Trumpet and all brass instruments are wind instruments. Meaning that it needs wind (moving air) to make a sound.
With that in mind, let’s explore what is involved when playing a wind instrument…And how our breathing habits will greatly influence the quality of sound we produce, hence the music we make.
Often we hear people say “Blow hard” or “put a lot of air” to students and aspiring players when teaching or coaching them. While this is true, you need air, but we sometimes forget about the basic principles of blowing…Hmm this start to get interesting.


After a few years of playing and teaching, I realize that there is a basic principle that governs the way we blow: we blow as we breath. In other words, the way we take a breath is the way we will blow…

Air in = Air out

Very simple equation, yet when someone realize this natural process, most of our playing problems start to disappear, and then we start to play and make some interesting music in a consistent manner.

So we can say that:

Air in = Sound out

  • That means, the sound you make will be as good/bad as the way you breath in.

Let’s try a these few simple steps:

  1. Take a normal breath
  2. Release the air (don’t push it out, just let it go out).
    Notice the amount of air moving out (let’s call it wind)
  3. Take a smaller breath
  4. Release the air without pushing
    Notice the wind (it is slower)
  5. Take a big breath
  6. release the wind
    Notice the wind (faster air is coming out)

With the idea of releasing the air  without pushing, we setup the basic step needed for developing our breathing technique.