Description
Jesus, Lord and Savior Easy Trumpet Quartet
The educational focus of Jesus, Lord and Savior is the cut-time time signature. We want our students to experience cut-time as a meter, not as a mathematical substitution for two-four time signature. We believe that students who perform such pieces, early in their development, grow to be more mature musicians.
There is also the added benefit of breaking the students’ minds out of the four-four trap. Once they are liberated from the “one beat quarter-note”, their minds are free to explore the fractal relationships between rhythmic values.
In our system, cut-time is the trumpet student’s introduction to this liberation. We teach them cut-time first, which leads to learning about eighth-notes in four-four. Once they are liberated this way, their minds are more open to learning how to play in six-eight.
Thematic Context
The title, “Jesus, Lord and Savior”, is blatantly Christian, as are many of my trumpet pieces. In fact, very few of my compositions over the past twenty years have been truly secular. Even those compositions with less obvious titles tend to have Christian themes behind them.
Jesus, Lord and Savior is a simple acknowledgment that Jesus is more than the source of our salvation. As a Christian, I strive to live with Christ as Lord in my life. I don’t always get that part right, so this acknowledgement is a reminder to continue to try to live that way.
Skill Level
The skill level for Jesus, Lord and Savior easy trumpet quartet is the Trumpet Tyro skill level in our system. This is the second of two beginner skill levels. The top note in this trumpet quartet is fourth space E.
Some student might struggle with the time signature if they are stuck in the “one beat quarter-note” world. I don’t think other people’s skill level systems introduce cut-time so early in the students’ developments. Maybe, for that reason, they might say that this is an intermediate level composition.
Practice Recommendations
First of all, it is our recommendation that the students learn about cut time with exercises and etudes first, before applying that knowledge to this composition. It is, however, only a recommendation. In our system, we never use performance works to learn a new skill. Performance materials should be mostly “old hat” to the students in the ensemble. That said, not everyone who purchases our compositions is using our system.
Because this easy trumpet quartet is focused on giving your students an opportunity to perform in cut-time time signature, it is very important that they “feel” the measures in two, not in four. To facilitate this feel, we recommend that they are conducted in two and are instructed to tap their feet in two.
A very easy way to communicate this feel is through traditional counting. For example, if the students count the pickups at the beginning as “Two And | One”, instead of “Three Four | One”, then they will more clearly recognize the difference between four-four and cut-time.
There are also a number of staggered entrances in Jesus, Lord and Savior that might prove difficult to students who have never played music of that nature before. The way I like to work on those staggered entrances with my students is to rehearse them in pairs. Let each of the trumpet players recognize how their part fits with each of the other individual trumpet players.
Another practice that really helps with staggered entrances a lot is simply listening to the recording. This is one of the reasons why we provide demonstration recordings for almost all of our compositions.
Free Trumpet Play-Along Video
We have a free trumpet play-along video for this composition in our You Play First Chair video series. The series was created to give trumpet students an opportunity to practice sight reading and ensemble skills, but it also works well as a way to give you a chance to take the composition for a test drive. Click on the following button to access the trumpet play-along video for Jesus, Lord and Savior:
Jesus, Lord and Savior Demo Video
The following is a score video of Jesus, Lord and Savior. We believe in making our score videos available so you can make an informed decision as to whether to purchase the piece or not. We want you to be absolutely certain this is what you need because we want you to be a truly satisfied customer.
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