Mitchells Trumpet Method - Advice

[pyro]

So I'm a returning player. Been playing for about a month now. Practicing 30m-1h everyday. I ordered the Mitchell's book 1 and it arrives this Sunday. Any advice on how I should progress through it? How quickly I should go through the lessons?

[Uberopa]

Welcome back to the joy of trumpet playing. I used the Mitchell books for a number of years. I found the Tone and Attack studies to be the most challenging personally. The books are very.good. I would say in response to your question that you should progress at the pace with which you can successfully complete the lesson cleanly.
I bought my set of books many years ago. I took them to a copy centre and had the spines cut off and replaced with coil bindings. This allowed the books to lay flat on the stand for easier reading.
Best of luck with your comeback. It wouldn't hurt to get a few lessons to set you up for success. Cheers.

[Dayton]

Welcome back to trumpet playing. Mitchell's Method is terrific. The lessons are progressive and reasonably comprehensive.

The first bit of advice I would offer is to not be in a rush. I'd plan on 2-3 weeks per lesson, but take as long as you need to be reasonably comfortable with the material in the lesson before moving on.

Second, notice that some of the exercises are intended to be repeated at increasingly faster tempi. We often think that faster equals better, but remember that playing an exercise slowly can be every bit as useful and challenging as playing it quickly. Also, you may not have the chops to play something through as many times as is indicated; you might need to split those repetitions over multiple days.

Third, if you can't work your way through the entire lesson every day -- remember, don't push it -- then I would suggest playing the first study in each lesson (which is called a "Tone and Attack" study starting around lesson 17), and the "Lip Slurs" study from each lesson daily, and then pick a couple of the other studies each day. The goal is to be comfortable with all the material in the lesson before moving on, but that doesn't mean that you need to be able to play through a lesson, including all the repeats, in one sitting.

Fourth, the book has a lot of helpful hints and guidance. I'd suggest you member at last a few additional things while you are practicing it. Use a metronome or a metronome app. Don't just think of those markings as slow, fast, etc. The metronome is a hugely useful practice tool. I'd say the same of a tuner or a tuner app. Use it while you are practicing, particularly the first study in each lesson. The sooner you get a feel for what the notes are supposed to sound like, and how you need to adjust to get/keep them in tune, the better. Related to that, make sure you are using your third valve slide when necessary. Learning to do so smoothly and accurately (how far out the slide needs to go) is a skill that requires practice.

Good luck, and have fun!

[kehaulani]

It's organized well and the exercises are well-balanced. Just do them slowly and precisely and don't move on until ready.
_________________
"If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." Bird

Yamaha 8310Z Bobby Shew trumpet
Benge 3X Trumpet
Benge 3X Cornet
Adams F-1 Flghn

[pyro]

Thank you all for the advice! It has helped me a lot to come up with a plan of attack.

Main take-aways are:

1. Don't rush. Go at your own comfortable pace.
2. Two-three weeks per lesson.
3. Don't progress unless the lesson is completed cleanly.
4. Split up the lesson throughout the day if necessary.
5. Leverage metronome and tuner app while playing.
6. Look to replace index with coil bindings.

[Anthony Miller]

I alternate odd numbered one day, even numbered second day etc.

[MrOlds]

For a returning player I would start at the beginning. Avoid the temptation to jump ahead. The lessons are progressive and over the course of each book expose you to a comprehensive set of skills from a number of directions.

As the others pointed out stay with a lesson until you can do the exercises cleanly with a beautiful sound. It’s about perfecting your craft in small bites from increasingly difficult directions.

Feel free to break up any exercise into smaller pieces and work them measure by measure. Take frequent breaks. Practice an exercise with fingers and airstream with the horn off your face. In later lessons feel free to rest a measure or two between each interval in a tone exercise that goes into the upper register. Then after a coupe of weeks you can experiment with resting fewer beats in between until you can play the exercise perfectly and efficiently as written.

The melodic endurance exercises can be a challenge as they get progressively longer. Experiment with strategies to play them efficiently and musically at the same time. Treat them as an ‘art of phrasing’ challenge. Make the most music possible out of them.

It could take years to get through all 4 books and really get everything out of them. By then you will be the best trumpet player in the world.