Serse Peretti’s Method for Trumpet is such a fantastic find. Popular for nearly a century in Europe, this method has never been available for sale in North America. Don’t be frightened by the Italian title, only a few pages are in Italian and the other 200 are nothing put unparalleled trumpet etudes and duets.

The first volume of this book consists of exercises for the trumpet, beginning with articulation and rhythm practice, then on to scales, legato, and marcato. The absolute best thing about this method is its heavy reliance on etudes, that is, teaching by doing. From the very beginning there is an emphasis on style, not just rote mechanics. I am not sure there is another method book in this store that is so densely packed with musical etudes for study as compared to exercises and patterns.

When it comes to Volume 2 the exercises are gone entirely and it is a seemingly unending list of etudes written by Peretti and his contemporaries (Mariani, Fontana, Franz, Rossari, etc) and duets, all of which are meant to be played as written and transposed into various pre-defined keys. This volume ends with its big flourish, a set of Studi di Perfezionamento (as you would see with Gatti or Cafarreli) but this time collected from a slew of contemporary composers. Challenging and refreshing, this is not a book to miss.

There are MANY MANY free pages to the left. Check them out, then grab an immediate PDF download above, with the complete collection discounted automatically for you.