The Singing Trumpet

Peter Bond, a member of the trumpet section of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, brings a unique vantage point to his comprehensive book, The Singing Trumpet: Using Singing and Speech as Literal Models for Trumpet Performance. This revolutionary approach to airflow and resonance gives trumpet players greater projection with less strain by transforming their tone production through analogies with singing and speech. As he notes: “For twenty-eight years, I’ve observed the world’s greatest opera singers. Without histrionic breathing or red-faced straining, they can fill the 3800-seat Metropolitan Opera House with magnificent sound. Some can overpower a 100-piece orchestra. I began to think; ‘We brass players are taught to blow, but what if instead we use our air and resonance of our body more like opera singers?’”

Peter Bond, a member of the trumpet section of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, brings a unique vantage point to his comprehensive book, The Singing Trumpet: Using Singing and Speech as Literal Models for Trumpet Performance. This revolutionary approach to airflow and resonance gives trumpet players greater projection with less strain by transforming their tone production through analogies with singing and speech. As he notes: “For twenty-eight years, I’ve observed the world’s greatest opera singers. Without histrionic breathing or red-faced straining, they can fill the 3800-seat Metropolitan Opera House with magnificent sound. Some can overpower a 100-piece orchestra. I began to think; ‘We brass players are taught to blow, but what if instead we use our air and resonance of our body more like opera singers?’”