This website is intended to serve as a supplemental resource to my band program and is not meant to serve as a primary teaching tool. Rather, it should used as a trumpet review for students who may need extra support on this instrument and progresses alongside the student throughout their middle school band program. The student or viewer is assumed to have some degree of music literacy developed going into the first lesson and as lessons progress, certain content is left for the band director to teach in class. If the ensemble is working through a trumpet tacet part of rehearsal, the section can be sent into a practice room to engage with a few levels. Individual students could also be tasked with reviewing a lesson at home.

Purpose

Year 3

Start Year 3

Levels 10 - 14

Concepts:

Extending range up to G5, overtone series - seven series, memorizing partials, partial pitch tendencies, tuning within a four-part chorale.

Year 2

Start Year 2

Levels 6 - 9

Concepts:
Extending lower and upper range, adjusting pitch via embouchure and slide. Scalar and intervallic exercises within the range of G3-E5.

Year 1

Start Year 1

Levels 1 -5

Concepts:

Posture, breath support, hand position, embouchure/buzzing, and articulations. Eight-measure exercises within the range of C4-A5.

Format

There are three main sections, each geared to a year in band. Within each year, there are 4-5 levels and each have their own video lesson. These levels focus on developing skills relevant to that year. At the end of each level is a quiz to assess information recall and understanding.

Why levels?

One of the struggles of being a musician is small increments of progress over a long period of time. Especially with students of today, making progress feel more tangible provides a little more need stimulation. As such, I employed a video game-like levelling theme to help the student visualize how far they have come. That, in itself, can also be motivating.