Have Trumpet, Will Excite!

I have decided to give the trumpet a try. I found my sister's old Getzen up in my parent's attic. It needed a bit of soldering, but otherwise seemed ok. My parents very kindly had the soldering done in Milwaukee and sent it to me last week.



So far, I have found it much more difficult to play than I hoped. It took me a couple of days to get from middle C up to G and back down. It took me until yesterday to get from C to the next C up. Today I hit a very weak D above that. I can easily go down to A below middle C. So I am making progress, but it is pretty slow. Not slow enough to discourage me yet though.

Dad thinks I should be sure there is nothing wrong with the trumpet; it's been up in the attic for about 3 decades. My guess is that there is nothing wrong with it, I just don't have the chops. I was hoping that playing the flute would have strengthened my lips a bit to make it easier, but it seems that the different embouchure means it's not much help.

In any case, I have a new-found respect for trumpet players! I can't imagine how in the world a guy like Dizzy Gillespie plays as high as he does. It's astounding.