Brass Pedagogy

This is going to be the start of a “Trumpet Blog” that I am going to try my best to keep up over the next year while I complete a Trumpet Performance and Music Education degree. It will consist of assignments (like this blog) for various classes, discuss things I am finding in my own playing and in my student’s playing, and things that I do in lessons. So here goes…

Recently, I had to complete a “research” assignment for a Brass Pedagogy class that I am taking. To clear the air, pedagogy is “intended to provide knowledge, experiences, and insights that result in learning”. The initial assignment was to come up with five main things (tenants) that we think are critical to brass playing. My original five were posture, breathing, wind pattern, buzzing, and co-ordination (I will expand on each of these with my thoughts, and the thoughts of many other professional musicians, at a later time). We were then given “the world” of brass pedagogy books to do our research with. That is what I am going to talk about today, because from here on out I will most likely be referring to them quite a bit.

The first book, and probably most valuable to me at this time, is Trumpet Pedagogy by David Hickman. This is what I like to call “the Bible” of trumpet pedagogy books. The book discusses almost every element (if not all elements) of trumpet technique and performance. Some things go into more detail than I currently understand, however it does give a very thorough explanation for everything. One thing that I really like about this book is that it seems to go hand in hand with what my different private lesson instructors have taught.

The second book is not as thorough, but still has a lot of good things to say. Trumpet Technique by Frank Gabriel Campos addresses a lot of technique elements but does not give as much detail as Hickman’s book. It seems like a good read if you are interested in learning more about technique, but doesn’t help as much if you are looking for ways of applying this technique.

The final book is another good one, but again not as thorough as “the bible”. Brass Technique and Pedagogy by Keith Johnson has a more general approach because it is not only covering trumpet, but all of the brass instruments. This book is another one that I will likely refer to because the thoughts seem to be in line with those that I have been taught, and am teaching.

Hopefully these books will help me over this next year as I try to finish these two degrees. I know that I have already picked up a few things and used them in my own playing and teaching, so I am sure that they will prove to be beneficial.