You, Me and a Trumpet

Product Code: YMT

Description:

A revolutionary new concept for learning a brass instrument. A multifunctional multimedia tool for beginners, players and teachers, this CD ROM costs less than a trumpet lesson, but will provide a solid and lasting source of inspiration and information! Includes melody book, play-alongs, video, audio and virtuoso demonstrations. Build a virtual trumpet! See a balloon play a trumpet! The best possible start, even without a teacher!

Brochure [pdf] l Huff Puff Music

Hear some inspirational trumpet playing in this excerpt from You, Me and a Trumpet.

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Brass Herald Product Review

‘Something really new and original – a landmark CD-ROM’

In music education, now and again someone comes along with something really new and original, and Paul Mayes is to be commended for a new landmark CD-ROM. This delivers a course of ten lessons for a beginner trumpet or cornet player through interactive multimedia and offers a menu of information, hints and repertoire on the side.

The ten lessons graduate from breathing, blowing, buzzing, making a sound, to a wide range of basic skills well beyond beginner level. Really clear concepts of embouchure formation and all aspects of technique are demonstrated well, involving simple props of balloons and straws to help get started! These concepts are well founded and deceptively clever, and I won’t steal any surprise by revealing more here. The many hints include advice on instruments, mouthpieces and even career path – after mastering lesson ten the CD-ROM recommends the student continue with a real live teacher and suggests how to find a good one. Sections on how the valves work, assembling the instrument and maintenance (topics most prosaic in print) are just fantastic, and I imagine fascinating to any learner.

An integrated ‘booklet’ of familiar repertoire ranging from Ode to Joy to the Blue Danube is well chosen and appropriately graded. Many sections are heralded or accompanied by tracks or sound bites of trumpet playing of a virtuosic and most attractive level, which enhance the didactic thread throughout. As Maurice Murphy is quoted “the fantastic playing will inspire all”.

Graphics and design are excellently laid out, attractive and easy to navigate and the style of text is conventional and user-friendly at any level. This CD-ROM is offered at a price of £19.95, and I wonder how many young players may be fired up by this. A wonderful Christmas present for sure!

John Miller, Brass Herald (October 2007)

'The Trombonist' Product Review

'A new and startlingly original addition to the busy world of music tutoring aids...'

'Frankly, at less than twenty quid it is a complete bargain when you consider the sheer quantity of work and thought that has gone into its production: it is an item of real class.'

Amos Miller (Spring 2008)

Zone Review (Summer 2008) [pdf]