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from you diaphragm, not from your mouth. Just make sure to tighten the corners of your mouth while leaving the center loose; the buzz is highest quality then. There are three valves, vertical tubes side by side with a plunger sticking out of the top of each. Push a plunger with your finger and you give the air flowing through your horn access to that valve's little loop of pipe. This changes the sound by a few notes. There are nine combinations of valve pressing, so you will need to learn how to make two notes from the same configuration. The secret is in your air and lips: Speed up your air and tighten your lips slightly, and the note will jump up to the next one in that valve set. Notes with the same valve set are called "partials." Starting and stopping the air comes from your tongue; place your tongue on the roof of your mouth to stop the sound, and tap it to separate notes. Eventually you'll learn how to tongue very quickly.

If you can't play high notes right away, you shouldn't be worried in the slightest. Few beginners can play as high as Maynard Ferguson or Louis Armstrong instantly. For most people, a high F or G is their starting range. These notes are high but not the highest by any means. By concentrating on skill and lip strength in the low notes, your high notes will begin to come to you.

The last things you might want to buy are a cheap, folding music stand and valve oil. The music stand will make life much easier when playing at home; I had to struggle to place music books on tables and look down at them, or tape them to the wall. It was not the best of times. I had a stand many years ago, but over time it fell apart, as things do. Valve oil is very important. Your valves will begin to stick to the walls of the tubes in short order, and the only thing that will lubricate them again is valve oil. Don't try 3-in-1 or vegetable or any other oil; you might damage the metal or gum up the valve. Simply unscrew the top of the valve and remove it; coat it in oil and replace it. Make sure it sits right (you might need to rotate it until its plastic spacer ring sets into place) and don't get them mixed up. If you do, they do have little numbers engraved into them.

The only thing you need now is you. So go get a trumpet and some lessons! There are thousands of songs just sitting in a music store waiting patiently for you! And there's no reason why you can't play them!

Learn more about this author, Ronald C Stewart Iii.
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