how different is it going from sax to trumpet ?

[pepper]

i've been thinking about taking up a brass instrument as a second, either trumpet or trombone. i know most sax players tend to stick within the reed family or flute.

how much difference is there in changing from reeds to a trumpet. can learning a trumpet embouchure be damaging to your playing on reeds ?

any thoughts on this ?

[G-dawg]

I am a band director who plays sax, so my brass playing has been in the realm of teaching begining or 1st year band students, nothing close to professionally.

I find that I cannot play any brass instrument and then go to sax becuase of embouchure problems. I never play the brass instrument very long, but the buzzing of the lips and everything involved in that makes it very difficult for me to go back to a "controlled" sax embouchure. My top lip especially, feels very fatigued.

Articulation between the instruments is a little different as well. Most brass players tend to tongue up around the gumline of their top teeth. Getting used to not having the mouthpece/reed set-up in your mouth can take some time. I almost always tongue on brass instruments between my teeth rather than moving the tongue up higher in the mouth.

I'm not sure that "damage" is done by making that kind of switch. Maybe someone else out there has some experience...???

[knighttrain]

Pepper, I don't play brass professionally, but I've been messing around with a Cornet for about a year. I usually play it while my reeds are soaking, just to pass the time. It doesn't cause any problems for me on sax or clarinet, and I've become a passable improviser in several keys on the Cornet. It is a different animal from the reeds, however. Other than general musical aptitude, not too many skills transfer.

[pepper]

thanks for the advice.

it's just an idle thought at the moment, although i kind of think in doing so i may end up spreading myself a bit thin musically, so to speak. seems that everyone and their dog round here is looking for trumpet players.

i've heard that the trumpet is considered harder - i'm sure there's an element of truth to that, though it's probably all subjective.

[Perfect Pitch]

The fingering and embouchure are horribly different - probably why most tend to double on flute or clarinet.

[gary]

I play both. The main difference of course is how the vibrations are produced in the first place. The trumpet is a very physical instrument and you've got to be willing to put in a lot of time just on the physical aspects, which in comparison to practicing sax, might be considered boring. Its all in how you look at it.

Regarding the embouchures one doesn't effect the other too much as long as I am moderate about how long I play/practice either instrument.

You'll also notice if you get into trumpet, that the, for want of a better phrase, value systems, are a bit different. In the extreme, where a sax player might strive to play a million notes a minute, the trumpet player is happy to play just a few, but higher and louder than anyone else, LOL. Really different animals.

[TenorTrane]

Higher eh.... Gary...?


*Thats what Altissmo is for... lol :twisted:

[Hornlip]

Benny Carter played alto sax & trumpet in the 30's and 40's, alternating on the bandstand. I know there are a few other pros who did / do the same, but I can't remember who they are -- .

I think it's just a matter of your natural capabilities. Some people are more naturally able to play on brass, some on woodwinds, some can do both.

Before I could afford a saxophone, a friend gave me her student cornet. I taught myself to play that (copping old Louis Armstrong solos) until I gathered the dough for the sax. I enjoyed the cornet so much, I almost didn't bother with the sax. Now I've got an old Conn trumpet that I pull out now & then to futz around with. It's fun.

[kcp]

The trumpet is a very physical instrument and you've got to be willing to put in a lot of time just on the physical aspects, which in comparison to practicing sax, might be considered boring. Its all in how you look at it.

This is exactly the reason why my bf shitched to saxophone some 6/7 yrs ago after nearly 25 yrs as a trumpet player. He got more involved with writting/arranging music which now occupies the major part of his time. But whenever a gig used to show up, the downside was that his trumpet chops were so so, from lack of dailly practice. For him the sax was a better alternative since it is less physically demanding.

He occasionally still plays trumpet btw, there is nothing "damaging" for the sax embouchure he says.

[BlueNote]

Still, if you didn't play your sax for let's say a week, you're not going to sound as great as you did before you took that break. You can get it back in a day or less, though. If you took a week off from a brass instrument, you'd sound horrible and it would take at least a couple days to re-adjust your embosure. It's all about the embosure on brass instruments.

[gary]

I know there are a few other pros who did / do the same, but I can't remember who they are -- .
Here's one. Check out Ira Sullivan; wonderful sax/trumpet player
.
This is...why my bf switched to saxophone... after nearly 25 yrs as a trumpet player. He got more involved with writting/arranging music... " "...the downside was that his trumpet chops were so so....
Small world, Kim. I played for about 14 years and switched to flute and sax not only because of the chop factor, but as a writer I wanted to know as much about WW instruments as I did about brasses.

[area51recording]

I played trumpet for 20 years before I bought a tenor. I quit playing trumpet within 6 months because the sax just felt so much more expressive to me and also I didn't have the sometimes daunting physical challenges connected to it as i did with the trumpet, which even after 20 years of playing was still a demanding task master for me! One thing I noticed during my short stint playing both instruments was that going from trumpet to the sax was no problem, but for me at least after I played the sax for an extended period my lip would not tolerate going back to the trumpet, as it would not vibrate properly. I'm sure however this is a personal issue, as I know people that play both sax and trumpet with no problem, and probably speaks more to some deficiencies in my own trumpet embouchure. I gotta say I don't miss my old "brass ball bat" however! :D

[zephyr]

Just wonderring opinions of others who switched from brass to reed - on tonguing. I learned trumpet in grade school ( not pro quality by any stretch) & am now teaching myself alto sax - my first reed inst.

Everything i read says I should be tounguing on the reed, but my articulation feels & sounds cleaner & better on roof of my mouth. Should I bite the bullet & learn to toungue on reed, Or keep playing tha sax the way it feels most comfortable to me BTW - I still have an old trumpet, but I like the range & sound of the sax a lot better. I dont have any aspiratitions of becomming a trumpet virtuoso at this time. I do have a couple of Cedar 5 hole flutes I play around with. Nice sound, but only 1 octave of range

[Vziegler]

I played trumpet for years before taking up alto sax. I think playing sax strengthens my embouchure for trumpet (particularly the lower lip), and I find sax too have far fewer endurance issues than trumpet does for me. Psychologically, I think it's easy to have a "trumpet mentality" on saxophone--it's an instrument that's expected to play lead when it has the melody. (I should mention that I'm playing pep band and big band music, not classical.) Our university pep band (I'm a faculty advisor, not a student) basically treats trumpets, alto saxes, and trombones as the 3 lead sections. I wish I'd started sax years ago in high school. As much as I love trumpet, I think I could probably have gone farther on sax...

Valarie

[steve]

I play sax ( primarily tenor) and slide trombone. I have had no problem switching between the two. You might want to consider a valve trombone because the fingering is logically similar to the right hand fingering on sax. One thing to consider...the 'bone's music is bass clef.

[Tom Goodrick]

I play trumpet, trombone and tenor sax. The sax was a late pickup in my 30's. I do not understand why anyone would have trouble with interference in the embouchers. I guess it does depend on your technique. I was taught well on trombone at an early age to play with as little physical distress as possible. The easy way was always the best way. Also, a firm breath supply is the fundamental aspect of playing any wind instrument. Today I play all the instruments every day, starting with trombone or trumpet while soaking reeds. (I have recently found that with mineral oil, reed soaking time is minimal so this is changing.)

The major problem could be tonguing and vibrato. I decided when going back to these instruments recently, that I was going to use the same 'TOO' sound for sounging all of them. To me, my sax tonguing is better than most reed-touchers. I used to use the shake vibrato on the trumpet and the slide vibrato on the trombone. I still use mainly the slide vibrato on the trombone - that's a special case. But I use the same lip vibrato on the trumpet as on the sax. The result is I have a nice, versatile and similar vibrato on both instruments.

My sax emboucher helps my brass emboucher. I play more high notes longer into the practice session than ever before. I don't see how a brass emboucher could hurt a sax emboucher. I had trouble with one sax mouthpiece (New York Link) because it caused sores on my lips right where they fit on the trombone mouth piece. Maybe I could have grown calouses and gotten over it but I did not want to. HR pieces don't do that.

[JimMetcalf]

Started clarinet in 1953 sax in 1955-trumpet in 56
Still play all-find flugelhorn more "User Friendly" now than trmpt
Those l-o-n-g whole tones seem to be basic requirement for all!
Trumpet/flugel is less forgiving of practice lapse. Clarinet and trumpet require abount same time investment-sax a bit less-- ------BUT all require those L-O-N-G tone, whole note exercises! :)