I have started to learn playing scales on the trumpet. Mostly because it should be helpful for playing faster runs, and also for improvising.
When I play from scores with the usual presentation of scales, I find it difficult from time to time to make out whether the following note is sharp or flat. This is because that is usually indicated at the beginning of the line, in the key signature. So I have to look left, count lines, etc.
So I have prepared scores where the flats and sharps are written immediately in front of each note. There are usually no “cancelling” naturals, because it is taken for granted that if there is no flat or sharp, the next note is meant to be played natural.
To begin I started with the 4 main scales: major, natural minor, harmonic minor and melodic minor.
Of course, there is also value in learning the key signatures, and the positions of the half-tone-steps, and the whole system that holds these scales together. But I think that can be separated, and playing trumpet, and playing these scales in particular, is already hard enough.
I used the free musescore program to create these files. It works really well, and the result looks very good! WordPress doesn’t like me to upload the musescore (mscz) files of the scores – so please email me if you’d like to have a copy.
Here is a list with clickable links for the PDF files. Below are the scores as images, also clickable:
