hello,

i am a new trumpet player, but i played a couple of years the french horn. i want to be able to play more modern pieces of music, so i decided to play the trumpet. i got one from my father, so it is worth a try.

i am at a point, where i am not sure how to continue, maybe someone can show me his/her point of view or has got some experience ...

it is about playing and improvising with other instruments. i was on a folk festival and there were trumpet player who were able to play with the others instruments - but then they had to play in another way, then they play with notes? didnt they?

so if i want to play with notes at the one side i have to play a Bb when there is written a C, but when improvising I have to change how i play the tunes, am i right?

is there any way to get around that change in handles or do i have to learn both ways?

please ask questions, when i didnt made my question clear enough...

greetings an thanks for an answer
simon

Re: "so if i want to play with notes at the one side i have to play a Bb when there is written a C, but when improvising I have to change how i play the tunes, am i right?"

A note name is just what you decide to call a note; there is no real Bb. What a trumpet player or a clarinet player or a tenor saxophone player calls a Bb is just as valid as what a pianist of flutist or a guitarist calls a Bb. Just be aware that other instrumentalists will have different names for the same notes. When someone who plays a Bb instrument such as the trumpet performs with instruments that are not Bb instruments, he has to make some allowances, whether or not improvisation is involved. When, for example, your band or orchestra leader tells the oboe to play a tuning Bb, the trumpets must convert that Bb in their minds to a C in order to match it. Just so, when your guitarist asks you to play an improvising solo over the chords Dm7, G7, CMaj7, you (as a trumpet player) must first convert them in your head to Em7, A7, DMaj7. That doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't think in terms of the trumpet's normal name for notes: You should, whether you're improvising or not.