Singing Brass: The Study of Tone Through Artistry

Singing Brass: The Study of Tone Through Artistry Singing Brass provides developing, amateur, and advanced players with practicing materials that--when played with clear artistic intentions and expressive nuances--facilitate playing with a beautiful tone. The author selected singing-like melodies to encourage players to play with their most refined musicianship. Players should perform these melodies with a round and resonant tone--similar to that of great bel canto singers--while striving to play one perfect note after the other. To achieve this, players can visualize mental images--such as making each note part of a perfect string of pearls or a string of shinning light bulbs. Players should play the melodies in this book with expressive crescendos and decrescendos. Within those crescendos and decrescendos, players ahould maintin a pure tone by supplying a healthy air support--resulting from a vital and continuos air stream. The author arranged the melodies in this book to fit the trumpet register and technique. For example, in some cases, the author subtracted passages that did not seem conducive to improving tone production or would avoid unnecessarily strain. Developing players, amateurs, and professionals are equally encouraged to listen to these melodies in their original form--be it orchestral, chamber, or solo--while seeking the best recorded or live artistic interpretations among the many wonderful options available. Each melody represents a story waiting to come to life. Players should research each melody to learn its history and purpose. While in this process of discovery, players might derive their own interpretation. This book represents a much needed addition to the trumpet literature by offering a series of melodies that range from simple traditional melodies to complex opera arias. Each melody--when played correctly--will increase the players phrasing skills--as well as increasing his technical abilities in tone production and dynamic control. This book is divided into two sections. In the first section, the author wrote 70 drills and vocalises intended to develop and maintain basic brass playing techniques. The second section includes 71 melodies arranged in a progressive order of difficulty--both technically and artistically.