Advancing Your Trumpet Playing -Mastering Lip Flexibilities Part 1.3.1

Body Position 2

Looking back to the Green Stickman in the last post you can see the ideal body position for blowing. However because of the stick man nature he is looking pretty rigid and tense - as is the life of a stickman.

The posture in essence is accurate but it's …

Advancing Your Trumpet Playing -Mastering Lip Flexibilities Part 1.3

Body Position

You should find the strongest position for your body to generate the best air flow possible. Be aware that a bad posture will result in fatigue and possible long term playing issues. For Example:

You often see these sorts of styles of playing and it's …

Advancing Your Trumpet Playing -Mastering Lip Flexibilities Part 1.2

A Brief Look at Chops

So not to focus too heavily on chop/ embouchure position his is the ideal scenario.

1) Poor Technique

2) Good Technique



Keep in mind that each individual is physically unique hence why this is the ideal way for 90% of players to play as it's …

Advancing Your Trumpet Playing -Mastering Lip Flexibilities Part 1.1

Introduction

I have the opportunity to focus on my practice over the next couple of weeks so I've decided to focus on a single area of playing; Lip Flexibilities. I've decided to approach it in a training style i.e. making observations and finding what's effective, why …

How Times Have Changed For The Modern Musician

Back in the day (not my day but an earlier day) there were a lot more opportunities around for professional musicians. A lot of the seasoned professionals I talk to tell me how they were doing a gig nearly every night of the week.

A lot has changed since then. As more …

Enormous Rehearsal

I was out this morning for my first Enormous Rehearsal. It was great to meet all the guys and they were a laugh.They said I was a much better player and far better looking than their regular guy. (Just joking Ash!!... kind of ). I might be able to drop in for another …

An Enormous Honorary Member

I'm playing a gig with Enormous on November 20th so I've been in contact with Davy Lawerence (lead singer/song writer) over the past couple of days sorting out rehearsals, dots, mp3's etc.

I've been listening to some of the new tracks this morning and they're awesome. …

This Little Piggy Won't Play The Trumpet Again

This Little Piggy went to Market,

This Little Piggy Stayed Home,

This Little Piggy had Roast Beef,

And This little Piggy was Severed off by a collapsing keyboard stand!!

This story might seem like something out of a musicians horror film but it is 100% true. I was on a …

The Return Of The Sidekick Monkey

For many reasons the Sidekick monkey hasn't featured in any posts for a while. Finally I've ironed out the image upload problems I was experiencing and I can reveal where he was hiding all along.

Lost Monkey Image

Monkey Found Image

As a few people had guessed he was …

The Return of Master Musician

Before you get too excited this is simply his return of the first episode to MRM. Since the sites facelift he's been missing but now I can happily say that he's returned. Go to the restored Master Musician page for more information. Please feel free to leave your …

My Dad AKA The Hulk

This isn't a music relevant post but I thought it deserved a mention.

My Dad works as a dentist. He's retiring this year but he's not lost his skills. Despite approaching 60 he can still rip a yellow pages phone directory in half! He said he found it a little trickier …

Trying To Crack The London Scene

When you've grown up playing and developing all of your contacts in the midlands it's tricky to find a route into London.

If I'd been to college in London I'm sure things would be much easier but unfortunately that wasn't an option for me. I'm trying a number of things …

The Genius Of Adam Sandler

I've been playing a lot of wedding gigs recently and it can be a really great feeling knowing that not only are you part of a moment that so many people will never forget, but that you are making that moment happen. The first dance of the newly weds, unmarried couples …

So Many Posts, Such A Long Time

I've been trying to write out some ideas for posts today. Now I'm on my 262 post you'd think it was easy. My problem is I often have moments of inspiration and if they're not immediately written down they evaporate. So I've taken to having a few note pads stashed around …

MRM Face Lift

A new day and a brand new look for mattrobertsmusic.com . A brand new theme and some great new features and that's just the start!! Keep your eyes on the site for more in the next couple of weeks Including:

The Long Awaited Eurobusk 07 Series

We record the final pick up …

A Heavy Gigging Weekend

This weekends going to be a long one. I've got a couple of wedding gigs in London and one in the Midlands. They're my first gigs in London since I moved down but they came from my contacts in the Midlands - so I wouldn't class it as breaking into London just yet.

The …

Gigging With The Swinging Bass

What a couple of days!! The weddings went off without a hitch on Saturday and Sunday (even though todays gig did drag a little). In fact I've only just got back and I left before 7 this morning.

The real highlight of this weekend was my gig last night with The Swinging …

Getting Through The Long Journeys

With a massive 25,000 miles of driving under my belt last year and 630+ miles this weekend (I underestimated my wedding sets yesterday adding another 100+ to my total) it's hard to say how I haven't lost my mind.

The key is to keep your brain interested; keeping your …

Daahoud - Clifford Brown Transcription

That's what I have to look forward to today. It's been a while coming but it's about time I pulled my finger out on these transcriptions as part of my ear-training practice. I think I might spend a bit of time rehashing Summertime. The changes are classic but I'd like …

A Weird Driving Experience

You know when you think about something random and an event follows which is linked to that thought directly after? I know this phenomenon probably happens a lot and probably you have these thoughts so often that statistically it would probably less likely that it …