Thoughts From A Woman Trumpet Player

So, I haven’t written in a very long time, but I’m still a woman trumpet player!! Woo-hoo!! I’m a senior trumpet major now and my senior recital is just in a mere 3 weeks….For all of my trumpet friends out there I will be playing the Hummel Trumpet Concerto, Mvt. 1. (which is my favorite, so classic) I also will be playing, Hymn for the lost and living by Eric Ewazen, the Manfredini Trumpet Concerto for two trumpets, (on piccolo) The classic Trumpet Voluntary on picc (not my favorite..) And last but not least, to end the recital, is the Carnival of Venice by good ole Arban. I’ll tell you what, that piece is a beast but worth every minute put into it!! (and man does it take a lot of air!)  I absolutely love it, even though some days it gets the best of me… If anyone has any tips for success for any of the pieces I’m playing, or how i should be practicing (warm ups, warm downs) or even tips on nerves. I know i just did my jury the other day, and even though my lips were fine, they still got a little tight from nerves. And so i didn’t play my absolute best, so if anyone has any tips on that, I’d appreciate that!!

I think another issue on my mind is the problem with consistency and endurance. My biggest problem is that when I get into a performance situation my breath support becomes less than what is needed, so I don’t have the endurance I need to play everything. I have played through my whole recital at one time before with no breaks and was fine and probably could have played more, yet when I ran through everything, my lips gave out on the fourth piece. I’m not really sure at the moment what to really work on to have that not happen. Because I know that I do have the endurance to get through everything and be fine, but it’s not always about being fine, I want to be able to play my best even when I’m in a performance situation, or I should say especially. I know consistency is a problem even for professionals. I just don’t understand how I can get the best sound and all the right notes perfect on one day, then a week later something happens and I don’t know what I’m doing “wrong” or differently, when nothing is coming out, my notes are all fuzzy, and high notes aren’t even reachable. I know that when i get nervous i depend too much on my embouchure to do all the work, and not my air, and that’s when there’s going to be a problem with endurance. I guess i just need to work on being consistent with breath support to find some success in this….Sometimes this stuff is just too stressful.