PRACTICING

SMARTER
WITH ALLEN VIZZUTTI

LEARN MORE AT tonebase.co

Dear trumpeters,

Allen Vizzutti is one of my favorite trumpeters, ever. Period!! One can imagine my excitement when he

answered my e-mail and agreed to come spend two days in Los Angeles with me to produce a handful

of courses. When I think of virtuosity on the trumpet, I immediately think of Allen. The control he has

over his fundamentals, the flair and showmanship he brings to every performance, and his unerring

musicianship make him the ultimate case study in how to build skills on the trumpet.

So how did he do it?

I asked Allen to build a course all about practicing efficiently. He shared over an hour’s worth of advice

that you might not be able to find anywhere else on the internet. For this PDF, we’ve organized it so you

can follow along and build your own efficient practice routine, including a bonus goal-setting activity

and advice for those of you who don’t have as much time to practice as you’d like (myself included!)

Enjoy this sneak peek of the full course coming in April. Hopefully you’ll find the material inspiring and

practical in your never-ending journey of practicing smarter.

Peace, love, and double high Cs,

Ethan Chilton

tonebase Trumpet

PS: Get in touch with me! Did you love this PDF? Hate it? ethan@tonebase.co

TRUMPET
 About the artist: Allen Vizzutti
“Beautiful...lyrical...stunning...stupefying”. 

“Trumpet player supreme.” - Syracuse Post Standard  

“Finely tuned wind, easy control, polyharmonic wit, orchestral penmanship, punctuated spiritual warmth...rarely do so many
qualities find themselves in one musician.” - Chick Corea

Equally at home in a multitude of musical idioms, Allen Vizzutti has visited 70 countries and every state in the union to perform
with a rainbow of artists and ensembles. Performing as a classical and a jazz artist, often in the same evening, he has appeared
as guest soloist with symphony orchestras, in recital, on television and in jazz venues around the world.

While growing up in Montana, Allen was taught by his father, a self-taught musician. Allen attended the Eastman School of
Music where he earned the Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees, a Performer’s Certificate, a chair in the Eastman
Brass Quintet faculty ensemble and the first Artist’s Diploma ever awarded a wind player in Eastman’s history. 

Allen’s love of expression through composition has led to premier performances by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Budapest
Radio Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic of London, the Nuremberg Symphony and others. After the world premier of his
“Emerald Concerto” with the Syracuse Symphony Allen’s writing was described in review: “The Emerald Concerto sparkles!...a
vivacious treatment which speaks well for both his dramatic instinct and technical prowess as a composer.” 

As Artist in Residence, Allen has taught at leading universities throughout the world including the Eastman School of Music,
the Banff Center for the Performing Arts, the Trompeten Akademie of Bremen, Germany and currently at the University of
South Carolina. His extensive treatise, “The Allen Vizzutti Trumpet Method” and his “New Concepts for Trumpet”, (Alfred
Music Publishing), have become standards works for trumpet study worldwide. Additional information about Allen Vizzutti is
always available at www.vizzutti.com 

Allen Vizzutti is a Yamaha performing artist.

LEARN MORE AT tonebase.co

 About this course
How can we practice the trumpet to get the best possible results? In this PDF, we’ll look at how you can
warm up and set up for long-term progress on the horn. Inspired by Allen Vizzutti’s recent tonebase
courses, we’ll explore his tips for working on fundamentals, using your time wisely, avoiding fatigue, and
much more.

Contents
Introduction (5)
Long Tones and Mixed Articulations (11)

Fundamentals: Breathing (6)

Arpeggios (12)

Fundamentals: Fatigue (7)

Technical Studies (14)

Fundamentals: Embouchure (7)

Smoothness and Technical Execution (15)

Overthinking (8)
Structure and Goals (19)

Warming Up (9)
Conclusion – on coming back (23)

Mouthpiece and Breath Attacks (10) Vizzutti Technical Study in All Keys (24)
Introduction

Practicing is an art. The way we practice can dramatically influence our consistency as players and how

quickly we make progress. Allen prefers to think of his practice in simple terms, dividing his time into

three categories: warming up, technical studies, and playing music. The music portion can be anything,

but Allen likes this to be the largest portion of his pie!

Warm-Up Technique

Music

It’s important to carry the fundamental ideas you’re introducing in your warm-up into your work on

technique and music. If you’re practicing intelligently, you can even use practicing music to work on

specific technical skills, as well. From a physical standpoint, “music is made of long tones, arpeggios, and

scales!”

Let’s begin with a discussion of some trumpet fundamentals, look at a sample warm-up using these

principles, explore some technical exercises, and check out a few tools to help us set intelligent practice

goals.

05
Fundamentals: Breathing

The head, chest, and shoulders should remain very relaxed. There is always going to be some anxiety
when we’re performing, but approaching our breath with a zen mentality helps tremendously. Notice how
if you try to relax your throat consciously, you’re probably going to end up introducing tension by
mistake! The only way to truly relax the muscles in our throat is to do nothing. When you breathe, simply
“let the air fall in!”

Do you fill up all the way when you breathe? Take the deepest inhale you can right now and hold it. Now,
try to sip in a little more air. How much more air were you able to take in? Can you try to fill up to this
same level more quickly next time? These are the sorts of questions you can ask yourself to make taking
bigger breaths feel more natural.

Of course, not every phrase requires the deepest possible breath. In fact, sometimes it can be
detrimental to breathe in too much air if it’s falling on top of stale oxygen-depleted air (more on this on
the next page).

06
Fundamentals: Fatigue

There are several reasons we might get tired when practicing. Usually, it’s that we’re not taking the
mouthpiece off our face enough! It’s essential that we get the mouthpiece off our face very often to
maximize bloodflow to the lips.

The second most common reason for fatigue actually has to do with breathing in too much air. When we
don’t let enough air out, carbon dioxide builds up in our bodies, and our brain sends a signal that we need
more oxygen. But we don’t actually need more air – we need to exhale the stale under-oxygenated air
that we’ve been holding in our lungs for too long.

A solution to both of these problems is to frequently let the mouthpiece off the chops while letting some
air out. This prevents the lips from becoming fatigued and allows us to get rid of stale air in our lungs.

Fundamentals: Embouchure

Beginners tend to find a default embouchure very quickly. Within minutes of starting, it can be very
difficult to change an embouchure. The general concept of an embouchure is 50/50 on top and bottom
lip, but nobody is perfectly symmetrically structured. The teeth will dictate a lot about where to put the
mouthpiece side-to-side. If you have big lips, this doesn’t necessarily mean you should play a big
mouthpiece – nor is the opposite true.

07
Corner strength, Allen believes, tends to be over-emphasized. If you practice an hour a day, you probably
have enough corner strength to play just about anything you need. The more frequent problem tends to
be a lack of response and suppleness in the lips. There are lots of factors involved in how your chops
respond, too – everything from your biorhythmic cycle, sleep, diet, climate and humidity, and more!

If you have a generally acceptable range and no major problems with your playing or pain in the lips when
playing, Allen advocates for thinking about your embouchure as little as possible. The note starts, he
reminds us, with the inhale!

Whether Allen plays a low G or a double high G, his embouchure isn’t dramatically different. Every player
will need to find what exactly works for them (and Allen has one of the most facile techniques of any
trumpeter alive), but over-adjusting the embouchure for each register typically leads to more problems
than solutions.

Overthinking

Trumpet players are notorious for getting into the weeds of details, normally around gear! Allen finds that
some of his best playing comes when he’s thinking minimally about trumpet playing, and focusing instead
on music and phrasing.

If you play golf, you’re familiar with how many rules there are for proper technique. Your head, arms, legs,
and body should all be positioned just right to get the ideal swing. But if you’re trying to think of all these
things at once, especially when others are watching you, you’ll likely have a terrible shot! It’s important to
spend time practicing each of the key elements of trumpet playing, one at a time, but when we make
music, we have to let them go from our short-term memory and trust our bodies to do what we’ve trained
them to do!

08
Warming Up

Warming up on the trumpet is an immensely personal process. There is no single correct way to warm

yourself up. Nevertheless, it’s very useful to have a routine that remains fairly constant, changing only

based on the needs of that particular day.

A comfortable progressive daily routine on the trumpet has several functions. The act of getting blood

flowing in the lips usually doesn’t take more than a few minutes, but if our lips are damaged or sore, we’ll

want to ease in to the demands of playing with simpler, less strenuous exercises.

We also want our warm-up to activate certain elements of our technique. Here’s a short list of items you

might think of as a “menu” of things to activate in your warm-up routine (this particular concept comes

from Dan Rosenboom, a top-call studio player in Los Angeles). Think of this like a daily check-in to

reinforce good habits and promote proper technique. You won’t need all items every day!

Breathin Soft playing / loud playin Scale

Slow tonguin Long tone Lip trill

Fast tonguin Slurring and flexibility High soft attack

Low register / high register Clarke and chromatics Wide intervals

Some players are able to pick up a cold horn, play a few notes, and they feel ready. Most of us need

something a little more involved, especially if we’re practicing pretty hard on a daily basis. For most

players, a 15-20 minute routine is enough to get ready for a day of playing. Others, like Doc Severinsen,

spend nearly two hours a day warming up!

For most players, a warm-up like the one on the following pages is a nice place to start. However, don’t

take any of this information to mean that you need to radically change your current warm-up routine. If

you’re hitting most of these elements in your own way, and you don’t have any massive issues with your

playing, you probably don’t need to change anything. Any changes are best made gradually, so as to not

shock the system too much. Remember that our playing is impacted by so many variables, from what we

had for dinner last night, to the humidity outside. The muscles we use to play are very sensitive, so it’s

best that we take excellent care of them by warming up!

09
Mouthpiece and Breath Attacks

Allen usually feels better when he plays the mouthpiece at the beginning of the day, though this is not
essential for all players. He tends to play sirens, arpeggios, scales, or even somewhat randomly at times.
The mouthpiece is a great way to warm up if you have an early session, or you don’t have time for a long
warm-up on the horn. Don’t worry about how high you go – the key ingredients are a relaxed breath and
steady, smooth, airflow.

Remember that playing the mouthpiece is a fundamentally different process than playing the trumpet.
For one, the mouthpiece is much smaller. More importantly, it offers us less resistance, so we have to
make our aperture smaller to create a sound. Done without caution, this can translate into a tight
aperture and a constricted sound on the trumpet. Limit your mouthpiece playing to just a few minutes,
and remember to use a different aperture setting when on the mouthpiece than on the horn.

If you’re a little stiff, had a hard day of playing previously, or haven’t practiced for a while, starting the day
with breath attacks can be very beneficial. These get more beautiful as you practice them!

10
Long Tones and Mixed Articulations

Allen prefers the term “smooth tones,” because “long tones” often cause young players to leave the horn

on the face for too long. Allen incorporates mixed articulations into his smooth tones to create movement

and incorporate the tongue in a variety of ways. He’ll alternate between legato and marcato and examine

his airstream to ensure his playing feels supple and smooth. You can play this exercise on any note, but

Allen prefers to start on low notes, since these are often the hardest to tongue cleanly:

etc. down to low F♯

etc. down to low C

11
Feel free to mix up the articulations you want to use depending on what you’re working on. There’s no
reason not to incorporate double tonguing into this, as well! You can warm up, work on a technique, and
build suppleness all at once.

Arpeggios
Arpeggios, ascending or descending, are some of the best ways to work on intonation, flow, and flexibility
all at once. Most music is not made of stagnant long tones, so arpeggios often more accurately resemble
the kind of playing we do on a daily basis. Some players skip daily long tones altogether, opting for slow
arpeggios to achieve a similar result.

Allen’s first method book contains an assortment of ascending and descending arpeggios. Be sure to play
each note right in the center of the pitch (no scooping or gliding). Bang down your fingers hard so that the
note change is timed perfectly with your air and embouchure. Only go as high as you can go comfortably,
as a warm-up shouldn’t strain or exhaust you.

Play these at a slow tempo of around 60-90 beats per minute, depending on what’s best for you!

Low Register

12
Middle-to-high Register

13
Technical Studies
Clarke No. 2 is widely regarded as the gold standard for building a wide variety of technical skills on the
trumpet – everything from breath control, finger dexterity, flow, articulation, and intonation can be
practiced. In his book, The Allen Vizzutti Trumpet Method, Book 1: Technical Studies, Allen adds minor and
whole-tone versions of this study to work on additional intervals and tonalities. Most pro trumpeters have
worked through all of these patterns in all of these keys!

G: Major, Minor, and Whole Tone

These patterns are notated in all keys at the end of this PDF!

Some playing systems advocate for leaving the mouthpiece on the chops all the time, and while this has
value for some, it can also lead to the paradoxical feeling that one must have the mouthpiece set for a
long time in order to play a note. We have to experiment with lots of methods and ideas and find what
works best for us!

Allen likes to play this Clarke-inspired pattern twice in one breath as a test of his technique, but he won’t
do this if it’s not feeling good! The goal with a warm-up each day is to get yourself to a place that’s supple
with a great response. You have to assess on your own what is best to use to warm up.

14
Smoothness and Technical Execution

How do we play smoothly? Start by thinking about simple ideas: everything you play on the trumpet is a

long tone. Play a mezzo-forte G in the middle of the staff for a few seconds and carefully observe the

sound. You’ll notice the sine wave in the middle, the harmonics that define the trumpet’s timbre around

that, and some white noise on the edges. Now observe the physical sensation of playing this note. There

is a force created by the trumpet on our lips, and we have to match that force by creating an equal

amount of resistance in our bodies. Visualize the balance of these two forces, as if you aren’t truly doing

anything to create a sound. With this concept of ease in mind, let’s proceed.

Play this same mezzo-forte G, but this time wiggle your second finger up and down vigorously. Do not

make adjustments with your chops when wiggling the second finger! At clinics, Allen often invites young

people to come up and wiggle his second valve for him. They become nervous when they expect that

they must do something special in order for it to work. But Allen’s air or chops do not need to change at

all for the F-sharp to come out very clean in this way. While the second finger wiggles, the rest of the

body remains as if it were playing a long G.

This movement of the second finger seems extremely simple, but it’s still technique! If you saw these fast

notes on the page, you might not be thinking of a continuous airflow. Perhaps you’re thinking of each

individual note, as many younger players do?

Let’s add another step to this example. Take a half scale, from G to D, and play it slowly. You’re going to

have to use more energy on the higher notes to play them smoothly. Think of playing a slight crescendo

as the phrase goes up, and a decrescendo as the phrase goes down. Loop the half scale and gradually

speed it up. If this isn’t coming out clearly, it’s probably because your fingers aren’t accurate or the valve

isn’t going all the way down. The great Timofei Dokschitzer once told Allen during a rehearsal of “Flight of

the Bumblebee” that the key to smoothness at speed is to play “fast but calm!”

15
If you want to further test your fingers, play an F♯ scale instead of G, engaging the third valve slide. You
can even loosen your valve caps a bit to hear them rattle – you want that sound to be as even as possible.
Return to the Clarke or Vizzutti studies as well, if you want further practice at this concept.

The point of this exercise is to develop a sense that the air is leading the way, and that the fingers are just
frosting on the cake.

The next phase of the smoothness exercise involves playing a slow slurred C major 1-octave arpeggio.
Don’t overblow, but also don’t underplay. Though there’s only movement of the valves required, make sure
it happens precisely in time and with intention. If the sound is lumpy, your air isn’t smooth, so continue
working on the previous steps.

If you’re beyond this point, the next step is a smooth, slurred arpeggio from middle G to G on top of the
staff, using only open notes on the horn. Lean into the horn’s resistance and think of a continuous sizzling
air stream.

When you’re breathing, the motion of the air in and out should feel like one connected motion. When we
breathe in, our body naturally wants to breathe out, and vice versa.

This next step will seem unrelated, but this is where the magic starts to happen. Speak the syllables “ta ta
ka, ta ta ka, ta” in a triplet rhythm:

16
Now, say these syllables while forming a trumpet embouchure and blowing out a stream of controlled air.

Repeat the same thing next with the trumpet on your face.

Now we’re going to introduce a middle G to this. Think of your articulation as simply touching the air
stream, not turning the air on and off. Start with a long note, then play a triple tongued note, and then
another long note. Repeat as needed. Multiple tonguing at slower tempos is often more difficult than
faster ones!

17
Now let’s return to this arpeggio from G to G. Slur them, then tongue them legato. Now put them together

and triple-tongue the arpeggio. Don’t think of doing a single thing different!

Going for something a little bit outside of your comfort zone can often unlock a newfound level of comfort

for the simpler elements of trumpet playing! This gives us confidence and creates a feeling of

improvement, even if you are unlikely to encounter this exact triple-tongued arpeggio in your studies.

18
Structure and goals

Allen practices 60 to 90 minutes a day. When he practices more on a given day, he’ll divide his time into 3

or 4 segments to stay fresh. This is even true if he’s working up toward a recital, which is the most

intensely demanding part of his schedule.

If he only has an hour a day to practice, he’ll often practice pretty hard, just to the point of starting to get

tired. One has to be extremely smart in doing this to make sure they know when to back off. If you carry

any stiffness into the next day, you create a downward spiral where you need more time to warm up

every day and you feel tighter and tighter as you practice. If this happens to you, you’re practicing too

long and with not enough breaks!

The number of hours you practice do not relate to the number of hours you can play and perform. If you

practice very intelligently for 1 to 2 hours a day, you’ll probably do fine with a much longer concert. This is

usually because concerts feature much more rest than our practice sessions tend to. Of course, we have

to be in shape for the longer concerts, which simply requires experience playing longer concerts!

It’s entirely normal to love playing, to be driven to constantly improve, and to subsequently over-practice.

We have to discipline ourselves however we can to get the right amount of rest within a session!

19
Setting goals in any area of life gives you a target to aim for – something to strive for and measure your
progress against. It’s very important that we set the right types of goals, however, and that we hold
ourselves accountable in a way that works for us.

In many areas of business, SMART goals are often used to ensure the right goal is being set. This is an
acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. When you’re
setting a goal, make sure it’s not too general – say that you want to “play m. 33-40 at 155 bpm in one
breath without chipping any notes” rather than “I want to play m. 33-40 better”. Knowing your exact
target makes it much easier to make progress toward it!

A smart goal should be measurable (this is related to specificity). If your goal is to “be the best trumpet
player in the world,” it might be really hard to know whether you’ve achieved that! Beyond technical
proficiency, what makes a trumpet player great is mostly subjective, after all!

A smart goal should also be achievable, meaning it should be high but not so high that you’re just going to
be disappoint yourself! Rather than try to “play a double high C in 3 weeks,” try to make your current top
note a little bit more comfortable, or maybe just gain one half-step at a time (an extra octave of range is,
after all, just twelve extra half-steps). Playing something with extreme comfort is always much more
valuable than playing something with a lot of strain.

A smart goal should be relevant to you, meaning it should be toward things you care a lot about. If you
know your double tonguing isn’t great, but don’t have any desire or need to double tongue, then don’t set
goals related to double tonguing! Pick goals carefully, as there’s only so much time in the day to chase
them.

Finally, your goals should be time-bound. If our goals don’t have a time boundary, we’ll work on them
forever. Set a strict deadline (but still realistic) to force daily accountability.

Speaking of accountability, how can we make sure that we follow through on our goals every day? It’s one
thing to write them out, but another thing entirely to actually achieve them!

20
There are three levels of goals that we should be constantly evaluating. These are Short-Term, Medium-

Term, and Long-Term. We can, of course, set goals over any length of time, but for this exercise, we’ll

create a structure that keeps us accountable over these three time scales.

Write down 3 short-term goals. These are things on the trumpet you want to achieve today. They should

be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound). Think just on the edge of what

you can do comfortably (don’t write play a mezzo-forte middle C if that’s very easy for you, but don’t

write to play a pianissimo high C if you struggle to even play a high C right now!) Also write down how

much time you will spend on these 3 goals today. Think realistically what might be involved. What could

go wrong that would prevent this from happening? (If you’ve tried to achieve this goal for days and

haven’t made it work, try a more modest goal, or make your goal to ask someone for help!)

Short-Term Goal #1

Estimated Time

Short-Term Goal #2

Estimated Time

Short-Term Goal #3

Estimated Time

Consider printing a blank copy of this page every day and hanging it on your wall or setting it on your desk

next to where you practice. Try this for around a week. The art of setting goals will get easier over time!

We’ll repeat this for medium and long-term goals on the following page.

21
For medium-term goals, think on the span of a month. What would you like to achieve this month on the
trumpet? Your goals should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound).
Underneath each goal, write how much time you’d like to spend on working toward this goal this month.

Medium-Term Goal #1

Estimated Time

Medium-Term Goal #2

Estimated Time

Medium-Term Goal #3

Estimated Time

Finally, write down three long-term goals (you can of course have more!) Think on the order of years, or
things you’d like to do one day. But here, try to set a specific time that you’d like to have them done by!
Remember how important it is to set time-bound goals!

Long-Term Goal #1

Due Date

Long-Term Goal #2

Due Date

Long-Term Goal #3

Due Date

22
Consider this goal-setting exercise to be a practice round. Before you pick up the trumpet again, set
these goals for your own practice in a way that works for you. It seems extremely simple, and that’s
because it is! It just requires a bit of energy to break down your goals into very small pieces. Building
follow-through on a daily basis can become a habit if you do it enough, just like any other good habit!

Conclusion – on coming back

All of us have ups and downs, regardless of what skill we’re practicing. The goal is to keep the downs as
high as we can! One key difference between the pros, who practice a lot, and the non-pros, who maybe
don’t have as much time to practice, is that pros keep their lows from going too low. Consistency is the
most valuable virtue in a trumpet player.

There is a vast family of musicians around the world, and interacting with this community becomes
possible by developing our trumpet practice. You’ll find that music can take you places - literally! Join a
community band, play at your church, or call up your friends to organize an informal concert. Keep music
in your life, no matter what form it takes.

Don’t get discouraged if a career or other commitment takes up too much of your time. You can always
return to music. Allen knows countless professionals who have come back after taking time off for
whatever reason. These sorts of players are often the most enthusiastic about music, because they
recognize how special it is to get to spend one’s time playing trumpet!

The reality is that if you want to be a consistent brass player, you need consistent practice. Days off here
and there are possible, and won’t necessarily hurt your long-term playing, but daily practice is the best
way to ensure you’re improving!

Be wise – the key is practicing with your brain engaged. Think of the simple things: breath in, beautiful
sound. Be wary of the two biggest problems for trumpeters: using too much pressure and overblowing.
Good luck, and I hope you found some useful tips in this PDF!

23
Vizzutti Technical Study in All Keys

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