Teaching Trumpet

2007-10-28 01:07 am

I was just wondering if anyone had found a good way to print notes with trumpet fingering for trumpet students.

I have just begun teaching 2 students, and have gone about it by typing the notes in NoteWorthy, doing a print-preview, and then a copy/paste into MS Word. Then creating an image (3 vertical circles) below each note and printing. After printing, I color in the appropriate circle for which the student is to hold down the appropriate valve.

Any help would be appreciated!

Re: Teaching Trumpet

Reply #1 – 2007-10-28 02:18 am

You can place text entries within NWC - I would centre them at next note/bar...

If you wanted different colours you could choose a font that has a solid circle, select the appropriate point size and place 3 entries, one above the other, each with the appropriate colour selected - this could then be copied and pasted wherever you want.

NWC is IMHO fairly well suited for this.

If you are new to NWC then the following may help:

To nominate a "user font":

Go to Page Setup - either from the "File" menu or from the"open book" icon on a toolbar
Select the "Fonts" tab
Choose a User font (1 to 6) from the list
Click the "Modify" button
Select a font from the dialogue, and set it's size - you'll probably need to experiment a bit here
OK
OK

Now, place the text entry:

Locate your cursor to just before the note to have it's fingering shown and in the vertical position you want
Press <x>
Select the "Text Expression" tab if it is not already active
In the text dialogue type the character you want - this will depend on the font you chose - Typecase is an excellent tool for this (Google is your friend)
Choose the display font you set earlier (E.G User n)
Click the "Expression Placement tab"
Choose Justification "Center" and Alignment/Placement "at next note/bar"
Clicl the "Visibility" tab
Choose an "Item Colour" - in NWC1 you have 3 choices, in NWC2 you have more...*
OK

Are you going to show circles and dots for valve up and down? Normally, I've seen valve directives given as numbers. Are your students quite young?

If you wanted to use numbers, the techniques are basically the same, you probably just don't need to select a User font as "Page Small Text" would likely be fine. Just so, you probably don't need to worry about colours either.

Once you have created a set of Dots/numbers, you can copy and paste them easily this no longer needing to recreate them all the time.

I have a sample attached...

* If you don't like the highlight colours available, these can be changed on a global basis in the |Tools|Options|Color (tab) dialogue. Note that changes here are global for your NWC installation, they are not song specific.

Re: Teaching Trumpet

Reply #2 – 2007-10-28 02:08 pm

You might also use lyrics, assuming you have a font with open and solid circles. There are some floating around -- mine is from WordPerfect, but I thing those fonts are downloadable even if you don't own the program. I can check that if anyone is interested. If you just want things printed, use three lyric lines, one for each valve. If you want note-chase, then you have to layer three staves (two muted) with the same notes, each with it's lyric line offset appropriately. This means you don't have to insert three text items for each note, and they are automagicly positioned under the notes.

Re: Teaching Trumpet

Reply #3 – 2007-12-09 01:58 am

Thanks for both answers!

I will try both; it sounds like I might be able to use both, just for different situations that come up.

In answer to the question about my students, one is 12 years, and the other is 33. The older one has a ADHD condition that makes him unable to focus well, so he may be more difficult to teach advanced methodology and improv things, but I believe that he has natural abilities for range.

Again, thank you for both suggestions!