Just Another Song and Dance

I had a teacher say to me a long time ago that all music, whether it is a piece, movement, section or phrase, falls in to one of two categories; it’s either a song or a dance. What he meant by that is our interpretation is guided by a set of priorities and knowing if I am playing a song, I have one set of priorities, and if it is a dance I use a different set of priorities. There are many…

Friedman Solus

Title Solus Four Movements for Unaccompanied Trumpet (1975) Stan Friedman (1951 - ) Biographical Info STANLEY FRIEDMAN'S music has been premiered by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, l'Ensemble Intercontemporain, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Chamber Music Society, the Memphis Symphony, the Northwestern University Orchestra and by major soloists in festivals around the world. His opera…

Pietzsch 4

This one incorporates some triple tonguing. For these moving triplets I used TTK. That seems to get a better flow for me where TKT creates more rhythmic emphatic-ness. Think of slightly crescendo-ing through the triplets. This will keep the air flowing to give your tongue something to bounce off of. I have trumpet-player-friends who only use TKT and can flow and play "fanfare-ish" using…

Pietzsch 3

This one looks intimidating at first. But after you get into it you should find that it lies pretty idiomatically. There are lots of arpeggios, major, dominant and minor, that have a lowered half-step as the second note of the triplet. Good luck with the pedal C at the end! http://allthingstrumpet.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Pietzsch-3.wav

All the Things You Are

All the Things You Are A very informative resource site for getting the basics for tunes is learnjazzstandards.com Once there, you can search for a tune and, as in this case, many options for blog entries come up. If you click the link above it will take you to the introductory entry for All the Things You Are. On the right side of the screen are the chord changes in the usual transpositions,…

Pietzsch 2

My summer project is to record all the Pietzsch Etudes (22). I am using #13 for the ensemble audition requirement for the trumpets at UW-Platteville, so I thought that I would make a demo recording of it for them. That little project was so much fun that I decided to try to record all 22. I have recorded over half of them right now and am slowly getting them up on this site. I would like to…

Pietzsch 1

Pietzsch Etude 13

Stephenson – Concerto for Trumpet, no. 1

Title Concerto for Trumpet, no. 1 (2003) For trumpet and orchestra, or wind ensemble, or piano reduction By James Stephenson Biographical Info The Concerto for Trumpet, James Stephenson’s second major work written for the trumpet, is a product of a long-time friendship between Jeffrey Work, for whom the concerto is written, and the composer. As a trumpeter himself, Stephenson had spent…

The “other” Stevens Trumpet Sonata

Title Sonata for Trumpet and Piano (2008) By John Stevens Biographical Info John Stevens was born in Buffalo, New York (USA) in 1951. He holds degrees in Music Performance (tuba) from the Eastman School of Music (1973) and Yale University (1975). For many years John Stevens was a free-lance performer in New York City. From 1981 to 1985 he was on the faculty of the University of Miami (FL)…