I’m a trumpet player. I play for fun in varied settings, including big bands and musical theater. One setting that I really enjoy is home recording, where I collaborate and make music with many different musicians worldwide.

Often when I participate in a recording project, I need to transcribe charts for B♭ trumpet and flugelhorn. It can sometimes take me hours to learn brass lines by ear (from a backing track or original recording) and mark them up in a sheet music format. So each transcription feels like quite an investment in time. Then, after I’ve recorded my part, the chart is redundant and unlikely to be used ever again.

So for what it’s worth, I thought I would share my transcriptions back to the trumpet community via this blog. Hopefully, when trumpet players search for trumpet charts they need, Google will send them here. And if you’re a trumpet player and you need a chart I’ve transcribed, here it is: free for you to print and play!

For each transcription, I’ve included a link to a video. That way you can see and hear the chart being played as intended.

I don’t profess that these are professional quality offerings and I wouldn’t think about charging for any of them. The selection is very heavily influenced by the collaboration invitations that I’ve received; in many instances, I had never heard the pieces before being asked to play but agreed for fun and for the challenge to transcribe. Many of the charts are in musical styles that I wouldn’t ordinarily play. But every one of them has done the job for me.

If you like or use one of my charts, I’d love you to leave a comment on the blog so I can read about it. It would be nice to know this was useful for someone. 🎺

If you’re still wondering what this is all about, maybe check out my Frequently Asked Questions.

Music Scoring Software

I’ve been asked what software I use for my transcriptions. The answer is MuseScore, a free open-source alternative to the likes of Sibelius, Finale and Forte.

It comes with a reasonable learning curve that needs to be met. But now that I’m reasonably proficient, it’s a big time-saver over the hand-written charts that I once toiled over.