There is a difference between practicing the trumpet and practicing music. Practicing music is learning how to express emotion in sound with different pitches. Practicing the trumpet is learning how to play music on that instrument.
Learning how to play the trumpet involves:
- Tone quality (combines embouchure and air flow techniques)
- Embouchure (jaw setting, mouth, tongue expansion, lips, aperture, mouthpiece position)
- Air flow
- Lip Flexibility
- Tonguing
- Fingering dexterity
- Range
The degree to which you can execute each of these qualities for playing the trumpet determines the degree of music quality and difficulty you can play.
If you have a beautiful tone for notes below C, then that is as good as your music range can be.
If you can tongue at a metronome speed of 92, then that is the speed limit for music you can play.
If you can finger notes at a metronome speed of 120, then that is the speed limit for music you can play.
If you can slur notes at a metronome speed of 60, and finger notes at a speed of 92, and tongue at 116, then your speed limit is 60.
The better and faster you can execute each of the five qualities of trumpet playing, the more expressive you can communicate emotion with music.
Your trumpet playing is as good as your weakest quality. So practice all five qualities everyday, and use a metronome to keep track of your progress.
