Article on Tone

My Opinion:

In my humble opinion the tone is what truly separates the boys from the men and the
Virtuosos from the average. The idea is to have a distinguished tone. It’s a great thing
when you can hear a certain trumpeter and just by listening to their tone you can identify who
they are. A great example of this was Chet Baker. He didn't always play the highest or the
fastest licks but his sweet tone made much more special then any of that other trumpeters. And I
realize that the average person will not sound like Chet Baker, but the reality is that
having a good tone is what gets you the gig. No one is going to go pay to go hear some out
of tune weird sounding trumpeter that’s playing a bunch of gibberish. A great example of
this the tasteebros.. Just kidding.

Know you may ask yourself "how do I gain a great tone?" Well I dunno. Some people say
it’s something spiritual, others just say that it has to do with the way you blow air threw
the horn and others say that it has to do with the mouthpiece. I dunno. All I have to say is
JUST DO IT! Listen to as much music as you can get ideas and be original. The rest will
come naturally.

Here is a quote from Saint-Jacome :
"What is essential is to have a fine tone, very pure and clear, with facility in execution,
with that no one has anything to say, no matter where the lips may be placed on the
mouthpiece."

Here is some advice that I have received from different people on the net about the tone.

dbacon: "For good tone production, use air as your fuel. The
trumpet resonates sound waves, it is amplifying and reacting to
sound. It will amplify in relation to acoustical properties in the
instrument. Air does not fill up the horn, but it's used by the
embouchure as energy so the lips vibrate. You really want to be
concerned with the quality of tone, that signals the computer
how much energy to send up and out. "

Here is a topic I started a while ago on the Trumpet Herald forums my question was:

I know that I have asked this question before but here it goes. I was watching that
Chris Botti concert and he goes and talks about how the tone is one of the most
important things for anyone. And then sting goes and talks about the tone too. Chris
Botti talked about how much control it takes to play the way he does. So My
question is what is the best way to develop a good soft easy going tone? What should
you play like? What kind of exercises does a person have to do to develop a good
tone.

Here are some of the responses I received:

cybertrumpet:" practice everything that you play softly. this is the key. keep the air
moving and practice exercises out of the schlossberg or the arbans lyrical studies. It
also really helps to practice simple melodies that you are very familiar with and play
them musically. dont get caught in the trap of spinning your wheels without results.
practice everything musically and play with abandon. Hope this helps!!"

"Jeam,
The best way to develop tone and style is to listen, listen, listen, to the great music that
you like. You must emulate the sound you want, and have a definite picture of the sound
you want. Exercises and studies will not aid in this without having a preconception first.
You must, like Jeff said, play EVERYTHING musically, and with abandon, and most
importantly, with STYLE. Style everything. A lot of "problems" can be overcome by
approaching it from a musical standpoint, rather than a mechanical standpoint. Don't get
caught up being a "trumpet player", but an ARTIST. "

Good Luck,
Chicagoman

And with all this talk about tone I will finally conclude this by saying this. Sometimes we
do get caught up too much on being “trumpeters” and we forget that we are musicians.
Music is about feelings and expressing yourself. Leonard Berstain said once that we use
music to express those feelings that we can not express with words it’s something
personal and deep. And we should always remember to be musical and never get caught
up in the fast notes and high notes. Like chicago man said. Don’t get caught up being a
“trumpet player”, but an ARTIST.