Duet Parts for the ETSBOA All-East Audition Trumpet Etudes

When preparing for an audition, we often forget to practice for the dreaded sight-reading. But how do you practice reading something you’ve never seen before? By playing things that you’ve never seen before. What better way to practice sight-reading than playing duets with a friend!

I wrote these duet parts to go along with the upcoming East Tennessee State Band and Orchestra Association All-East audition etudes to give you something fun to sight-read. They also might give you a new perspective on the etude in terms of harmony, rhythm, and style. And they simply won’t sound good if you aren’t playing your etude in tune, in time, and with accurate rhythm.

Once you’ve sightread these, you can listen to a performance of these duets (see below) by Dr. Erika Schafer (Professor of Trumpet at University of Tennessee-Chattanooga) and myself.

Enjoy!

(Unfortunately, the etudes that go with these duets are available only to ETSBOA members and their students.)

Duet part to Arban’s Theme from Caprice & Variations

Jean-Baptiste Arban

Duets are a fun way to work on so many things, including sight-reading, rhythm, intonation, dynamics, and basic ensemble playing. It’s best done alongside a friend — a trumpet player or any musician, really. But with technology, we can play duets with just about any recording. In order for my students to work on this theme from J.B. Arban’s Caprice & Variations (found in the back of your Arban’s method book), I wrote a little duet part and recorded both parts. You can download the duet music here and play along with either part here. So find a friend to play along or just play with me!

Original Theme (you play duet part)

Duet Part (you play the Theme)

Take Me Out to the Ball Game (soon, please)

aerial view of sports stadium during daytime
Photo by Tim Gouw on Pexels.com

In recognition of what would’ve been opening day for Major League Baseball today, here’s a simple duet to play at home with a family member or with me playing one of the parts.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame trumpet duet

Duet Demo Recording:

Play-Along with 1st Part:

Play-Along with 2nd Part:

Download music and mp3s