4 Pieces of advice for trumpet players from David Bilger
“Agility and power” these are just a few of the skills every trumpet player needs to master. But, playing the trumpet is not only about this obviously. You need to set your goals and think about what kind of job would make you happy. This is a tough task and probably some of you have faced these dilemmas before. David Bilger comes to the rescue and shares a few of his experiences and advice. Just in case you haven’t heard about him (which you probably have), David Bilger is the principal trumpet of the legendary Philadelphia Orchestra and a well-known pedagogue and teacher. He is a great storyteller and while teaching, he loves to motivate his students by sharing his experience.
You can watch the full interview for free here
1. How should one choose a trumpet?
Part of it is accepting that we are all different and knowing how our physicality is, how we approach the instrument, how we breathe, how we use air. We can have a more similar approach when we study with a teacher, but we all have our own ideas and that goes for equipment as well.
“We all have our own ideas and that goes for equipment as well”
So I don’t make my students play the same kind of instrument, because I think you have to find what works the best for you. Certainly there are ways to adjust equipment to help overcome weaknesses or make the most of what you have. Personally I play mostly Bach trumpets and I own a few piccolos. As far as mouthpieces, I think if you talk to a lot of professional players, on b flat and c trumpets, things are pretty similar…
For you who maybe have to play orchestra, in a brass quintet or for recitals, the equipment that you play may be different than what I play, because my job is playing loud, long and all those orchestral sounds in the back. So, if I was doing more varied kinds of playing then I would probably be playing something a bit different.
Usually, what happens is that you take a mouthpiece that is pretty good and you work on it to get it better and better and then you ruin it… and then you start all over again…. I have like a hundred mouthpieces sitting there at home. You need to experiment what works and find something that works for your situation and if you find yourself in a job for a long time you will probably adjust again to something that works in the concert hall that you are in, with sound the orchestra makes, works with the volume that the trombones play etc.
“You need to experiment what works and find something that works for your situation.”