Reading and Practicing: Herbert Clarke

Most trumpet players regardless of genre have played exercises out of Herbert Clarke’s books. If you say “Clarke One” to a trumpet player they’ll know exactly what you’re talking about. I play some form of Clarke One, Two, or Three almost every day as a warm down (I start at second line G and work my way down) and I go back to his books and exercises regularly.

From all accounts he was a monster cornet player and a legendary teacher. How did he get that way? Check out his autobiography: http://abel.hive.no/trumpet/clarke/bio/pdf/clarke.pdf. It’s an interesting read – from a trumpet/music standpoint, but also cool if you are into American history. Don’t have time to read it? Here’s the quick message you need to get then: Practice does not make perfect; Perfect practice makes perfect.

Here’s a wonderful page with more about Clarke and his books: http://abel.hive.no/trumpet/clarke/

Alright - now I gotta and practice!