• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

Learn to play pBugle The easiest way to start your trumpet journey Chris Fower • Looking after your pBugle • Buzzing & playing Notes • How to breathe and blow • How to make a sound • Learn great posture Learn to play pBugle The easiest way to start your trumpet journey Chris Fower Contents Welcome 5 Bugling! 6 What’s in the Box 7 Looking after your pBugle 8 Good posture 9 Holding your pBugle 10 Breathing in and Blowing out! 11 Getting your first buzz 12 Getting your first note 13 The elements of music, pulse 14 The elements of music, duration 15 Let’s play some notes! 16 The elements of music, pitch 17 Pitch on the pBugle: 18 Let’s play high, medium and low 19 Let’s play some music 20 4 Learn to play the pBugle Welcome Hello and welcome to “Learn to Play pBugle”! pBugle is designed to give learners their very best beginning to learning the trumpet. pBugle is essentially a normal Bb trumpet with no valves...made from plastic! This book will guide you through making your first sounds and explain how the pBugle works. There are backing tracks and videos, look out for the links in the QR codes which will take you to a backing track or video. If you have downloaded this book, simply click on the link or you can scan the QR code with your smart phone if the book has been printed. Anthony is going to be helping us along the way. Watch the video to see Anthony introduce himself. Most importantly have great fun playing your pBugle... Starting your trumpet journey Playing a musical instrument is one of the most rewarding things a human can achieve! Music is an international language and every culture and sub-culture on planet earth has it’s own music, made for themselves by themselves. Learning how to play an instrument has been proved time and time again to really benefit children, improving a host of skills that have uses and positive impacts reaching far beyond the music making it’s self. Brass instruments are interesting in many ways, from the outside they seem technical and difficult to understand but to the experienced brass player playing brass is the most natural thing in the world. In this guide I will try to make your first steps as easy, simple and natural as possible. How do brass instruments make a sound? All sound is vibration travelling through the air. When the vibration reaches your ears the brain performs a magical transformation of this sensation into the sounds we hear. A brass player vibrates his or her lips together and this in turn cause vibrations inside the instrument that create the wonderful noise of a brass instrument...in this case the trumpet! Brass players call this lip vibration “Buzzing or the Buzz” and it really is the heart of becoming a brass player. As you will learn, no buzz can happen without air blown through your lips and into the instrument so these two elements blowing and buzz are the heart of trumpet, cornet and bugle playing. With these two simple skills in place you can begin a wonderful, life-long journey exploring the trumpet or cornet and all the amazing varieties and genres of music that the trumpet can join in with and contribute to. This guide will help you take your first steps into the trumpet world using the simplest and purest form of trumpet: pBugle...the easiest way to start your trumpet journey. Learn to play the pBugle 5 Bugling! What is a bugle? Across the world, most ancient civilisations have used some type of animal horn for signalling during their religious or military ceremonies. The Roman armies used a horn named after the Latin word “bulculus”, which means bullock. This is the origin of the name “bugle”. It is thought that the first time a brass bugle was used as a military signal was the Halbmondbläser, or half-moon bugle, used in Hanover in 1758. It was U-shaped (hence its name) and comfortably carried by a shoulder strap attached at the mouthpiece and bell. It first spread to England in 1764 where it was gradually accepted widely in foot regiments. 18th-century cavalry did not normally use a standard bugle, but rather an early trumpet that might be mistaken for a bugle today, as it lacked keys or valves, but had a more gradual taper and a smaller bell, producing a sound more easily audible at close range but with less carrying power over distance. In some ways pBugle is similar to these Cavalry Trumpets which are still used in ceremonial events. Most military forces around the world use some form of brass instrument with no valves and they call these instruments a wide variety of names, but we would generally see them and think “bugle”! The bugle has also found other homes over the years with: The Boy’s Brigade, the Scouting Movement, Drum and Bugle Corps bands (very popular in the USA), and a whole host of other settings, spread across the globe. Our “pBugle” is a plastic Bb trumpet without valves. We hope that both those who want an easy way to begin their trumpet journey and the broader bugle community can use pBugle to get more people, children and adults, involved in the fantastic world of brass playing. Anthony Thompson demonstrates the traditional British Bugle A US Naval military bugler sounding A Soldier of the Music of the French Foreign Legion playing the bugle during “A Call the Colors” 1917 the celebration of Bastille Day 2008 in Paris. 6 Learn to play the pBugle What’s in the Box pBugle and mouthpiece It couldn’t be more simple when you open the pBugle box. There’s just a care card, a pBugle and it’s mouthpiece inside... Assembly Putting your pBugle together is very simple. Just place the mouthpiece in the receiver, the end with the small hole! Don’t bash it in with your hand or force the mouthpiece in as it may get stuck if you do this! A gentle twist will do for both putting the mouthpiece in and getting it out. Remember: gently does it! Learn to play the pBugle 7 Looking after your pBugle General pBugle is pretty tough but please remember that it isn’t indestructible! Be especially careful if you have removed the main tuning slide as this forms a key part of the strength of the pBugle’s body! Most trumpet mouthieces will fit pBugle but remember that cornet mouthpieces will need an adaptor, the same as any trumpet! Cleaning: pBugle is completely made from ABS recyclable plastic, making it very durable and robust. It is also includes antimicrobial technology–an agent that kills micro-organisms and inhibits their growth. To clean the external surfaces, use a soft cloth with warm, soapy water and dry the instrument with a lint free cloth. We recommend that you clean the instrument before first use. Tuning slide The main tuning slide is what we use to make sure our pitch, or how high or low a note is, matches the pitch of other instruments we are playing with. It’s not very important to adjust this at the beginning but it’s still a good idea to move this slide about a centimetre out. It’s also a good idea to put a little tuning slide grease or petroleum jelly on your tuning slide from time to time. This helps keep the slide moving smoothly and makes your pBugle more air tight which means a better sound! Damage and repairs Any minor damage, like cracks or parts that become dislodged may be mended with super glue. If you choose a gel type glue this will help stop spills and runs. Always practice your mend without glue first, once the glue is applied your repair will be stronger than ever and super glue dries fast! If you aren’t sure, then please just contact one of our pPals at [email protected] 8 Learn to play the pBugle Good posture “Good posture really matters when it comes to playing a brass instrument...” That is true! but let’s start at the beginning... What is posture anyhow? Basically posture describes how we hold our body...what position it is in, and how we hold our instrument, especially in relation to our body. This includes everything from our toes to our head and all are just as important. When we are playing a brass instrument we are using lots of air, both breathing in and blowing out, so holding our bodies in a way that makes this as easy as possible is vital...it’s also great for our general health and well being. Think about how important good, deep and controlled breathing is for our day-to-day lives! “take a deep breath!”. Controlling breathing and posture is also good for mindfulness and is used in meditation and yoga...so that’s all good! Your head is up straight and looking straight ahead! This is really important because you need to slightly point your pBugle down and keep your head up to get the best sound! Shoulders need to be relaxed and down... Lots of people think that by lifting their shoulders they will get a bigger breath...not so!..down and relaxed is best! Arms are going to be holding your pBugle but again relaxed is best...this is easier because pBugle is so light! Legs should be slightly apart, about the same distance apart as your hip.

Load more

  22

Copy Link