Inculating a brass culture: developing proficiency levels in truphet playing for schools

Abstract

The music culture of the Kenyan youth is mainly vocal with this choice being a product of circumstantial bias. Few students have several performance options beyond voice and piano and therefore choose what is readily available. This becomes an obstacle if the student decides to further his/her studies in music at a higher education level, where performance options are numerous. This study focuses on promoting trumpet in secondary schools with the hope of inculcating a brass culture that will, among others, provide more performance options and eventually open up the now vocally-dominated music industry. It proposes a sample trumpet repertoire, which is familiar to the students and they can associate with, with the hope of developing and maintaining interest among the youth. Unfamiliar materials are also included to expose the students to the wider scope of the various music genres in the world today. Contextualizing the trumpet by performing it with other popular and available performing idioms like the voice, piano/keyboard, guitar and drums is a principle element in this study. Finally, the study proposes recommendations that can be used to promote and maintain interest in trumpet playing among the youth in secondary schools.