text: Book Review: Trumpet Pedagogy, by David Hickman
  Posted on January 20, 2012 May 13, 2014 by Jonathan Harnum
  Click to buy it from Prof. Hickman
  dozens of music examples
  $69 (soon to be $95)
  If you play or teach trumpet, you have to have this book. In fact, I'm glad I didn't discover this book until several years after I'd put out my own trumpet book, because if I'd seen this, I wouldn't have bothered. The book is fantastic, and packed with so much information it's going to be difficult to summarize. But it's worth the challenge. Here we go:
  David Hickman is a well-known player and teacher, currently at Arizona State University. Here's a snippet from his web site:
  As a noted clinician and author, Hickman has presented workshops on over 300 major university campuses. He has taught (13 summers) at the Banff Centre for the Arts (Canada), Bremen Trumpet Days (Germany), Rafael Mendez Brass Institute (18 summers), and dozens of music festivals.
  If you have any question about the trumpet, you'll find it in Hickman's doorstop of a book (Table of Contents). It's got loads of pictures of great players, many of them closeups so you can see their embouchures, postures, and other details; there are dozens of pictures of instruments from ancient times to cutting edge trumpet makers. The illustrations are great and clear. The musical examples are numerous. And the amount of information is prodigious. You get the idea.
  My favorite picture is this one of Louis Armstrong's mouthpiece rim. It's got grooves carved into it. The grooves grip his chops so that when he gave the horn a slight twist, he was able to play higher. This, btw, is not a recommended way to increase your range. Louis used to play 77 high Cs in a row at the end of a tune (I think it might have been St. Louis Blues, but am not sure). At a show England when he did this, he split his lip so badly that the front of his shirt was drenched in blood and he had to stop playing for a long period. It's not clear whether he was using this twisting technique, but I'm guessing he was.
  The chapters in Trumpet Pedagogy I found most interesting were
  Chapter 5: Efficient Practice
  Chapter 8: Advanced Range, Power and Endurance
  Chapter 9: Common Problems and Suggested Remedies
  air in the tone
  upper register inconsistency
  nose air leakage
  "quacky' low register
  inability to play softly
  Whether you need to know about different embouchures, like the floating jaw embouchure versus the fixed jaw embouchure, or how Bell's Palsy or other medical conditions affect trumpet playing, or are curious about trumpet music, trumpet players, trumpet mutes, or really anything else regarding the trumpet, you should buy the book. Also, chat up your local librarian and as her or him to purchase a copy for the library. It's pretty expensive ($69 now, but for a limited time. Will go to $95 apparently), so a library might be able to afford it if you can't.
  There are few things about the book that could be improved upon, but here are some ways in which the book didn't measure up for me. The price is high, but that's understandable given the size, scope, and binding, but the price puts it out of range for all but the most serious players and teachers. Available only to trumpet players with a good job. I was surprised and disappointed with the quality of most of the images. The images are not so poor as to be ineffective, but many are pixellated, and nearly all of them would benefit from a few minutes in Photoshop adjusting curves.
  But these are minor, piddling concerns. Honestly, I can't recommend this book highly enough. Take advantage of Hickman's vast expertise, his research spanning decades, and his contacts with trumpet luminaries who provided pictures galore. Buy the book.
  Here are links to Professor Hickman's talk at the 2005 ITG conference (7 parts). Loads and loads of great information in these talks. (beginning of 6 deals with practice)
  Hickman lecture 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
  Professor Hickman performing:
  Steve Turre: All Blues (on a conch shell)
  Tine Thing Helseth plays Rachmaninoff
  3 thoughts on "Book Review: Trumpet Pedagogy, by David Hickman"
  Pingback: Festive Overture by Shostakovich: Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, 2009 « The Practice of Practice
  Pingback: Festive Overture, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, 2009 « Sound the Trumpet: How to Blow Your Own Horn