As Professor of Trumpet Technique at the Amsterdam University of the Arts and member of the Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw, Erik Veldkamp has learned first hand what works for players at levels to establish a strong daily routine that covers all areas of playing. This new series of “Your Daily” studies takes you on a tour of all aspects of trumpet technique with an innovative and interesting approach.

DEAL: Grab the entire Daily Exercises Collection for half-price right here.

Your Daily Target Practice came about organically from Erik’s interactions with students at Amsterdam University. When he saw how much they struggled to read the music, hear it in their head, then produce the starting pitches accurately, he knew he needed to create a series of exercises to help them. After hearing Bobby Shew discuss Target Practicing, he knew that he needed to create a book with play-along drones for trumpets in Bb and C to help people see the pitches on the page, hear them in their mind, then accurately produce them on the trumpet every time. With this book you get the full set of target practice daily exercises, along with two sets of play-along drones, one for Bb trumpet and one for C trumpet.

Erik writes in his foreword:

“Target practice will help you to play with more accuracy and security. It’s best to do these exercises after a proper warmup. By gradually expanding the intervals (and range) you will get more confident hitting the notes in all registers and in any context. I have added 12 drones which will help you to play in the centre of the notes with perfect intonation. Start playing the drone with the same note as the first note of an exercise and then play this exercise in any tempo you want.

Don’t play the exercises too fast, it’s better to play slow or even using rubato. Play the right notes with the best sound (and tuning) possible. Make the attacks accurate, play the notes marcato, so you get clean and fast attacks. The eighth notes should be played short but not too short. Remember the attack of the note should be the start of the sound!”

To the left you can see some samples, and below you can try the first target practice drill on Bb trumpet using the drone audio sample. When you are ready you can grab an immediate PDF download above.

Bb Concert Drone