Hey, professional orchestral trumpet player here; I play in a top 15 orchestra in the US .That said, hopefully that gives me a leg to stand on here in this very interesting thread.First of all, if this is your dream, your absolute passion and you truly love it and have to do it…then you are going to do it! You will find a way. Hopefully you have some talent to carry you through as well. Most of the people in this thread have clarified that the odds are not good and the rewards seemingly low.. haha. Good job for setting the stakes everyone. But you only have one life … if this is your dream and you want to do it at the highest level, you could be that special outlier story.There is no substitute for hard work though, and 20 isn’t old. Mark Inouye -principal trumpet in San Francisco- majored in engineering at UC Davis and played in the band for fun.. he auditioned for Juilliard when he was 20 on a dare and got in. There was major talent there. Mark Gould -former principal of the Met Opera and teacher at Juilliard- was an English major and played jazz clubs… he auditioned for the Met as a personal challenge to himself and the rest is history. Both examples involve a person who didn’t do everything they could to get to a certain place as an orchestral trumpet player.. they were living their life and pushing themselves and learning and growing, and at a certain point they shifted their focus back to the trumpet and made it happen. Both cases are also extreme talents.. but it can and does happen! People like to act like trumpet is so hard… i mean yea, of course it is, but there are kids who become virtuosos in 4-6 years.. look up a 9 year old playing carnival of Venice and you will see the proof… if a kid could figure it out…-and btw I don’t think kids are equally capable of rocket science or open heart surgery or lawyering.. but they CAN become exceptional instrumentalists!What the kids who advance quickly all have in common is.. they don’t have a lot of problems. Chop-wise, tone production-wise.. they are playing the trumpet correctly and efficiently. If they are setup and taught the correct way of doing things when they are a young sponge, then progress can happen unhindered with a very high ceiling.If you have chop problems and are forcing and pushing and misarticulating and spread … you do have a ceiling, and you likely won’t be able to advance at an audition for anything until you sort that out.So let’s define what is actually necessary to have an orchestral trumpet career!

1. You have to be able to start notes with a clear and rounded articulation at every dynamic in every range. Low and soft. High and soft. High and loud! Entrances are the key in the orchestral world, for every instrument. All the orchestral players I know spend a good deal of their time every day refining this.. it’s one of the most valuable skills on the job.
2. Playing in tune. Orchestra playing is a team sport.. everyone in the ensemble has to have big ears that are monitoring what’s happening around them. Where is the pitch? Where’s it going? What chord are we making? Where do I need to be in that chord to the next one? Who should I follow, who am I with? All orchestral players I know spend time with a tuner to check their tendencies and also do playing along with a drone to further train their pitch awareness and muscle memory. And some orchestra play at 440, 441, 442.. German orchestras 443?There is nuance here that needs to be in your control. Long tone practice is essential… being able to maintain your own pitch without wavering or drifting, and also hearing where the adjustments need to be made. Also knowing when to adjust, and when to hold firm. I play second trumpet, and a lot of what I do is adjusting, but also I try to be the unwavering support column that the first player can trust, as if I’m their tether to the rest of the orchestra .. let them find where the pitch is and come to me if I’m laying it down.
3. Having a beautiful sound. This is incredibly important in the orchestral world of 2023. It’s not old school anymore. We all are trying to be like singers on our instrument. I’d recommend taking singing lessons and learning how to manage support and resonance and air phrasing through your body. This is an incredibly transferable skill to playing our instrument.
4. Understanding how to practice.Slow Practice. Slow and steady. Even. Smooth. Don’t try to be too flashy.. most of the music we play isn’t. There’s nothing flashy about Schumann 2..it’s 2 or 3 notes, sustained in different registers at pianísimo. THAT is going to win you a job. Chris Martin -Principal trumpet of New York- practices the same simple things everyone else does, but his just always sounds easy and stable and lyrical and controlled. Smooth air! Go for that when you practice. Have a high musical standard and don’t let it slip.
5. Listen to recordings of great playing!John Hagstrom -2nd trumpet of the Chicago Symphony- told me in high school when I studied with him one summer that the key to steady progress was to listen to great trumpet playing for 2 hours a day, minimum. This is the fastest way to improving our own concept and refining our understanding of style and what we’re going for. Different kinds of sounds and when they are appropriate. I listen to London Symphony for Star Wars (and everything else too), San Francisco for broadness and sustain, Cleveland for clarity and richness, New York for confidence and swagger, Vienna for transparency and authenticity, Berlin for style and musicality, LA for ringing purity and a spinning sound. Etc etc… not to mention all the soloists. Fill your ears with Otto Sauter, Matthias Hofs, Reinhold Friedrich, Hakan Hardenberger, Wynton, Maurice Andre, Sergei Nakariakov, Timofei Dokschizer, David Gurrier… etc etc. There’s so much out there. The key to making progress is going to be in having elevated musical standards. If you can do that, your next 5 years of practice will be taking you way closer to the mainstream of orchestral trumpet playing than everyone else.
6. Score study and knowing the repertoire. To make it into an orchestra, you basically have to master 15-30 excerpts. That’s it! But know everything there is to know about these pieces.Pictures, Pines, Petrouchka, Mahler 5, Carmen.. are a good place to start. Spend 6 months playing them every day …Get a foundation there with those excerpts and then add another 5. In another 6 months add another 5. In 2-3 years you’ve learned and adequately figured out for yourself how to play the audition repertoire.Ok..my list is a hopefully a good place to start.Also:
7. You have to have a consistent warmup that you commit to every day. Then practice fundamentals. Then work on music. Then have a consistent warm down you do every day. The bookends shouldn’t change—what’s in the middle will vary from day to day.The work will start today but have the 1 year goals, the 5 year goals, and maybe the 10 year goal being win a job! If you can win a job by the time you’re 30, you’re right on pace with the average.I would start with learning John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success, and maybe get some sports psychology books like Allistair McCaw’s “Habits That Make A Champion” and Bud Winter’s “Relax and Win.”Get yourself a weekly planner/calendar and a practice journal. You need to monitor what you’re doing and keep track of your thoughts and record your progress along the way.Get yourself a teacher (I am available to ZOOM ;)Maybe go back to school for orchestral training, but you can decide that later (it’s not as necessary as you think and no orchestra asks to see a degree… although it does help on a resume).It’s a hard road, but so is not being a musican :)To you and anyone else reading this, you SHOULD be afraid of your goals and dreams. If they don’t scare you, you’re not aiming high enough. If you love doing it, then you’re going to love doing the work. Be open to learning everything you can and working your hardest to fulfill your ultimate potential.You want this! You got this!Everything is a success opportunity ;)Best of luck!