“Reward” was a 1981 Top-10 UK pop hit for Liverpool post-punk/neo-psychedelic band The Teardrop Explodes. The song was a new discovery for me last week, 38 years after the fact, despite its supposed continued prominence in 1980s alternative pop compilations (according to Wikipedia). Notwithstanding its popularity, I couldn’t find any traces of a trumpet chart, piano sheet, or even a crappy MIDI file for the song anywhere on the internet. So I rolled my eyes, hunkered-down, and set-about learning another one by ear…
The original recording was difficult to decipher, with heavy doses of effects and keyboards all in the wash. Although, I’m confident that this transcription is a very solid representation of the notes that the English studio trumpet player (or players) belted out all of those years ago.
So, finally, the internet now has a trumpet chart for this song!
Resources:
Transcribed by me and free for you to use.
What do you think? Please leave a comment and let me know.
Gary Badger's Trumpet Transcriptions 
As an ex trumpet player (now keyboards) I confirm your accurate transcription which I understand is sometimes quite hard to hear under all the production. But its fine . Would liked to see the trumpet solo written though. 🙂
Cheers Dean
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Do you have a score of your keyboards parts ?
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I’m not musical (never trained), but as an ex-Liverpudlian who loves the music of this era, I take my hat off to someone who recognises the critical importance of the horn track to this song!
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