The son of a friend has recently been told by his teacher that he will never succeed as a trumpet player (!!) and the teacher has suggested looking at euphonium or baritone instead. They are rather upset because he has only been learning for about a year and as far as the parents were concerned he was enjoying the lessons and getting on fine - playing carols etc.

Leaving aside the obvious criticisms about not telling a child to their face that they have failed at something, can you cast any light on this? Is it really possible to tell a 10 year old that they will never be able to play their chosen instrument properly?

Thanks in advance for your advice!

Edit : Perhaps I should clarify that the child in question is a perfectly normal 10 year old, no learning difficulties etc..

Sue

Sounds as if his teacher thinks he'll do better with an instrument with a bigger mouthpiece, presumably to do with his embouchure. If the teacher is an experienced brass player/teacher, he or she should know best!

There may be some physiological reasoning behind it. I think its probably more prevalent with brass but if the teacher thinks he might do better on another instrument it may be worth a go, particularly if he wasn't familiar with the other instruments before choosing to take up trumpet.

Obviously he shouldn't have told the child directly, although maybe what he said is being unintentionally misinterpreted i.e. the teacher actually suggested trying another instrument/one that might be more suitable for him.

I think it is probably possible for the teacher to suggest he might be 'better' playing another instrument, easier for him to play and progress on etc. As far as i know there's no way the teacher could say definitively that he would be unable to ever play the instrument properly, unless there's other reasons e.g. disability which aren't applicable in this case, and even then can be overcome.

The odd thing is that the teacher was the one who initially suggested the trumpet and he now seems to have changed his mind.

Until they've actually played the instrument for a while it must be difficult to make a determination i suppose.

Is the teacher a specialist on trumpet? I ask because if you look at some of the brass forums you will see that recommending baritone is often the (much derided) resort of band directors who don't know how to help a pupil who may have embouchure problems.

It may be that another teacher with a different approach would be more positive - though I realise this may not be possible.

Jeff Smiley of the Balanced Embouchure method reckons anyone can learn to play the trumpet.

Play the trumpet myself and I haven't a clue what he means - maybe I would be better playing the euphonium too! Main problem I think, apart from completely undermining child's confidence and not sure year is long enough to say for sure that child won't succeed anyway - is you've got to love an instrument to play it well. If you want to play jazz and lots of trumpeters eventually do you are not going to want to change to the euphonium, how about a trombone if he must change?

I should think his teacher wouldnt have worded it like that.
When I had been playing for a year, my brass teacher said to me 'have you thought about changing instruments at all?' and I said no.

Im glad I did though, working towards grade 8 cornet now, have been playing for 6 years so I guess its about time!!




Sometimes, if a change of instrument would benefit a child, its kinder for the teacher to say so.. some people just dont adapt to certain instruments.. if you get me :]

I have posted elsewhere about my experience of playing the trumpet, but it seems very relevant here. Apologies for the repetition if you read my previous post.

I started when I was 11, and by the time I was 16 was really struggling to make a nice tone, play high notes, etc, although I could finger grade 6 pieces no problem. It was AT THIS POINT that my teacher told my parents that she had thought I would give up after the first term because I had found it so hard (I didn't think it was particularly hard - but then I didn't know how hard to expect it to be, or have any idea what other beginners sounded like). My parents wished she had suggested switching to a different instrument after the first year, so I could have found an instrument which I could play well.

It's possible that some people just don't have the right sort of lips to make a good trumpet embouchure. Maybe I would have been better off on an instrument with a bigger mouthpiece.

If your son's friend has been advised to switch to a bigger instrument I would reassure them that this could be a good move. It could even be seen as a "promotion". The fingering will be the same (I think), so the child should be able to make fast progress, and if it suits his mouth better his playing could take off. In fact, I'm quite envious - I've always wanted to play a big bass instrument, but somehow it never occurred to me to ask when I was a child.

As a brass teacher of many years could I suggest in the first instance that the parents of the child talk directly to the teacher.
There may be may different reasons for the teachers comment.
Some of them could be
1.It might be true
2. The child may well have misunderstood what the teacher said.(in my experience pupils often have difficulty in remembering what to practise!!)
3.Maybe the school band/orchestra has a surplus of trumpets and availability of other brass instruments, and all the brass pupils are being invited to change!!
4. Any other reason...who knows.....


So talk to the teacher first, it' ll avoid any problems