I hardly ever write about trumpet playing, but I think about it all the time. Mostly I don't write or talk about it because my thoughts are specific to the craft, and without being immersed in the craft my thoughts don't mean much. I would share my thoughts with those who are immersed in the craft more often, but that would mean I'd have to talk to trumpet players, and I avoid this whenever possible. However, here are several undeniable truths of trumpet-playing that have some general application.
1) The most difficult part of trumpet playing is finding time to practice. First, because the instrument makes a loud and penetrating sound. Even if you play music intended to be soft or gentle, trumpet playing carries through wood, drywall, and cement. Therefore anyone who has young children, spouses, or roommates must be mindful of those who share their house. Often one's neighbors will also be disturbed by trumpet practicing, especially in apartment situations. Secondly, the trumpet is a physically fatiguing instrument to play. After practicing anything in the upper register or in a loud dynamic, your lips will begin to swell up and impair response. Whenever a trumpet player practices, he is on two clocks--the first being the patience of his family and neighbors, and the second being the endurance of his own body. A great deal of trumpet practicing must necessarily be to extend the length of the second clock.
2) Professional trumpet playing is much like professional cooking. There are many amateur cooks who can concoct fine dishes in their own kitchens, dishes that would have a place in many fine restaurants. A professional cook retains his job because he can prepare these dishes and any other dish that is ordered with great speed in the midst of a chaotic kitchen in the middle of a dinner rush even when he isn't feeling particularly inspired, night after night. Likewise, a professional trumpeter must be able to perform not only one piece well, but any piece that crosses his stand. Often he'll be asked to play a wedding (using piccolo trumpet), a brass quintet ceremony, a classics concert with Haydn on the first half and Bernstein on the second half, a jazz big-band gig, and a newly composed fanfare all in the same week, while keeping an eye on a solo concerto, a rock show, and a Halloween concert that are all coming up the next week, and maybe even getting ready for an audition the following month.
3) Professional satisfaction depends largely on how well you can get along with your colleagues. For some musicians, their instrument is their religion. For others, they're stuck in an unhappy marriage with their career--bitter, disillusioned with the stage, and all too eager to get out of the hall as soon as rehearsal is over. Almost everyone has some sort of pride or disappointment tied up in where they're sitting and how they got there. It's impossible to be best friends with everyone you'll sit next to over the course of your career, but if you can find a way to be cordial and enjoy their company, it goes much better for you. Going to work is drudgery if you dread your stand partner.
4) There are infinite possibilities for equipment, and each piece of equipment does feel a subtly different. There are two solutions--you can spend a small fortune attempting to find the right combination of trumpets and mouthpieces that will feel infinitesimally better for you than every other possible combination, or you can pick up the "standard" gear, bring it to the practice room, and try to figure out how to sound good on it. Option two is better for your wallet and your marriage.
5) There's always someone better than you. Even the "greatest" players in the world have someone, some teacher or old childhood hero, who they look at back over their shoulder. Chances are, in fact, that you aren't particularly special at the trumpet, at least in the cosmic history of trumpet playing. This doesn't mean that you can't love and enjoy your instrument. This doesn't mean that you can't practice hard and always seek to improve yourself. But it does mean that you can truthfully appreciate your colleagues who do some things better than you do, and that you can take a genuine, humble satisfaction in being able to pull off whatever happens to cross your stand on a particular day.
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