I've been playing the clarinet for six years now. We have a new music teacher at school this year. She definitely wants me to keep playing my clarinet for concert band, All State, etc., but as far as we know, there are no trumpet players in our school. We having something called a pep band that plays at basketball games and whatnot, so she'd like to see if I could play the trumpet for that. I'm borrowing one from the school and have a method book. I'm usually a fast learner, so I'll be trying to teach myself. I played it for the first time last night, just basically doing C-D-E-F-G. Since it's pitched the same as a clarinet, I could tell that they were a little off. I'm thinking that will just come with experience. Just thought I'd share this. If anyone has tips for a beginning brass player or advice on crossing over, I'd appreciate it! I'm looking forward to stretching myself as a musician.

Practice

I learnt the trumpet in a week. - I bought it on the friday because the music shop didnt have any cream scones, then played for the easter service the following sunday. That was Thine be the glory, see what a morning, jesus christ is risen today, up from the grave he arose. Although that was lots of practice because I had a set a goal for myself. We had the painter and decorator in that week too, i got fed up of the strange noises.

What I did when learning was, I played along with a CD to make sure my intonation was spot on, its also alot more fun to play along with something! I also associated the fingerings with that of the clarinet and flute. ie. an A is 1st and 2nd fingers just like it is for 3rd register a on clarinet. F# is just the middle finger like the right hand in 3rd register F# on clarinet. B is also just the middle finger, like a B in the bottom register of a clarinet with the right hand. It goes on, but this is how I remember fingering for all the instruments I play - association.

Have fun - its a brilliant instrument to play!

Practice, - but dont over do it or you can damage your clarinet embouchure.
Little and often.

I started the cornet quite recently and though I found I learnt the notes quite quickly, it is taking time to develop range and stamina. Just got back to it today after a week of working away with no opportunity to practise - doesn't sound so good

Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. I can normally play with ease up to a high A but I've just come back from five days away and I can't play very well at all. It's surprising how you need to practice even a little bit every day because your lip muscles cant cope with it otherwise. During the term time when sometimes it's busy with homework and sport I feel like being lazy and giving it a heck of a blast at the weekend but it would take too long to get up to standard again. I remember when I was about 9 I could only play certain notes in a scale and not in a piece. Someone said that the fact I could play them in a scale meant I was capable and it would come in time. It did, but I had to practice every night just to keep my lip muscles working properly. I'm going to have to really get back in command of things now, because it's school next Wednesday. I've learnt all the scales and can play all my Grade 6 pieces relatively well normally, but can't at the moment.

i play the trumpet as well as the flute and clarinet. my teachers were really worried that i'd screw up my embouchure but i guess that if you've been playing your other instrument(s) long enough, they're pretty much fixed.
i've played in a concert where i had to switch from the trombone to the flute to the trumpet to the clarinet, and my only problem was that i didn't have enough space around me to put all the instrument stands!

I just spotted this thread and it's very weird as I am a clarinettist and I was just thinking the other day that playing the trumpet would be good (there are 3 clarinets in the orchestra I play in but only 1 trumpet as far as I can see - I have only just joined). I played the french horn for about a year 25 years ago and used to play tunes on my friend's trumpet and I think I still remember some things about playing brass instruments. The only things that are putting me off is:

1) expense of buying a trumpet
2) explaining to my husband that I want another instrument after just having bought some new clarinets
3) impact on enbouchure as I have just spent 6 months trying to get my clarinet-playing muscles back in order after years of neglect.

Good to hear that other people have managed to pick the trumpet up quite quickly.

Oh well, one day. Maybe I'll be able to convince my son that he'd really like a trumpet. He's only 5 but maybe in a couple of years ...

My son started learning the trumpet 4 years ago and I tried it for a while. It's quite easy to get the first octave, but then it requires a lot more work.

Definitely possible though. I didn't continue simply because of time constraints - and I wasn't crazy about the trumpet anyway.

One lesson I/we learned was the importance of the mouthpiece. You must get the correct MP for a beginner, then try various others. We all have different lips and it's quite amazing the difference they make.

As for embouchure, that old chestnut was buried decades ago, but still pops up now and again. If anything, it will strengthen your clarinet embouchure. Don't worry about it!

Steve

Okay, so it's been about a month now. I've basically gotten through this first lesson book (not a huge achievement, but still). I have an octave pretty comfortably and am sometimes able to push a note or two above and below. Obviously I'm having no trouble with fingerings since I'm used to the ridiculous ones on the clarinet. ;-) Embouchure is a bit of an issue though. You can play the clarinet with a bad embouchure and still get sound out (I did it for years), but the trumpet is a different story. There's a teacher's aid at my school who's willing to help me out, which is good. We have a band rehearsal tomorrow where I think I'll be playing both my clarinet and trumpet, so we'll see how that goes!

Thanks everyone for their responses. I'm really looking forward to see how far I can get with this. I don't think it'll harm my clarinet playing, but of course I have All State auditions in November, so I've been playing my clarinet more than twice as much as my trumpet anyway!