The 4 Things You Need to “Cook” With Your Trumpet

“The sheet music isn’t ‘the music,’ it’s a recipe.”

You may have heard the above analogy. I’ve been cooking a lot lately, so let’s dig in and see how far this simple statement can take us:

1. You Need a Recipe

The entry barrier on recipes is low. Anyone can go out and buy the same sheet music you have. All one needs is money. You can get sheet music for a different piece, and in many cases a better piece, but not necessarily a better copy of the same sheet music by spending more money.

2. You Need the Right Tools

The entry barrier on tools is a bit higher, because instruments generally cost more than sheet music. Of course you can get a cheaper instrument, but there’s typically an increase in quality for an increase in price. Same goes for dozens of different types of accessories. You can buy some great tools if you have the money.

Which instrument should you get? Well, which knife should you use? They all cut. Some might stay sharp longer, at the expense of flexibility. Some are too unwieldy for certain cuts, but big enough to make other cuts possible. You have to know what cuts you need to make. Which is the better stove: expensive electric, or cheap gas? Do you really need to invest in a specialized tool like a ladle, or will a generic spoon work well enough? It depends on what you’re trying to cook. Maybe you like to make soup every day. Maybe you will never make soup, ever, but you’d use a cast iron skillet every night to make steaks. The more you cook, the more you’ll know what tools you need. (This also relates to point No. 4 below.)

Likewise, the more you play trumpet, the easier it will be to decide which new or specialized equipment will make a big impact on your end results.

Do you need the most expensive trumpet? Maybe. At a certain point, you’re just paying to be the player with the most expensive trumpet. There’s a market for the most expensive watch and the most expensive car, even though there are dramatically cheaper alternatives that tell time or get you from point A to point B. There are situations where some people find the expense is worth it.

3. You Need Fresh Ingredients

The ingredients in this analogy represent your physical aptitude for playing trumpet. Breath control, finger dexterity and coordination with the airstream, embouchure control, articulations, etc. These are all perishable skills that will atrophy without consistent reinforcement.

The only way to have better, fresher “ingredients” on hand is consistent, persistent practice of fundamentals. If you have great tools and you know how to use them, but you’re cooking with moldy spinach and cheap hot dogs, you’re not going to produce a beautiful meal. Few people will “pay” you to cook that for them, and you don’t want to work for the people who will.

The better your ingredients, the better your proverbial pizza. The best ingredients aren’t cheap, but to the artist, they’re worth it.

4. You Need To Know What You’re Doing

Maybe you have a recipe, a great set of kitchenware, and a pile of fresh ingredients. Do you know why the recipe might tell you to use a particular ingredient instead of another? Which substitutions or additions will work, and which will ruin the dish? If this recipe just a slight variation of a classic? Can you nail a medium rare steak every time? Do you know when a soft peak becomes a stiff peak? There’s more to it than just reading the words of the recipe.

Knowledge and skills are why the same recipe might have reviews saying, “These cookies were a huge hit at the office holiday party!” and “THESE COOKIES WERE TERRIBLE YOU RUINED CHRISTMAS FOR MY WHOLE FAMILY!” One of these reviewers doesn’t know how to use a recipe to turn a list of ingredients into a delicious cookie.

If you don’t have the experience to know how to analyze the music you’re playing, or the skillset to consistently execute your conception of the piece, it doesn’t matter what piece you’re playing or what horn you’re playing it on. It’s not going to sound like that recording from your Pinterest board.

You need to know, for example, the context of the various musical markings on the page. Dynamics, for example, are contextual to what else is going on in the music at the time, the dynamics marked in the rest of the piece, the composer’s milieu and idiosyncrasies, the physical space you’re performing in, which musicians you’re performing with, who’s paying you, what mouthpiece you’re using, etc.

Maybe you encounter a note with no articulation markings. How do you shape it? Or maybe there is an articulation marking; what does it actually mean this time? Again, there are multiple layers of context to unpack.

Overall, this analogy goes pretty far without breaking down. Find a piece you like. Get adequate equipment. Then spend most of your time on points 3 and 4, because that’s where the leverage is.