Brass Trainer
Positions and fingerings for trumpet, trombone, French horn, mellophone, baritone, and tuba.
Know every fingering and position without thinking
Brass Trainer shows a written note and you answer with its fingering or slide position. It covers trumpet, trombone, French horn (single F or double F/B♭), mellophone, baritone, and tuba, with Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced ranges. Common alternate fingerings are accepted, and you hear the note when you answer, so fingering, pitch, and notation connect.
Rounds are short 10- or 15-note sprints, or free practice. Missed notes come back later in the round, so the ones you don't know yet get extra practice.
Play the Note turns it around: you see a note and play it on your horn, and the microphone checks the pitch. You can show the fingering, hide it, or have it appear after a few seconds. If you land on the wrong partial, it tells you, so you know whether to fix your fingers or your air.
Scales has you finger a whole scale in order, up and back down, using concert pitch names with your written key alongside (see concert pitch). Pick a level, single keys (drill their signatures in Key Trainer), relative minors, the chromatic scale, or two octaves, and turn on timed mode to build tempo for chair tests.
How to practice
- 01Pick your instrument and start at the Beginner range, even if you already play.
- 02Finger along on your instrument, or move your arm for slide positions, as you answer.
- 03When you miss a note, play it on your horn right away to lock it in.
- 04Move up a range once you finish a 15-note sprint with no misses.
- 05Do a sprint before you practice new music with high or low notes.
One fingering, many notes
Every valve combination or slide position gives a length of tubing, and each length can play a whole series of notes called partials, or the harmonic series. Your embouchure and air choose the partial and the fingering chooses the tubing. That is why the open fingering on trumpet can play C, G, C, E, and more.
Each valve adds tubing: valve 2 lowers the pitch a half step, valve 1 a whole step, and valve 3 a step and a half. Trombone positions do the same job with the slide. Each position out lowers the pitch by a half step.
Who it's for
Beginning brass players learning fingerings, students switching instruments (trumpet to horn, or trombone to baritone), and directors who want quick fingering checks during sectionals.