Mastering trumpet excerpts for wind band orchestra: practicing, making exercises and testing their pedagogical usefulness

This document presents a research, focused on case studies that aim to explore the repertoire for Wind Band and best preparation strategies for performers. It has two well-defined objectives: the first is to make a good catalogue of trumpet excerpts on original works for wind band, and the second one is to find an easy and simple way to help anyone who wants to prepare these excerpts for an audition. The process began with a broad search for wind band jobs and repertoiry. I was mentored by many principal trumpets from different countries, mainly because it was not easy to find books about it. This was also one of the biggest motivations, but also a problem. The second step was to choose 9 of these excerpts, in which we were able to find different styles, some of them virtuosic, others with slow movements, and identify the main technical difficulties. The subsequent focus was on these difficulties and I made technical, rhythmic and also mental exercises to help improve the interpretation in a simple way. Once all the data has been collected, I drew conclusions in order to contribute to the musical educational community and create new ways of preparing the wind band repertoire. I made these exercises with help of knowledge from performing science and the outcome was positive as this achieved almost instantaneous results, improving the student’s playing in just 3 workshops of 30 minutes each. This process was documented through recording workshops and subsequent interviews. Key words: Music Education, Practicing skills, Wind Band repertoire, Case Studies.

Author: David Perez Sanchez