Peter Vogelsang about Trumpet Lessons with Jeff Purtle
I found Jeff by chance when I entered a key word search into my browser. I typed all the key words which I felt were lacking in my trumpet playing. A quote from Jeff Purtle came up which "hit the nail on the head" so I clicked the link and found Jeff's excellent website. Jeff called me and soon thereafter our internet lessons had begun.
If you want to get your playing in order and learn all the things that a great teacher can give you from the comfort of your current location, you have to do yourself a favor and contact Jeff.
No matter what level you are from beginner to pro Jeff can help you become a better player. His state of the art equipment lets him hear and see you and his vast first hand background on the teachings of Claude Gordon will help you understand why Claude's & Clarke's books really require the insight of someone that has been accredited by Claude himself as "Certified" to teach his system.
Jeff believes there is only one way to play the trumpet and that it has to be easy to do. He will listen and observe, then give you an exercise in order to achieve what's lacking.
No matter how great of a player you are Jeff can give you some simple exercise which you can't play initially and then perhaps a week or two later you will be surprised to learn that you actually can do it.
Perhaps the greatest lesson that Jeff has taught me is that no one knows what's happening when you play and that only intelligent repetition of specific exercises using the key elements of sound production will allow you to play correctly since your body has to learn what's right for you. Jeff can help you find which exercises, how many time through, how often, in which manner you need to do them in order to improve. He can point out key elements which will help you to improve your chops.
As a final note I wanted to address the issue of the "Mouthpiece Safari". Before I met Jeff I went on this perilous safari and met all kinds of animals including: Bachs, Schilkes, GRs, Assymetrics, Yamahas and Storks among others. There were larger animals like Bach 1 Bach 3 or Shilke 17 or 20 and smaller animals like Gr62 and Bach10 and I met them all and invited them to my home to get to know each other. I learned about their bores, throats, rims, alpha angles, shank lengths, gaps, backbones, weighting, materials, diameters, depths, bowls, funnels and subsequently became an expert on their infinite combinations and results. The result of this 3 year journey (aside from investing a fortune in time and money) was that whatever mouthpiece I used consistently over time eventually allowed me to play exactly the same way no better nor worse and that my body would adapt to whatever mouthpiece I used consistently.
After several years of weekly lessons with Jeff I am confident that your mouthpiece money would be better spent on Jeff. Skip the safari and go straight to Jeff's personal land of internet trumpet lessons.
Thanks,
