Your vacation is supposed to be fun, relaxing, and a joyful occasion.  However, let’s say you are headed off on a plane to some exotic island and you are unable to bring your trumpet either because of bag limitations, you don’t have a flight case, you are staying with friends or relatives that definitely don’t want to hear your range study, or you’ll be in a hotel or condo and playing isn’t an option.   But, you have a heavy performance scheduled upon your return.

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Trumpets are fragile and bulky.  They don’t fit under the seat on a plane and you are always worried someone will crush it with their luggage or try to move it and drop it.   Most of the time you will be so busy sight seeing you will have little time to practice anyway.
Here are a couple of tips to help avoid the anxiety and to keep your chops in shape at the same time.  You can do a number of things to give your chops a workout including; lip buzzing, mouthpiece buzzing, and lead pipe buzzing.

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There are a couple of books that you can use for lip buzzing and mouthpiece buzzing.  I will include the two of my own that I have posted on YouTube here.  Be sure to download the free PDF’s of the play along at https://www.jefflewistrumpet.com//beginningbook.

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Hopefully you will have internet access where you are headed but if not, you can down load the play along ahead of time.
Another great resource is James Thompson’s the buzzing book.  The play along is really good but you have to access it online as well.  This book has a plethora of warm ups and lip slurs to keep you busy for a long time.

The Buzzing Book (Complete Method) for Trumpet and Other Treble Clef Brass Instruments with MP3 Accompaniments

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“James Stamp Warm Ups and Studies for Trumpet” is another classic exercise book that should be in everyone’s arsenal.  There are some “free” lip buzzing exercises included as well.  The Stamp book has flow study exercises, tonguing exercises,  and exercises that utilize the pedal register.  The play along that you can download for this book is not as good as it could be but there are two other things you can do to help you buzz along in key.

Warm-ups & Studies for Trumpet and Other Brass Instruments

(Jeff Lewis is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.)

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The first is called “Tiny Piano” app.  It is a virtual keyboard that allows you to play single notes and chords so that you can be sure you are buzzing in the correct key.

Click here for the “Tiny Piano” app.

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The next is the “Tonal Energy” app.  It is actually a tuner, drone, metronome, and recorder all in one.  I use these apps everyday.  This is a great ear training tool to play along with.  The drone feature is particularly slick and helpful to zero in on intonation while buzzing and on the horn.

Click here for the “Tonal Energy” app.

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Playing the lead pipe alone is a great way to warm up and loosen the chops.  Bill Adams was a big proponent of warming up this way and there are many tutorials online outlining the method.   You can pick up a cheap lead pipe online as well.

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My final suggestion would be to buy a cheap (or expensive) pocket trumpet because they easily fit into your luggage.  One word of warning on this pocket trumpet is that it plays out of tune and doesn’t slot well.  So you’re thinking, “why use it”?  For me, it plays just well enough to practice on, but, you could never do a gig on it.  If you bring a small practice mute for your pocket trumpet, you should be in good shape for your next performance!  Hope this helps!

Merano B003S1BBFQ Blue Pocket Trumpet

Pro Tec ML203 Liberty Trumpet Compact Aluminum Practice Mute

This mute is lightweight, small, durable, and has a thick cork.  It fits well in gig bags and cases and is small enough to fit in a pocket trumpet.  It also plays fairly well in the lower register.

DISCLAIMER: This video and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. It will not cost you more money but it will support the channel and allows me to continue to make videos like this. Thank you for the support!