My 10 year old daughter has been wanting to learn the trumpet for a long time now. I finally arranged for lessons and she had her first lesson yesterday but she came home from it carrying a huge trombone instead- she tried the trumpet but her teacher told her that she is a trombonist as she hits low notes on the trumpet, and so the trombone would be better for her. I do not have any knowledge of this so I am just wondering what your thoughts are on this- is it possible to say from a few minutes on an instrument such as trumpet whether a person would be better on another instrument- should we insist on continuing with the trumpet or just go with the trombone? The trombone seems really big for her right now too but maybe that'll be ok once she gets used to it.
She learns the violin and piano right now so would trombone be a suitable instrument for her?
I would appreciate any thoughts and comments on this.
Thanks!

I know nothing about brass instruments I'm afraid, so this is just an instinctive response. Far fewer people learn the trombone, so if your daughter has a natural ability to play it well, then it's probably a good idea - thinking ahead for opportunities to play in orchestras/bands etc - this may be what the teacher has in mind as well. It's probably worth trying it out for a few weeks to see how she gets on - it might grow on her. However, the most important thing is that your daughter enjoys the instrument she learns, so if she really wants to learn trumpet, then you should support her and insist that she has lessons on her first choice instrument. How about getting some trombone recordings for her to listen to - see if she likes the sound. Learning a bass clef instrument would be a good idea to give her a balanced range of music reading - might help L hand piano - just a thought.

Some teachers just know that pupils will be good one one particluar instrument.
I was always told if you have thinner lips you will make a good trumpet player, where as thicker lips give a good trombonist, I play trumpet and also a little trombone, once you learn a brass instrument there are so many that she could go on to.
At 10 she should be able to reach 7th postition which is when the slide is placed at its furthest away.
The only thing that worries me is the teacher said she is good at the lower notes, lower notes will always tend to come out well, as thats the notes you usually start with - around middle C - G.
Make sure she has a reputable teacher too,

I'd ask her what she sould like to play and give her the chance, she can always change back to Trumpet.
Good luck!

My daughter started the trombone in September aged nine and a half. She had wanted to play it for two years (having heard one at the local music school) but as she had only just started learning the cello I made her wait a bit.

As far as size is concerned, like you I think the trombone looks enormous and is heavy but that is my perception not my daughter's. She has a valve for 7th position and can reach the first six easily. She has progressed quite quickly on it (much quicker than the cello) and enjoys it a lot.

However, I would go with what others have said. If your daughter really wants to learn the trumpet, insist on the trumpet. The trombone has a very different sound to the trumpet and then there is also the difference between the slide and the valves. My daughter liked the sound of the trombone and she was also fascinated by the slide. She heard a tuba the same day as the trombone and, although she quite liked that too (she likes bass instruments) I am sure it was partly the slide that made her want to learn the trombone.

I know nothing about brass instruments but saying that she could get low notes on the trumpet and so should play the trombone sounds a bit bizarre to me. The note on the trombone are lower because the instrument is longer. Also, whatever the brass instrument, the higher notes are not as easy to play as the middle range ones.

Who's paying for the lessons??

If I join an evening class for french, I might be a little annoyed at being told I have to learn German.

By all means let her explore the trombone, but make sure that her heart is in it - and not the trumpet.

Steve

Sorry to post again but reading Steve's post made me think that I didn't actually insist enough on letting your daughter play what she wants to play.

When I was a child I wanted to learn the oboe. I was offered first the violin (in primary school where no wind instruments were taught) and then the flute in secondary school. I learnt the flute for a year and then gave up because it was NOT, and never would be, an oboe.

I finally started having oboe lessons 25 years later and still regret not having the chance to take it up as a child.

Trombones can be just as fun to learn as trumpet. I'm a trumpet player and am friends with a trombone player, give the instrument a chance for a month or so! Buy her some fun beginners books with stuff like theme tunes! though after a month passes if she still really wants to play trumpet and isn't enjoying the trombone then, yeh, maybe you should ask for her to continue with Trumpet lessons!!! good luck

Eh, I'm a few days late but I just want to say this, let your daughter try out ALL types of instrument not let the teacher half-###### her/his way into getting her to play what he/she wants (It took me 4 years to realize that I could have played the bassoon but didn't know we had one but i'm playing it now though >.<) and let pick one that she likes. Trust me, I got stuck with tuba and I never practiced and never really participated in band and I just never cared. This year, however I got the chance to play Bassoon this year and I have a whole new drive, I at least at my method book once a day, I visit this site, I'm actually looking forward to getting into All-Region.

It sounds as though the brass teacher may have been doing his best to make sure his one or two precious trombones go to people he thinks have some musical aptitude and will show some commitment to an instrument - qualities your daughter has already displayed. I think trombone is on the "endangered instruments" list so there are some incentives to try and push it. You don't say how your daughter feels about it - is she disappointed not to have a trumpet, or slightly bemused but not overly worried to end up with a trombone. If it's the latter I'd say go with it and see what happens. To take stevensfo's analogy a bit further - If I'd turned up at a French evening class knowing I wanted to learn French because it would be useful for work / I had friends, family etc living in France or any other strong reason I wouldn't be fobbed off with German classes instead. If I'd turned up because I wanted to learn a language, get out of the house one evening a week and maybe meet some new people and I'd chosen French because I had some familiarity with it, then if on arriving to register I was told that the French class was oversubscribed with 30 people in the class, but that the German class was half the size I might change my mind and give that a go instead.

It's possible that the teacher has observed your daughter and decided that she will get on better with an instrument that uses a bigger mouthpiece. However, this doesn't mean that she can only play the trombone - there are other options available. You haven't said whether your daughter was upset with the decision but if she isn't happy about learning the trombone I'd suggest that you approach the teacher and ask if she can try one of the other brass instruments (tenor horn, baritone and euphonium, all of which use valves, not slides) instead.

If your daughter has her heart set on learning the trumpet I'd definitely let her have a try because unless she fall in love with her trombone (or whatever instrument she chooses) she's likely to give up.

One brass teacher I know of locally allocates instruments based on which players are needed for the area junior band. I'm not suggesting that this is what your daughter's teacher has done but it will be interesting to learn why she was categorised so quickly as a 'trombonist'.

Yes- I was very surprised by such a quick decision myself. but we decided to give it a chance to see if my daughter likes the trombone- she is quite enthusiastic about any musical instrument generally. But on her second lesson, she came out saying she didn't want to do it again as it seems that the teacher was getting very frustrated with her in the lesson as she couldn't get the notes right (it was her second lesson!) and she felt that she was rubbish and wouldn't be able to do this, etc. etc. She says that she doesn't want to learn trombone and not trumpet either because he had already told her that she wouldn't be very good at trumpet. My daughter usally loves to learn and is quite enthusiastic about learning generally. I am very surprised about all this and also very confused as to what to do. This teacher is a peri teacher in her school so I've already booked for the whole term (as we have to do in advance) so I cannot cancel the lessons now. But I do not wish to force her into doing something that she is not happy about considering she already has a busy life doing many other activities that she actually enjoys doing.

IMO for the teacher to show his frustration at her inability to play the correct notes in what is only her second lesson should set the alarm bells ringing.

I'd have thought that at this stage in the learning process your daughter will still be coming to terms with holding the trombone properly let alone producing correctly pitched notes. If this is her first brass instrument I would have expected a good part of her lesson (and subsequent practice for the week at home) to be about 'buzzing' using the mouthpiece only. The lesson should also have involved correct posture - the trombone can be an unwieldy beast until you get the support and balance right.

Is there any way you can sit in on her lesson or meet with the teacher to discuss the situation and find out the reasoning to start her on trombone? What other options did he consider? Does she want to play a valved instrument and if so, what is available to her? When he said she couldn't play the trumpet as she produced low notes did he actually give her any instruction on what she need to do with her lips to raise the pitch on the trumpet? She may well be more receptive to learning a different brass instrument if she is at least given the chance to try the trumpet and anyway with clear instruction and encouragement your daughter may well prove to be a first class trumpeter.

I would second what Allanah has just said (from the point of view of a parent observing my daughter's progress on the trombone). She had only the mouthpiece for the first three weeks of lessons because the music school was supposed to be renting us a small size trombone and it hadn't arrived. Her teacher said that although it was obviously disappointing for my daughter not to have the instrument straight away it was actually better to just start with the mouthpiece and not having the instrument meant she would not be tempted to try and play the whole trombone too early. As well as the "buzzing" which Allanah mentions, he also asked her to do breathing exercises at home.

Even when she got the trombone she continued to do a lot of work just with the mouthpiece and her teacher still gets her to play pieces first with the mouthpiece only and then "add" the rest of the trombone. She spent several weeks just learning to play F correctly and then Bflat. Once she'd grasped the idea of changing your lip shape (or whatever the correct term is) he started getting her to move the slide and only then did the number of notes she learnt increase quite quickly - she can now play an octave and a half.

Her teacher has always stressed that everyone learns at their own rhythm and that the most important thing is that my daughter should be enjoying what she is doing.

If you " signed up " for trumpet lessons then you should stick to your guns. ...especially as you have paid for the term. However it does seem that your daughter now has a problem with the teacher.... is there anyway you can speak to him... or the music service...is she learning in a group...maybe it has something to do with that.

With whom did you negotiate these lessons? It seems to me that you have grounds for complaint about this peri teacher. He has failed to deliver what you have paid for, and has gone some way to towards turning your daughter off brass playing altogether.

For another slant on trumpet v. trombone consider what sorts of music use them:

Trumpet: rather little before Classical (though modern trumpets are use to replace cornetti in Renaissance music), and seriously interesting chromatic parts only from about 1830; important in jazz; in the wind band but not (usually) the brass band, where the modern cornet (a possible doubling instrument for a trumpeter) is preferred.

Trombone: chromatic from the date of its invention (c. 1475); much excellent ensemble music from c.1450 onward, with the period from 1580 to 1620 especially prolific (e.g. Venetian canzonas); in opera and church orchestras in the 18th C. but not in the synphony until Beethoven 5 (1808); important in jazz (including small groups); in both wind bands and brass bands.

Hi
I would like to respond to a couple of points here!

Firstly something to think about, the instrument chooses you and you don't choose the instrument.
Secondly the only thing that makes a brass instrument work is your lips - with the smallest muscles in your body they are quite special, the mouthpiece is an aid and the instrument is a amplifier.

If he has put her off by the second lesson that isn't good, but any teacher of sorts will spot mouthpiece problems and if a pupils was only getting low notes straight away, I would also suggest another brass instrument - it is all to do with buzzing; if she was only getting the low notes, that probably would probably even stop her getting the first tutor book notes.

I would also be asking why the trumpet - is that the only brass instrument she has heard or seen?

I hope this helps

I agreee with some of your points Daztan, BUT to add a couple of things:

to be on the instrument by the second lesson suggests that not enough muscle development work was done (Buzzing to you and I). it can realistically take 3 or 4 weeks to develop enough muscle tone to be able to pitch a secure note.

Most brass teachers would WANT their students to be able to pitch a low note straight off. It is usual for cornet and trumpet players to play a "bottom C" (Concert Bb ) as their first note so low notes should be welcome!

Also, MOST tutor books start on a "bottom C" rather than higher notes, and any tutor book worth their salt actually offers starting points for players whose natural notes are high as well as the standard low starting point - The Jock mackenzie Tutor book for young brass players and Brassmania being two such examples.