What are some common issues one might have if “hitting all the notes” is the only priority?
All of us at some point probably thought that “hitting the notes” was all there was to playing the trumpet well, but as we develop and we refine our attention to detail, we start to realize that playing the right note at the right time is just square one. What are some common issues you might expect from someone who can hit all the notes but doesn’t refine their sound any further? I’m hoping to get a list of things that wouldn’t otherwise appear on the sheet music — I see a lot of people get lazy with note lengths or doing the correct articulation, but the sheet music already tells you that you played it incorrectly.
I think intonation is an obvious answer, but it can be pretty hard to ignore that problem if you’re playing with other people. I think articulation clarity is a pretty big one. I have heard a lot of players who have decent chops but always have this crunchy sound at the front of their notes. For me personally, I’ve been trying to work on make my slurs a lot more smooth — I used to make it sound like I was crushing into the next note when slurring any somewhat wide interval instead of making it sound smooth and connected.