine the order of auditions... As they called out a name from their alphabetical list, that candidate would draw an number from a literal hat... 'Nick Jolly' *picks number* 'Un'... Well, at least I wouldn't have too long to sit in a room with about 30 other trumpet players getting nervous. I was straight into the warm up room, a few minutes in there and then I was called into the audition room. The panel (as expected) were sat behind a curtain and I was instructed to begin when ready. I got through a performance of the first movement of the Haydn on Bb trumpet and had just begun the Henze Sonatina, maybe 7 or 8 notes in when a 'Merci Monsieur' issued from behind the curtain and just like that, my first orchestral audition was over. Back to the holding area to await my fate - the announcements were at 1300, the time now was 0945... After a little while, a number of players had been through their auditions and a couple of guys (an American, a Pole and a German) invited me to go for coffee with them so we spent a lovely couple of hours drinking coffee in a little Parisian square whilst talking about trumpets, teachers and trumpet playing. Back in the holding pen at 1300 the announcements came back - only 3 people had got through to the next round. All that was left to do was meet Mrs J (Or Miss E at this point - we weren't due to get married for 6 months) and spend the rest of her birthday enjoying the sights and sounds of Paris before heading back to good old Blightly the following day.

On the way to Paris with 4 instruments. Or was it 5...?

My second (and, so far, final) audition was a year and 6 days later on the 10th February 2014 in Birmingham. My audition was 1300 so I gave myself plenty of time to get to Birmingham from Hertford where I was living at the time so I didn't have to worry and I had loads of time to find the venue, have lunch and relax before the audition itself. Well, my train from Hertford was late and one of my Underground trains was delayed too so I was on the last minute getting to Euston but luck was on my side and my Birmingham train was also delayed so I didn't miss it. After that my trip went to plan... winner. I arrived at the venue in plenty of time, well fed and as relaxed as an extremely nervous person can be... At this point a number of auditions had taken place already and I was ushered through to the warm up room. After a good warm up and list minute check of the music I was then taken to the auditorium for my audition. In complete contrast to Paris, this one was with a visible panel (the entire trumpet section (I believe) of the orchestra I was auditioning for).

There weren't any pieces to play this time, it was all excerpts. I can't remember everything I had to play but one of excerpts was definitely Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel Overture transposing from Trumpet in E. The panel were great and offered lots of advice on technique and other bits and pieces - it was basically a 15 minute lesson with them. I knew I hadn't got the job but it definitely hadn't been a waste of time. Sat outside the auditorium waiting my fate once more I realised that anyone sat there could hear the auditions which I'm glad I didn't know at the time otherwise that would've increased the performance anxiety even more... After having it confirmed that I indeed hadn't got the job, myself and a couple of the other candidates went to the pub for a pint and met up with a large number of the morning's candidates. Fast forward a few years and I actually ended up teaching with one of the candidates I'd been chatting to at the bar - small world!

While I never really had any aspirations to be an orchestral player, at the time it seemed like a good avenue to try and I definitely learned things from both auditions.

If you are considering becoming an orchestral player just remember that they're not as daunting as they seem and no panel is ever out to make to fail... they want you to succeed and, if you don't get the job, don't take it personally, use it as a learning point and come back even better next time.

[theindietrumpetlab]

Live Auditions pt.1

Auditions, auditions, auditions, where do I start?

Ok, so, there are 3 main types of audition - live/in-person, online and recorded. Sometimes you'll only have to do one of them, other times you may have to do a combination.

In this post I'm going to talk about my experiences of live auditions. So far, I've done 2 orchestral, 1 cruise and 1 circus...

I'll start with the circus one as it was the most interesting (for me, anyway). The date was 9th February 2014, the location was Rotherhithe, London and the time was 12 noon. In this case there was very little other information on hand for me to prepare aside from the instruction to bring 2 pieces of my choice. With open choice auditions like this I'm never sure what to choose - I get thinking 'what do they want to hear?', 'which pieces show off best what I can do?' or (when the performance anxiety kicks in) 'which am I least likely to mess up?' I was also informed that there would be someone available to accompany on piano should I need... at which point I start thinking 'are they expecting me to use an accompanist?', 'do they want to see how well I play with other people?' and (performance anxiety speaking again) 'what if I use the accompanist and we can't get it together?' Once I had got past these and chosen my pieces (I forget what they are now) I headed off to the audition with Mrs J in tow as she was also auditioning for the same circus. When we arrived I was offered an earlier time to audition so that I wasn't waiting around after Mrs J had finished hers. I used the time to warm up and check I was happy with my pieces. The audition itself was in 'The Music Room' at Sands Films - a nice little room with a stage although the audition itself was at ground level with the panel. Said panel consisted of the Band Leader, Assistant Band Leader, Production Co-ordinator, Tent Master and the Clown (unusual, I know!) We started off with a bit of a chat about my previous experience working with a circus, how I'd found it, what I'd enjoyed etc. My two pieces went well and off I went home! I didn't get the job but I did get really good feedback - 'you seemed like good fun and that you were a strong player'.

I don't remember much about my live cruise audition - it was a long time ago now - but I do remember that it was in a little studio and was just myself and the agent. As sight reading is a major part of working on a ship, there was no music to prepare, I just had to turn up and play whatever was put in front of me - in time and in tune with the backing track. I was very nervous but, looking back on the email I got afterwards, it went well and the agent was happy although (according to a further email) the recording taken in the audition didn't do me justice and I had to do another - online - audition which I shall talk about in my upcoming post about online auditions.

Just as a point to note about cruise auditions and subsequent cruise work - a lead trumpeter is expected to have up to a G above high C, be proficient improvisers, and be happy leading a horn section and a second player is expected to comfortably reach a high E and be able to follow a lead player.

My experience of two very different orchestral auditions will follow in 'Live Auditions pt. 2"

[theindietrumpetlab]

Exercising off the horn

As I'm typing this I'm sat on a super comfy sofa in a really spacious lounge of a really nice AirBnB in a lovely part of the country. I'm on holiday with my little dude as well as a mate and his daughter plus another mate and her daughter while respective other halves are working - you might think we're lucky but we drew the short straw with the kids... only joking, it's lovely.

What it hasn't allowed for is practice time/space. You might say 'but you're on holiday, you're allowed time off' and that is true - both physically and mentally HOWEVER I'm in the middle of my summer holiday from teaching and I've really been neglecting my own practice. I still play (sort of) twice a week while I'm teaching my adult students and I sometimes play for fun but I've not done any serious proper practice in a while... my journal entries are very, very sparse.

I did do a little planning before I came away and packed a few gadgets and things so I could at least start prepping myself physically and mentally for the upcoming term and do it without undue annoyance to my holibuddies (hmmmm, lets not use that word again). They all know what I do so probably wouldn't mind me practicing but they are on holiday too...

I've been using the Warburton Personal Embouchure Training Exerciser (P.E.T.E. for short) and it's prescribed exercises to strengthen my chops, the Warburton Buzzard to add a bit of resistance when I'm buzzing on my spare mouthpiece (just makes it a bit easier) and an Ultrabreathe respiratory trainer to improve my breathing. Other brass players may scoff at my gadgets and say they're unnecessary and they may be right but these work for me. I shan't detail all the exercises I've been doing and I'm not telling you to rush out at buy these things (although I feel it's good to try new things to see what works for you) but I shall offer a few exercises you can do quietly away from the horn with nothing more than you and a pencil and a mouthpiece.

I do these exercises the opposite way around but I'm going to start with the 'Pencil Exercise' and I'm going to tell you to Google it - not because I'm too lazy to type it but because there are other players who describe it far better than I can and I don't want to cause you to damage yourself.

The next exercise I'm going to describe is a simple breathing exercise you can do any time. You can do it using your mouthpiece to buzz on and this has extra benefits but it's not 100% necessary.

Start off by tapping your foot to establish a pulse. When you're settled breath in slowly over 4 - aim to fill your lungs - then breathe out over 4 - aim to completely empty your lungs. Do this 4 or 5 times.

DISCLAIMER: IF AT ANY TIME YOU START TO FEEL DIZZY, STOP THE EXERCISE

Have a short break then reduce your inhalation to 2 beats but maintain an exhalation of 4. Again, 4 or 5 times then rest. After your short break reduce your inhalation to 1 and maintain a 4 beat exhalation.

Have a longer rest and repeat the exercise but with a count of 8 for each inhalation.

I'll say it again IF AT ANY TIME YOU FEEL DIZZY - STOP!! I do not want to be responsible for any of you keeling over and damaging furniture...

My last piece of advice is 'ask your teachers for advice on what other exercises you can do away from the horn'.

I hope this keeps you (and your family/neighbours/pets) happy for a while. It's not a replacement for good solid practice on your instrument but it will keep you going if you can't get your hands on your horn.

[theindietrumpetlab]

Phaser, Flanger, Reverb and more...

Once you get past the bizarre (Skysurfer, Blood Moon, Thunderstorm) and the downright dirty (Big Muff, Hairy Balls, Camel Toe) names there are some excellent guitar effects pedals out there... and some even work for trumpet (or saxophone or trombone or flute or whatever brass or woodwind instrument you play).

The purpose of this post isn't to review pedals, recommend pedals (well, maybe one or two) or even tell you how to use them, it's just a short introduction to using pedals and a little bit about my - reasonably short so far - pedal journey.

If you've never had a play with guitar pedals before I would recommend having a chat with a guitarist - they sort of know what they're talking about - to see what sort of sound effects are available, what they sound like and how they work. From an brass players perspective there are certain parallels that can be drawn between effects pedals and mouthpieces... the one(s) they have is great but it's not quite perfect and they're looking for the holy grail.

My first step after talking to a guitarist was to get on eBay and Facebook marketplace to track down a cheap multi-effects pedal and I found this - a Zoom 505ii guitar multi-effects pedal for £15.

It was a great starting point as it's got tons of different effects to experiment with. It's a little fiddly to set up all of the different patches but, once you know what you're doing, it can be done quite quickly. I wouldn't use this on a gig though due to having to cycle through to the patches you want rather than just turning different effects on and off. The only effect I wanted to try that wasn't on here was a Wah pedal so I bought a cheap one - again off Facebook - and connected the two together.

Once you've had a play around and know what kind of effects you want, it's definitely worth having a look around for separate pedals that do what you want. If you're not sure where to start have another chat with your guitarist mate and a read online as it can get quite expensive buying individual pedals although there are some really good cheap ones around and people are always selling stuff on eBay and FB. Another amazing resource is www.horn-fx.com - they have reviews of pedals, videos, books, all sorts for the brass and reeds player who is looking to dive in to the world of effects pedals.

I've settled on my pedal combination (although there's just one more I'd like (as always)) and my son and I built a pedal board to house them using a skateboard deck, some stickers, some electrical tape and some velcro and, I have to say, it looks pretty mint!

From right to left (signal flow): TC Electronics 'Sub'n'up' octaver, Dead Beat 'Wet Dreams' chorus, TC Electronics 'Blood Moon' phaser, TC Electronics 'Thunderstorm' flanger and TC Electronics 'Skysurfer' reverb.

I hope this post piques your interest a little bit and encourages you to check out some pedals - it's fun and it offers a whole new sound palette for you, your band or your clients.

[theindietrumpetlab]

Stand out from the crowd...

It’s easy, especially as a new/young/inexperienced player, to feel like you have to take every gig no matter the genre, no matter the pay, in order to gain experience and make a name for yourself. How else are you to network or play the styles you didn’t cover at university or music college? It’s a solid plan and it’s how I started. Eventually, though, this can get frustrating or disheartening as you may get a name as the person who covers everything fairly well but we'd prefer so-and-so if they're available or you may struggle to find gigs that pay as you have a reputation for playing for free (that's a whole other kettle of fish).

When you’re looking to transition to only taking paid gigs, it can be useful to ask yourself 'What makes me different from other trumpet players?', 'What do I offer that they don't?', 'How can I stand out?'

These may be difficult questions to answer (especially in the early stages of your career). If you can't think of anything then now is as good a time as any to explore and find your niche. When I say 'find your niche' I mean find the thing(s) you want to be known for. As a trumpet player this could be as a high note specialist, jazz soloist or natural trumpeter although I probably wouldn't go for 'Danish death metal contrabass trumpeter' as that's a bit too niche... actually, that's a lot too niche.

My 'thing', my niche, is Indie music (hence the blog name which is also inspired by Tanya Cracknell, The Grime Violinist), most of, if not all of, the session work I do is done remotely for unsigned bands or bands-who-were-unsigned-when-I-recorded-for-them-but-have-since-been-picked-up-by-a-label playing mainly rock and pop although there has been a little bit of folk and gospel too. I also have two 'side things' - effects pedals (there's going to be a whole other post about these) and bass trumpet - both of which I am still getting my head around but which I hope make me that little more unique marketable... That’s not to say that I ‘only’ do those things but they are what I do best and what I enjoy most so I gear all of my promo – Instagram, Facebook, website bio etc. – towards that clientele.

Try to come up with a concise description of what you do. I’m going to use a list as an example to get you started:

Instruments: Trumpet, Flugel, Bass Trumpet

Genres: Indie, Rock, Pop

Added extras: Effects pedals, remote recording setup, 3-piece horn section

Once you’ve got this, try and write a short biography incorporating these points and a few of your best gigs…

To sum up – you’re trying to make yourself different enough that you stand out from the crowd when potential clients are looking but not so unique that there’s probably only one person in the entire world looking for your skillset (whilst sat in their room in Ebeltoft* playing their guitar through 6 distortion pedals and trying to be the same as but different from Aphyxion**).

*a real Danish town **a real Danish band who play death metal

[theindietrumpetlab]

Orchestral Playing

Ok, I'll throw this one out there - I'm not an orchestral player. I have, however, done a fair amount of amateur orchestral playing - some as a member, some as a dep - often in the principal chair, and twice as a tuba player. I can't guarantee that this meagre shred of advice I'm about to offer can get you a job in an orchestra but, hopefully, it'll give you something to think about and set you off in the right direction.

If you're looking for something to read then I can recommend Richard Davis's book, Becoming an Orchestral Musician: A Guide for Aspiring Professionals, which, though not trumpet specific, is a really good resource.

If it's music to learn and play that you're after then your first port of call should be a book of excerpts, of which there are many but my personal favourite is Orchester Probespiel published by Edition Peters - it has all of the most commonly requested audition excerpts and more in one handy book. I'm not sure what the current trends for auditions are but a simple internet search may help with that...

Learning the excerpts will help you in an audition but, should you land the job (or join an amateur orchestra if you prefer), you will need to learn the parts in full. Oftentimes, you may not get the music before the first rehearsal and you may not have many rehearsals on a piece if it is a particularly busy orchestra so my recommendation is to get on IMSLP and download (it's all legal) the parts for any works you are going to be playing. If you're like me and enjoy collecting trumpet parts to everything, start building your own library of music with those IMSLP downloads. A fun little exercise (and I do this with pop charts too) is to pull up a video on Youtube and play along.

My final recommendation is Phil Collins (not the drummer) Pops Orchestra - Trumpet 1. It is a book of 138 Studies in a multitude of styles which you may encounter whilst working in, funnily enough, a pops orchestra. I use it in my practice regularly and it has exercises for cornet and flugelhorn as well as trumpet.

I will cover what happens in an audition (or what happened on the two auditions I attended) in a later post but in the meantime hit up IMSLP and Youtube and get practicing.

Last thing to remember - there can be quite a lot of transposing in an orchestral setting even if you have got a Bb, C, D, Eb and Piccolo trumpet handy so have a look at some transposition exercises and add them into your practice routine.

[theindietrumpetlab]

Dress for the job you have...

So, there's this age old adage which says 'Dress for the job you want, not the job you have' and, on the whole, it's good advice unless the job you want is Batman, Wonder Woman, Spiderman or Catwoman (drop the adage into a Google image search and you'll see what I mean).

I'm going to take a look at this from two different angles, the first from when I should've dressed for the job I had...

Whenever you get a gig check the dress code, ask the other band members what they're wearing and check out what the band has worn previously/what kind of style they have. I can see a lot of you thinking 'but I've got my dinner jacket for the orchestra and I've got my black shirt for the big band and the theatre so I'm sorted' but, sometimes, what you need is a pair of ripped jeans and a baggy t-shirt. I found this out the hard way. It wasn't the end of the world but it made me think twice about my outfits in future.

The gig was London Pride in 2012 with rapper E.N.V. in front of 55,000 people in Trafalgar Square (awesome gig btw). The dress code was 'colourful' so I duly pulled out a nice blue/turquoise shirt tucked it into my smart jeans and pulled on some smart boots - R, the other trumpet player, wore similar but I can't remember if that was planned or if it was a case of 'great minds think alike'. At the gig, the rest of the band and the string section were all far more casual - jeans, t-shirts, trainers, baseball caps. As R and I were wearing similar it looked ok on stage but we didn't quite fit in although musically we were the highlight... ok, we weren't, we'd have overstepped our remit if we were...

So that covers when you should dress for the job you have, now here's where I benefitted from dressing for the job I wanted...

There was a time where I thought I'd never be a trumpet player, or at least not beyond a hobby - there's nothing wrong with doing it as a hobby but it's not what I wanted. Reading through notes I made in my lessons at the time (with an awesome teacher but I shan't namedrop), we obviously covered this in one of my lessons. Two things stood out - 'Dress for the job you want, not the job you've got' and 'Act as if you are a trumpet player and other people will start to treat you as a trumpet player'.

I suffer from performance anxiety to varying degrees depending on the gig - I have no issues playing in a band but I'm terrible in recitals and auditions - so, for me, it's as much about treating myself as a trumpet player as other people seeing it. Gigs have a dress code, my teaching has a dress code (although I may push it to the limits at times) but life doesn't have a dress code and that is where I struggle sometimes. It might sound stupid but how are people supposed to know I'm a trumpet player if I don't have a trumpet with me? Then I realised they don't need to know but I feel better if I do so I took inspiration from my idols - what do they wear? Not on stage really, although I did take that into consideration, but in interviews, in photos at events like ITG and NAMM, on their websites and I found something that works for me. I spend most days in turned up jeans, oversized or long t-shirts and blue suede converse and it works for me. I feel like a trumpet player because that's what other trumpet players wear (well, one of my heroes anyway). Since I started doing this I've had the confidence to go for gigs that I wouldn't have done previously or to do session work that I wouldn't have had the confidence to accept and even to start a blog about trumpet playing... It's not the only factor - years of lessons, hours of practice, support from family and friends are the biggest factors - but it's another tool I use to get me through life as a trumpet player and brass teacher.

[theindietrumpetlab]

Big Band Playing

As a freelancer or session player you can be called upon to play many different styles or settings so I’m going to use this post to introduce you to some resources to help you learn about one of my favourite styles/groups to play in - the big band. 

As with anything musical, gaining live experience is best but having a little knowledge prior to ‘being thrown in at the deep end’ can only be a good thing. 

The first time I ever played in a big band was whilst I was studying at uni - a friend needed a dep for his band who had been booked to play for a wedding at a hotel near York. Myself and another trumpet player (a course mate and good friend of mine) played for a rehearsal, at the end of which the bandleader said ‘decide between yourselves who wants the gig’. Obviously we both did so we drew a card out of a deck, highest card won and I ended up doing the gig. Since then I helped (albeit in a minor way) to start the university big band and played in and depped in a number of big bands including the National Youth Jazz Orchestra and spent some time as a bandleader of a community big band.

It’s a while now since I’ve done much big band playing although I am on a few dep lists around Manchester, and I had to find other ways to keep my big band chops in so I invested in a few books. Some of these books are designed to teach you the skills/techniques needed to play authentically and others are collections of actual, real-life big band repertoire from various eras. I’ll start with the ‘method books’ then move on to the repertoire/playalong books and websites.

n.b. All of these are easily searchable online - I’m not going to post links as I don’t want to favour one seller over another especially as I’m not making any money from any of them.

Big Band Playing:

‘Dance Band Reading and Interpretation’ - Alan Raph: This is quite an in depth guide to what the notes on the page mean and how they should be played. There are a number of etudes in it for you to play which can also be listened to on Spotify.

‘A Manual for the Stage or Dance Band Trumpet Player’ - Frank ‘Porky’ Panico: Another good book on how to interpret what you’re reading and includes instruction on techniques such as half-valving or playing a shake.

For aspiring lead players there is ‘How To Play Lead Trumpet in a Big Band’ by Brian Shaw and, for players wanting something a bit more modern, there is ‘Louis and Cal’s Ultimate Big Band Toolkit’ (2026 edit: Vol 1 and 2 now) by Louis Dowdeswell and Callum Au - brand new for 2020 and available from Louis or Cal’s website for all big band instruments. I would also do an internet search for articles by and interviews with Bobby Shew and Wayne Bergeron and other famous lead players.

Big Band Repertoire:

For those looking to learn and play actual big band repertoire, I recommend the following:

Basie-Nestico Lead Trumpet Book - Kendor Music Inc.

Thad Jones Lead Trumpet Book - Kendor Music Inc.

Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band Playalongs Vol. 1 and 2 - Alfred Publishing Co. (available for all big band instruments)

Anthology of Big Band Trumpet Solos - Dale Gibson/Sticky Valve Publishing

Louis Dowdeswell has a series of playalongs for trumpet, trombone and saxophone on his website (louisdowdeswell.com) which are really good fun to play.

And here’s a bonus tip to finish the post: if you visit Tom Kubis’s website and check out his big band charts catalogue, each one has a sample part - usually the 1st Trumpet part - which you can download as a pdf but, sssh, I didn’t tell you that...

EDIT: I’ve also just found the Terry Gibbs Dream Band Vol 1-6 Lead Trumpet transcription book which I’m just about to invest in, available at blackwellstrumpetbasics.com

EDIT No. 2: qpress.ca is a vast collection of trumpet books (well, brass books actually) which includes some great lead playing resources including (but not limited to):

- The Complete Snooky Young: A collection of 6 albums-worth of lead charts transcribed by Stuart McLean-Fowler. It contains the charts to every Count Basie recording that featured Young on lead trumpet.

- The Complete Conrad Gozzo: A collection of 3 albums-worth of charts including favourites such as ‘Guys and Dolls’, ‘Perfidia’ and ‘Gone With The Wind’. Another collection by McLean-Fowler

- Yet another offering by SM-F are 3 books of transcriptions of lead parts from Sinatra’s albums ‘Come Fly With Me’, ‘Come Dance With Me’ and ‘A Swingin’ Affair’. I don’t own these ones yet but if they’re as good as McLean-Fowler’s other charts they won’t be missing from my collection for long.

There is also ‘The Art of Lead Trumpet Playing’ by Glenn Stuart, ‘Contemporary Exercises for Lead Instruments’ by Abe Most along with a host of other books by Bill Knevitt on how to play high notes and ‘Play The Lead’ Sets 1 & 2 by Erik Veldcamp.

With the above resources in your library there is enough material to keep you going for months, if not years, developing your big band playing - especially if you listen, play along to the albums and (most importantly) back it up with some real life big band experience - get yourself out there!