In this video lesson, Nick Drozdoff gives a first lesson dealing with trumpet mouthpieces, a huge topic for trumpeters. In this clip, he discusses the impact of the bowl volume on the tone of the horn. He does not go into much detail on the throat and back bore other than to say it “affects the resistance.” He is being vague here as there is a second video clip dealing with this specifically. To elaborate on this clip, here, Nick Drozdoff wants to just say that the most important add on for any trumpet/trumpeter is the mouthpiece. As you watch the clip you can see how dramatically the tone changes simply by changing the mouthpiece! Clearly the 10&1/2 E type mouthpiece produced a much hotter sound than the 3B type. By backing off and closing up the aperture slightly, you can make the hot mouthpiece sound pretty mellow, too! So, why not use it all the time and make the job easier to do all the way around. Nick Drozdoff comes close to that. He uses his asymmetric lead model on most gigs with Bb. However, in serious legit gigs, he finds that it is to much work to darken up the sound to the extent needed, so he moves to a much deeper model. Nevertheless, Nick Drozdoff would encourage you to always pick a mouthpiece that makes the job at hand easiest to do.

1. Why do Light-Weight Trumpets "Play Brighter"?
2. How Does a Trumpet Work?
3. Beats and Multiphonics on a Bass Trumpet
4. Timbre and Harmonics and Pedal Tones as Applied to Trumpet and Flugelhorn
5. On Trumpet Mouthpieces and Tone (Part One)
6. Shattering Glass with the Un-amplified Sound of a Trumpet

Ever wonder how a musical brass instrument such as the trumpet works in terms of physical and scientific phenomena?

In this course, professional trumpeter and Physics teacher Nick Drozdoff gives 10 video lessons explaining the beautiful connection between Physics and Music, focusing on the mechanism behind the trumpet.