Posts made by _Mark_

Thanks! l'd like to spare the family the cacophony of my learning process, but the mutes are both difficult to blow through and very destabilizing to the pitches. The open horn is far easier to play. I realize my troubles are all stemming from my very limited playing time! On social security, there won't be any teachers in my future; and at my age -- a rank beginner at 63 -- I have no illusions or ambitions other than to get a couple octaves under my fingers and enjoy playing some music for my own enjoyment.

@_mark_ Are we to use the slides to compensate for mutes? Or just transcribe a given piece to compensate? I picked up several mutes, and apart from the basic difficulty of pushing air through them, they sharpen notes by a half step or more. So far, I've been trying to play the notes with the middle valve or other fingering to reduce pitch by that semitone. The books I've picked up are minimalistic. They assume you have or can afford a teacher. Is there any book that is more verbose, includes troubleshooting talk about possible problems and oddities that rank beginners are likely to encounter?

Immediate qualification: I've been playing for less than three hours! I was using a Chinese-made trumpet and getting the low partials. I still can't blow any high ones. I picked up a used and abused cornet and find the low C and G okay, but the next C up is way flat no matter how I work my lips. I pull out the trumpet again and can easily blow low C, G, and the octave C. Then cornet: low C, G, and B. What aspect of the the cornet could account for flattened upper naturals? The cornet is rough, by the way. It sounds good in its way, but is tarnished, has a series of small dents and scratches, and has a broken solder joint between the valves and the horn/bell. The valves are fine, though. I guess It's just me. I can do it on the trumpet, but have a hard time on the cornet. I had been thinking the cornet might be easier to play.

@kehaulani Thanks. I haven't got far with it, yet, but I fell into doing just this naturally. Much obliged. The instrument amazes me. It seems nearly impossible to control, at this stage. I played guitar for years, with its frets and nearly fixed & accurate pitches. The horn is a whole new world! But a long love of the trumpet sound is driving me to delve in.

@j-jericho Got it. It was one of the books I picked up. Thanks.

@rowuk Thanks. I stopped. It was helpful for a while, though, because it showed me the wide range of instability around each note! By tensing and relaxing, I could get the pitch to slide up and down around each note by quite a way! Since then, I 've played with a drone.

@ROWUK Thanks! That's what I needed to know. I've got several trumpet books coming in the mail. I think I've been a bit misled by some embouchure videos on youtube. I've got a clip-on tuner on the bell and i'm trying to hit and hold notes, but it's truly cacophonic to a laughable degree!

I'm a rank beginner with a B flat trumpet. Total playing time less than an hour. I'm getting some notes pretty consistently (and loving it). But I'm puzzled as to why pressing the third valve seems to be giving me a fifth above? I play F, press the third valve and get a B above. What am I doing wrong?