What is your greatest challenge?

I'm asking you personally, what is your greatest challenge as a musician? Is it finding the time to practice? Or maybe it's connecting with the right musicians to make an ensemble really click?

This question has driven much of my life since I was in high school back in the late 80's. Once I got hooked on playing trumpet, I found myself running into more and more challenges that were seemingly beyond my capacity. I wanted to play high, fast and loud like many others, but my greatest goal at the time was simply making beautiful music that would captivate any and all listeners. You see, my challenge was embouchure. I suffered loose teeth and mangled lips due to excessive mouthpiece pressure and I would have done anything to correct this issue.

As a young man, I became obsessed with overcoming my challenges on trumpet and helping my colleagues with the same. First, I studied the physics of brass playing and corrected my embouchure. Then I studied the physics of brass instruments and redesigned the trumpet hundreds of times in search of the perfect balance between efficiency and resonance. Then I studied the psychology of trumpet players to eventually create the world's only mouthpiece with modular cup and throat variations both in dimension and shape. Yes, this innovation is directly related to the psychology of how trumpet players hear themselves! And this led to introducing the variable performance system (VPS) allowing complete adjustment of flexibility, slotting, air flow, and resonance. What is my greatest challenge as a trumpet player today? Finding the time to practice and perform!

Take a few seconds to think about your three greatest challenges as a brass player? Write these down.

What if I could help you with just one item on your list? Would you want to learn something new that may lead to you overcoming that challenge? Are you willing to learn something new? I can only help you if you are truly interested in breaking your paradigm. I've done this for thousands of trumpet players over the past 25 years. And I wake up every morning excited to get into the shop or showroom to work directly with my clients on their challenges. In fact, it was working with so many amazing people that led to my own success as a musician, inventor, trumpet designer and brass coach.

I'm ready to help you tackle the first challenge on your list. Comment below and share what you would like to do better so that your audience will be entranced by your next performance.

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