Low Etudes for Trumpet

Trumpet players for generations have been obsessed with improving their upper register, and for good reason. Composers of the last 50 years have pushed the upper limits of the trumpet to new levels. Students and professionals alike have found it necessary to build and maintain their upper registers in a diligent fashion. This, however, sometimes leads to the neglect of the middle, lower, and extreme lower register of the instrument. Even though this register is playable by most second year trumpet students, the performance of well exectued low notes with good intonation is worthy of attention. These etudes were written to address the need for good melodic material in this register.

As most professionals already know, the bottom range of the trumpet is often extended to low 'F', especially if you are playing a Bb part on a C trumpet. If you do not already have the capability to play this note by extending the third valve slide it will be necessary to install a third slide stop in order to play this note at a quick tempo. I have included exercises to improve third trigger dexterity at the beginning of these studies for those players not used to playing low 'F's.

-Phil Snedecor