With more than 30 years experience playing principal trumpet with the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops, Phil Collins knows what it takes to be a successful orchestral trumpet player. In two new books, Phil has composed a fantastic series of etudes that hit the nail on the head, as they closely replicate the requirements of the real world. Even more important, they are fun to play. Phil cleverly incorporates myriad technical challenges into a musical context (kind of like hiding the broccoli). You develop not only the technical side of your playing, but also your powers of musical expression.
Contained on many of the pages are suggestions, humorous anecdotes and bits of advice, which really hit home. Often, with just a few words, Phil can change the way you approach an etude. He encourages you to strive for more than the notes.
These books are not just for trumpet players, but for anyone who wants to develop technique and powers of musical expression. Even if you already have a full complement of etude books, these will spend more time on your music stand than on the shelf. Download the excerpts and see for yourself!
Trumpet 1 addresses the myriad musical situations faced by the 1st trumpet player playing pops or commercial repertoire. Musically satisfying and stylistically diverse, these etudes are not terribly difficult, but there are many twists and turns that challenge your reading, endurance, dynamics, articulation, key fluency and overall musicality. The range generally doesn’t go past a high C, but that note can seem plenty high at the end of a long, lyrical solo! There is nothing quite like this book for developing the commercial style of orchestral playing.
TrumpEtudes contains 100 full-length studies based on the orchestral repertoire. Phil often compares a study to specific pieces in the classic literature. Somewhat more difficult than the etudes in Trumpet 1, this book is geared towards a moderately advanced player. TrumpEtudes will prepare you for pretty much everything you might encounter, and will keep you entertained and challenged throughout.