John DiStaulo was one of Canada’s finest lead trumpet players, and long time close friend of Maynard Ferguson who attributed much of his early success to John’s mouthpiece designs and playing approach. He played lead trumpet on many shows on the CBC, and as a dedicated brass instrumentalist, was always experimenting and searching for simple and correct embouchure techniques that could be adapted to all wind instruments, which led to his writing or this book “How to Build Yourself on Trumpet, With No Limitations (and Perfection)”.

John’s forward explains in detail how he mapped out his method, as well as how you should structure your practice for maximum benefit and efficiency, here is what he said:

My studies led me to consider all types of control that has had to be mastered. By giving the student this material he will have a proven method of practice that will lead to “perfection with no limitation”.

I suggest to the student that he or she should practice very often, not long in one session, but de­pending on one’s endurance. I recommend one should practice ten to fifteen minutes in one session with rest periods of not less than thirty minutes. Keep repeating this process until you feel you are ready to add five minutes to your playing. It may take three to four months before you could add five minutes. Keep the rest period the same.

Lessons one, two, three, six, seven, nine and eighteen should always be played when you first start to practice even though you have reached lesson No. 100. If one does these exercises very religiously the results will be amazing; he will stop blaming the mouthpiece, the horn, his lips, or the bore, etc. To sum it up; if a person wants to achieve playing with perfection, this book has the material and in­tructions to reach that goal.

To your left you can grab some samples, then click above for an immediate digital download.

The Folklore

There is a great story, folk-lore at this point, that DiStaulo (a very famous Canadian lead trumpet player at the time) used to make mouthpieces in his basement. One day, Maynard Ferguson’s parents came to him asking if they could make something for their son.

He took an old Rudy Muck piece and ground it down to a flat rim with rounded edges, just like a French Horn mouthpiece. He gave it to Maynard, and within a few months he developed the range that made him world famous.

His mouthpiece knowledge and lead trumpet playing led to John writing an incredible, long-lost trumpet method that he promised would end the cycle of blaming your horn, mouthpiece, horn, and lips, once and for all.