10 orchestral trumpet studies
One of today's greatest trumpet players gives you the tools needed while preparing for an audition, concert or if you simply just want to improve your trumpet excerpts.
David Bilger, principal trumpet of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Professor at The Curtis Institute of Music demonstrates, guides you and shares tips and exercises that will help your own playing.
Hailed by the New York Times for his playing of easy brilliance and by the Washington Post for his engaging legato touch, David Bilger has held the position of principal trumpet of The Philadelphia Orchestra since 1995. Prior to joining the Orchestra, he held the same position with the Dallas Symphony.
Excerpts come with a PDF with the sheet music ready to print out, so you can follow and play along.
🇪🇸Includes Spanish subtitles
LESSON PLAN
01 Intro
Try this chapter now!
02 Pictures
Pictures is on any trumpet audition! It shows what kind of sound you can play with when you play with as you play with a forte fulness in your sound. Add the techical difficulties such as playing the octaves in tune and playing across the ranges of the instrument and you will know why it's an important excerpt and piece of music.
03 Petrushka
" Dance of the Ballerina " shows a compact style of playing. Lots of contrasts are in demand for this excerpt and knowing that it was originally written for a cornet in the 1911 version, is important to know when playing it on a trumpet. Amazing music with lots of challenges.
04 Pines of Rome
The off stage solo from Pines of Rome is also on pretty much any audition. " It seems so simple when you play it and really is, and capturing the simplicity is what this excerpt is about"
05 Mahler 5
The trumpet opening of Mahler's 5th Symphony has such drama and such a tremendous amount of expression packed into a small amount of notes. The most music and the most technical passages put into one package.
06 Don Juan
Don Juan starts as a lyrical solo but ends with passion, fire and power and this is different than a lot of other excerpts. Playing a high long and loud B, which is not the most stable and easiest note on the instrument also makes it tricky.
07 Fêtes
This excerpt shows a very different side of trumpet playing. A muted fanfare has it's own challenges. Playing in a very rhythmic and marked way but in a soft dynamic is not asked for very often for a trumpet player.
08 Leonore 2
Leonore 2 is a complete open solo.How do you make that Beethoven sound that works in a classical repertoire? That's one of the key elements and challenges for Leonore 2. Another challenge is how to play it in tune?
09 Scheherazade
Sheherazade strikes fear in the heart of trumpet players... 2 famous excerpts from this tricky piece. Rhythmical tightness is in particular in demand for this piece. Building up control and ease of the articulation and the use of triple tonguing is explained in details.
10 Concerto in F
How much room do you have to be personal in an excerpt? This excerpt is about as wide as it gets! Using a NY Rangers cap as a mute to create a covered and velvet sound is another topic...
11 Parsifal
Parsifal is the holy grail for trumpet players and sums up the quest which is to be able to have such control and expressiveness at the same time on the instrument.
12 Outro
Reviews
Wonderful video, and a great opportunity to hear Mr. Bilger play each of these excerpts alone. I'd recommend to any orchestral trumpet students. Important advice.
This is a very well produced series. The sound and the editing are excellent, David Bilger's teachings and explanations are exceptional, and players of any level can benefit from these instructional videos. I would highly recommend this to any aspiring orchestral trumpet player (and trumpet players in general, for that matter).
Great resource. As valuable as the Phil Smith excerpt CD, but nice to see how he plays the tunes. Bilger's incredible sound is magnified by the beautiful ringing space, making it easy to hear his precise articulation and intonation. His explanations are clear, always giving a concise wrap-up at the end of every excerpt of the objectives before the final demo.
