When trying to choose an instrument that is the best choice to begin your musical journey with, it can be hard to know which one will be the right fit for you.
The most well-known brass instrument is the trumpet, and the most common type of trumpet you will see is the B♭ trumpet. This is the standard for beginning bands and orchestras to want a new student to learn with.
Here are 11 reasons that the trumpet is one of the best instruments to learn!
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11. They Are Fairly Easy To Maintain
As long as you keep up routine maintenance and cleaning, a trumpet will stay in good quality for quite a long time.
It is recommended that you oil trumpet valves once or twice a week and clean the trumpet mouthpiece once per week to prevent the build-up of bacteria inside the instrument.
Mouthpieces should be cleaned with warm soapy water, using a rag on the outside and a mouthpiece brush on the inside until clean. This is especially important if you are sharing a school instrument with another student.
Outside of that, a trumpet needs to be cleaned thoroughly by bathing it in warm water every six months.
10. You Will Be In Good Company
Some of the most famous instrumental musicians in history played trumpet!
So when you learn, you will have some talented people to learn from, such as Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Dizzie Gillespie, and so many more!
Several modern-day celebrities played the trumpet when they were in school.
Two examples are Samuel L. Jackson and Kesha!
9. Lots Of Possible Goals To Reach For
Due to the many styles of music played on trumpets, there are many different ways that composers and musicians have developed unique techniques to produce the sounds they are looking for.
While those will come with practice, they are an exciting goal that many trumpet players are excited to one day reach.
Some of the techniques include:
- Flutter Tonguing
- The player rolls their tongue (much like rolling your R’s in Spanish), which results in a sound similar to growling.
- Vibrato
- This is a technique that is also used by singers as well, and it creates a wavy sound in your tone that can add a lot of ambiance to a song.
- Growling
- A technique often used in jazz music, growling is where the player will use the end of a plunger (of course, a clean plunger meant for this purpose) and cover the trumpet’s bell to produce a whiny tone.
8. Trumpets Have A Very Iconic Sound
In contrast to instruments like the Bassoon and Baritone, most ordinary people recognize the trumpet sound from a melody of iconic instrumentals.
From pop songs to major motion pictures, the bright brassy tone of the trumpet is easy to recognize throughout many genres of music out there.
Hearing others play and immersing yourself in music can also help you learn how to hear and identify things in music theory which will help your learning journey!
7. It Is A Competitive Environment
Suppose you are the type of person that enjoys a good challenge. Then the trumpet is perfect for you!
In a band and orchestra setting, each section will have ‘chair placements,’ which will determine what part of the music you play.
The higher your chair placement is will typically reflect your skill level, and higher chair placements also make it more likely that you will get the melody in a song or even the chance at a solo!
In most band or orchestra settings, being the first chair is a highly sought out position by many people and sometimes can be very difficult to achieve, so trumpet players usually love a challenge.
6. Trumpets Only Have Three Keys
The trumpet may be slightly difficult to learn at first, but the more time spent practicing, the easier it will become.
Opposed to the piano, which has 88 keys, the clarinet with 17, and the trombone with 7 unmarked slide positions. The trumpet has three keys that combine to make the fingering of any note.
While you will still have to memorize the fingerings and produce all the correct sounds for each note, it is much easier to remember which valves to press down when there are only three of them.
5. A World Of Information Is Out There
When beginning any new project, there are always lots of questions that can go through someone’s mind, and at times it can be hard and overwhelming to find the answer.
With an instrument as popular and widely known as the trumpet, there are millions of amazing resources out there!
Whether you prefer to learn by seeing, hearing, or doing, there are so many different videos, online classes, blogs, books, and podcasts on learning the trumpet which are easy to find!
There is also no shortage of trumpet sheet music out there to learn.
With both paid and free options worldwide, any song that you could want has probably already been written in several different styles for trumpets to learn and play!
4. Trumpets Often Have ‘Good Parts’ In Songs
The trumpet section will often have the ‘good parts’ in a song, also known as the melody.
Because of this, the vibrant sound a trumpet produces is typically very noticeable and well known by the average person.
The sound a trumpet makes is often most recognized as the carrier of the melody in march-style songs, which are usually played in 2/4 and often have a bright and lively sound which a trumpet is amazing at producing.
But they also are known for using the ‘growling’ technique mentioned earlier to create the sound of a whinnying horse in the Christmas Classic ‘Sleigh Ride.’
3. Learning The Trumpet Is Good For Your Brain!
Did you know learning the trumpet can be good for your health?
Many studies have been done on how playing an instrument affects your brain. This has shown improvement in memory in many people, as well as increased creativity and reasoning skills.
It also can result in better time management skills and teach self-discipline.
2. It Is A Great Form Of Stress Relief
Learning how to play an instrument is one of the best ways to relieve stress, and trumpet is no exception.
Playing music is a great way to unleash any emotion that someone could be feeling into a positive and beautiful form of creativity, which is known to help many people through hard times.
If you want to, you can even create a song to play yourself, which is an amazing way to directly convey what you are going through without saying a single word.
1. The Community
Throughout music history, it is no secret that there is a massive community that spans around the globe that musicians have built together.
Trumpets are notorious for being one of the biggest communities out there. No matter where you go, it is always easy to strike up a conversation with someone who plays the same instrument as you.
Learning how to play an instrument will almost instantly give you a common ground with millions of people around the world who are learning, too.
Keep practicing and share your progress with others who understand what you’re working toward!