Description
Warning, this is a PDF ebook, not a physical book.
All-State Prep for Trumpet
by Eddie Lewis
If you are a high school trumpet player and you want to audition for the All-State band, you need this book. All-State Prep for Trumpet covers everything you need to practice from the time after solo and ensemble contest (mid-Spring) until the day the All-State music is announced (late-Summer). The objective of the book is to help you sound more mature and stand out as a player. The concept is simple. If you are a high school student who sounds like a college player, you will guarantee your chances of winning the audition.
Features
There are two halves of the All-State Prep for Trumpet book. The first half is comprised of short etudes. The second half of the book is Tonalization Studies in all twelve keys. Actually, the second half of the book is the entire Total Tonalization Studies book. So you are getting two books for the price of one!
The etudes in the first half of the book emphasize the following areas of competitive trumpet playing:
- Vibrato
- Phrasing
- Compound Time Signatures
- Two vs. Three Rhythms
- Three vs Four Rhythms
- Trills
- Slurs
- Tonguing
- Trumpet Style
- Syncopation
- Arpeggio Etudes
- Cadenza
- Flow Studies
For most of the etudes in the book, there are about three etudes per page. This is on purpose. The time you have between solo and ensemble contest and the day the All-State music is announced is tight. The idea for the first half of the book is that you will learn each of the new skills in an abbreviated time. Then, when the music is released, it is unnecessary for you to learn new skills when it’s already too late.
The philosophy applies to the second half of the book, the Tonalization Studies. When you master every key before the music comes out, then you are less likely to make mistakes practicing the music.
Tonalization Studies are scale patterns that you practice in one key at a time. This is different from the traditional approach to scales. Traditional scales have you practice each individual pattern in every key before you move on to the next pattern. Tonalization Studies include twenty comprehensive scale patterns which you practice in only one key. This is a superior way to practice scales and paramount to preparation for All-State.
Why We Stop
If you are serious about making All-State, then it’s important to stop practicing from this book when the music is announced. This is because, no matter how prepared you are, you should be applying a proven practice technique to the music. That technique should never be hurried.
It’s a terrible irony to me when I read some of the comments on my All-State Jazz videos (I have been writing the jazz etudes for the state of Texas for over ten years). I typically post my videos within a week of when the music is published. One year someone left a comment on my video saying, “I sure am glad that I learned this before you posted the video.” If he “learned” the music before I posted the video, then he “learned” it in a few days.
It doesn’t matter how good you are, you cannot be competitive if you rush through the music in a hurry. It takes time to learn a piece of music in a way that makes you competitive. The more careful you are, and the longer you take to go through all of the steps, the better you will perform.
So it’s important to start as soon as possible so you have time to do everything that needs to be done, and to do it well. “Learning the music” in three days means you were NOT careful and you did not learn it well.
Continue the Tonalization Studies
I should be clear that you never stop running through the Tonalization Studies. What I said above only applies to the etude section of the All-State Prep book.
Tonalization Studies are an important part of your daily trumpet routine. They work wonderfully to help you warm up. Keep doing them even when you are keenly focused on the All-State audition music.
All-State Prep Video
Here’s a video of me talking about the All-State Prep book.
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