It's coming up to three months of learning trumpet (about two months of lessons). The book my teacher gave me six weeks ago is supposed to last a full school year and we're nearly finished it – this sounds more impressive than it is because the book is for beginner musicians, not just beginner trumpet players. So there's lots of 'this is a minim/crotchet/rest/key signature' which I don't need to learn.
Biggest challenge continues to be lip strength. But also I find it hard to be thinking of everything at once when I'm playing something new. There's finger positions, intonation, pressure, pitch, so I find myself gripping the trumpet harder than I should, and getting a sore hand afterwards!
I spoke about that with my teacher and he reassured me that there's so much to think of, no wonder I sometimes find it hard. It will be fine with time. He is a good and patient teacher and we're doing more and more duets – this, I love, because you have to keep up and keep playing, no matter the mistakes!
I can play almost 30 minutes at a stretch now, which is making practice sessions more enjoyable. So the short version of this post should read: Trumpet. Still loving it. Music is so fun. The end (or actually still very much the beginning).
#trumpet #music #ThingsILove
