I wanted to make a trumpet exercise, Clarke Study #2, more interesting for trumpet students. So I created a play-along video with recorded accompaniment to complement it. I shared the play-along video on Facebook for other trumpet players to try, and to perhaps share it with brass students they may have. It seems to get steady traffic on YouTube for a video targeting a very specific and narrow demographic.
From a Band-in-a-Box standpoint, it's pretty simple... I cycled through a bunch of styles and key changes. And I synced the audio to a video that I made via MuseScore to display scrolling notation.
But things that I think make this play-along useful for trumpet students in isolation:
Exercise is ordered for "expanding range" based on the William Adam approach to Clarke studies. Video cycles through a variety of accompaniment styles, including funk groove, wistful modern jazz, rumba, tango, bossa, and others to make play-along more interesting than playing solo or with a metronome.
Tempo is set to 115 BPM to ensure students don't zip through the exercise too quickly. Arrangement includes the originally-published repeats and pauses (set at 1 bar rests) to deter taking short-cuts.
Opportunity for ear-tuning that comes from playing along with in-tune accompaniment.
Notes are displayed and highlighted on screen as the video plays, while a link is available for optionally downloading and printing the exercise.
I thought I'd share it here simply to show a way in which I've used BiaB for a non-standard purpose.
1: why you didn't include the trumpet performance in your example (even though I know that wouldn't be used in the student practice. How would the student know it they were performing correctly?)
2: No timing variation? Surely timing is an important aspect of performance, so I thought the consistent repetition of eighth notes (quavers) in each four bars would not encourage the student to practice their timing skills.
3: 11 bar phrases? Unusual?
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Excellent questions. Thanks very much. Each of these was a deliberate choice and intended to increase the likelihood that students would transition to using the play-along recording.
1. I want the student to feel like a soloist and play without the distraction of "some other guy" having already recorded the melody. I don't think I'd feel as motivated to play along with a recording of someone else playing an exercise that's not very inspiring in the first place, so I left it out. But I could certainly upload an accompanying version with the melody, resembling the Hal Leonard Play-Along CDs.
2. Yes, I considered varying the tempo. The exercise is intended to be played with a metronome, with the notes played smoothly and evenly. The student should concentrate on making each note should even and equal. Varying the tempo might distract students from this objective. I thought that if I made the recording follow the structure and discipline of a metronome there would be an easy transition and a greater chance that people would give it a go.
3. Indeed 11 bars is unusual. The original exercise is a 4-bar phrase, repeated, with the held note on the 9th bar then a pause (over the double bar line) before proceeding to the next line. Check the sample copy below. I reasoned that it is common for students to play the exercise as a 5-bar phrase, then repeated as if the repeat sign were at the end of bar 5 instead of bar 4. So I moved it to create a 10-bar phrase. Then I chose to account for the pause as a single bar rest that could also serve as the key modulation for a less-abrupt key change, making a total of 11 bars. It is unusual, but I think more playable.
I felt that every decision I made was a trade-off for something else. In my experience music tutors usually follow a set routine for the students with little deviation from the well-trodden path. So I tried to structure the exercise to closely resemble the way that I think it is commonly taught, to make the transition from solo trumpet and metronome to Band-in-a-Box accompaniment as easy as possible.
Thanks again for your questions, and for taking the time to listen and consider. Very much appreciated!
Band-in-a-Box 2026 Video: The Newly Designed Piano Roll Window
In this video, we explore the updated Piano Roll, complete with a modernized look and exciting new features. You’ll see new filtering options that make it easy to focus on specific note groups, smoother and more intuitive note entry and editing, and enhanced options for zooming, looping, and more.
Band-in-a-Box 2026 Video: AI Stems & Notes - split polyphonic audio into instruments and transcribe
This video demonstrates how to use the new AI-Notes feature together with the AI-Stems splitter, allowing you to select an audio file and have it separated into individual stems while transcribing each one to its own MIDI track. AI-Notes converts polyphonic audio—either full mixes or individual instruments—into MIDI that you can view in notation or play back instantly.
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MIDI Styles Set 92: Look Ma! More MIDI 15: Latin Jazz
MIDI SuperTracks Set 46: Piano & Organ
Instrumental Studies Set 24: Groovin' Blues Soloing
Artist Performance Set 19: Songs with Vocals 9
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Instrumental Studies 25 - Soul Jazz Guitar Soloing
Artist Performance Set 20: Songs with Vocals 10
RealDrums Stems Set 10: Groovin' Sticks
SynthMaster Sounds & Styles Set 2 (sounds & styles with audio demos)
Join Tobin as he takes you on a tour of the new user interface in Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®! This modern GUI redesign offers a sleek new look with updated toolbars, refreshed windows, and a smoother workflow. The brand-new side toolbar puts track selection, the MultiPicker Library, and other essential tools right at your fingertips. Plus, our upgraded Multi-View lets you layer multiple windows without overlap, giving you a highly flexible workspace. Many windows—including Tracks, Piano Roll, and more—have been redesigned for improved usability and a cleaner, more intuitive interface, and more!
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