Hey TL, I have a question for you about initial attack on the trumpet. I can Google and find all kinds of things about tonging and of course double and triple tonging as we would expect to find in Buglar's Holiday. But I am looking for a thought or a site, or a tip on the initial attack. I find my attack coming from the back of the top teeth and sometimes my tongue gets a little lethargic and the attack is not clean. I also understand that there are many ways play the trumpet. Would you share your thoughts or refer me to a page that is focused on the initial attack. thx Mike
Michael, that is an excellent point. I have had issues with this in the past and have to re-educate myself on it. This is what I do and I learned it from my Drum Corps days. Practice your attacks with a mute. The mute will give you more resistance "back pressure" and you can feel what is happening in the oral cavity. Now you can experiment with placement of the tongue and more importantly syllables that can be used to give you the attack you are looking for. When I am having problems, I use the articulation of "tree". It is a crisp attack and keeps my tongue from being "lazy". I have to make a conscious effort. Other articulations along this line that have worked for my students is "this", "that", "thee" and "tis". I think these work because it is compressing the air quickly and getting the note started with some "explosion" and the tongue seems to be in a position where it can "rebound" quickly. I will have to do a video on this. As for some things to check out. Thomas Hooten and some really good things on articulation and attacks. I hope this helps, if you have any other questions, please let me know.
