Expanded Collection of forScore Custom Jazz Stamps

Recently, I published forScore Custom Stamps for Trumpet Players, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how popular the download has become. A big thank you to everyone who checked it out! I hope the stamps have been useful to you.

After receiving a few questions about additional stamps for non-brass players, I decided to take the idea a step further. Here’s a new release containing a comprehensive set of 106 annotations designed for musicians of all types—not just brass players. Like the earlier set, these stamps use my favorite Jazz font, which I find friendlier-looking and easier on the eyes compared to traditional music fonts.

From the iPad screenshot, you’ll see that this expanded collection makes the default forScore set practically redundant. If I knew how to remove those from my iPad, I would! All of the stamps are black in their default form, but you can easily customize their colors as needed.

forScore Custom Jazz Stamps. Created by www.GaryBadger.com

Help yourself to this expanded collection of forScore Custom Jazz Stamps. I hope you find them as useful and practical as I do.

Update 30/12/2024: By request, I’ve added an additional collection of note names A to G in the same Jazz font. So grab that collection too, if you would like it!

forScore Custom Jazz Stamps Text A-G. Created by www.GaryBadger.com

For guidance on importing and using the stamps, refer to the instructions in the forScore User Guide.

💡 Tip: Be sure to download the ZIP file to your PC or Mac. Avoid trying to open it directly on your iPhone or iPad unless you have an app that can handle ZIP files.

Resources:

Created by me and free for you to use.

What do you think? Please leave a comment and let me know.

Burt Bacharach / The Carpenters – (They Long To Be) Close To You

Featuring on recordings with Tori Holub and James Wilkas has certainly plonked my trumpet playing before many new listeners. Our cover of We’ve Only Just Begun garnered nearly 500,000 views on YouTube within the first 8 months. It has received rave reviews in countless reaction videos, with praise for Tori’s authentic vocal resemblance to Karen Carpenter as well as the high-quality collaborative production led by James. Some of them even enjoyed the trumpets and flugelhorns! 🤣

Close to You is our latest Carpenters cover release, once again showcasing Tori and James’ incredible talents alongside those of our other collaborators. This time, I’m featured in the brief yet iconic trumpet solo. I did my best to channel Chuck Findley, who was himself filling in for Herb Alpert when he recorded the original solo in 1970. Below is my transcription of that tiny solo, which I must admit I put together some time after I recorded it.

For the trumpet players reading this far, you might enjoy Chuck Findley sharing his recollection of playing on the original recording for The Carpenters.

Resources:

(They Long To Be) Close To You - Trumpet Solo. Transcribed by Gary Badger - www.GaryBadger.com

Transcribed by me and free for you to use.

What do you think? Please leave a comment and let me know.

forScore Custom Stamps for Trumpet Players

forScore-icon

The launch of Apple’s 13″ iPad finally convinced me to move on from playing paper charts and go digital. Now, I use my iPad for all my big band charts, musical theater books, method books, and more—no paper required. I’m a very happy convert.

Like most iPad-reading musicians, I rely on the forScore app to manage and display all my sheet music. Within the app, I use stamps and other annotation tools to mark changes and highlight important details. While forScore includes a limited range of built-in stamps for common markings, it also allows you to import custom stamps created outside the app.

As a trumpet player, I’ve created nearly 40 custom stamps that give me quick access to the markings I use most often. And as with most things I create, what’s mine is yours too! Below, you’ll find a ZIP file containing my forScore custom stamps, ready for you to download and import into your app.

My stamps are styled primarily in a Jazz font, with each being a PNG image with a transparent background, sized at 144×144 pixels. For guidance on importing and using these stamps, check out the instructions in the forScore User Guide.

💡 Tip: Be sure to download the ZIP file to your PC or Mac. Don’t try to open it on your phone or tablet, unless you have an app on the device that can open ZIP files.

Resources:

forScore Custom Stamps for Trumpet Players. Created by www.GaryBadger.com

Created by me and free for you to use.

What do you think? Please leave a comment and let me know.

Don Ellis – A Rock Odyssey

I recently recorded the introduction to one of my favorite Don Ellis Big Band tunes, A Rock Odyssey, composed by the brilliant Hank Levy. A masterpiece in 7/4 time!

While I played this snippet for YouTube as a ‘Short,’ I didn’t transcribe it so it’s not on offer here. But for those of you who want to dive into the full arrangement, you can grab the entire big band score and charts for just USD $40 from UNC Jazz Press!

Don Ellis Hank Levy - A Rock Odyssey

PS: My video shows off the new range of Flugelhorn Mutes made in Australia by Tech Tone Mutes. No longer just for trumpets, cornets, and trombones. Check them out!

Clarke Meets Bach: Trumpet Play-Along with a Twist… “Toccata and Fugue” Adaptation to Clarke #2.

What if H.L.Clarke had been overly-influenced by J.S.Bach?

If it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing!

Clarke Study #2 is a staple for trumpet players, from students to professionals. But what if H.L. Clarke had been overly influenced by J.S. Bach? This trumpet exercise with a play-along video is my answer: an adaptation of the iconic theme from Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor—reimagined in the format of the Clarke study for B♭ trumpet. And instead of a boring metronome, we’re keeping things fresh with a funky backing track.

Looking to break free from your daily Clarke #2? Give this play-along a try for a little fun and variety. I made it to mix things up and give my neighbors a break from hearing the same old exercises—maybe you should too!

The written exercise is displayed on-screen as the video plays, while the PDF copy may be downloaded here.

This piece also doubles as an “Expanding Range” exercise, inspired by William Adam’s teaching approach. By starting in the middle register and gradually expanding up and down, you’ll be prepared for any range, high or low.

A quote from the book A Tribute to William Adam:

It may have been Mr. Adam who was the first to employ the concept of expanding exercises. Mr. Adam would start up in the middle register. Then we played the next exercise a ½ lower, then a ½ higher, and continue this pattern expanding outward. By doing this the player would not set themselves up for high or low register but instead be ready for either.

Resources:

Toccata a la Clarke #2 Trumpet. What if H.L.Clarke had been overly-influenced by J.S.Bach? Adapted by Gary Badger www.GaryBadger.com

Adapted by me and free for you to use.

What do you think? Please leave a comment and let me know.

Tech Tone Mutes: Trumpet Cup Mute Demo

I recorded a brief demo to show Tech Tone trumpet cup mutes in action. These mutes play beautifully in tune and speak well. I think that they blend nicely when played in a section. Will let you decide for yourself after listening.

Australian-made Tech Tone Mutes are available in a range of colors and finishes at https://techtonemutes.com/

The Kinks – Come Dancing

A full horn section features in the coda of Come Dancing – a song recorded by UK band The Kinks in 1982.

I’ve transcribed parts for trumpets, trombones, and saxes, mostly true to the original. For our recording, I was somehow able to get away with playing the trombone part on a combination of bass trumpet and slide trumpet (soprano trombone).

Resources:

The Kinks - Come Dancing - Trumpet, Saxes, Trombone. Transcribed by Gary Badger - www.GaryBadger.com

Transcribed by me and free for you to use.

What do you think? Please leave a comment and let me know.

Happy Birthday – My Stevie Wonder Cover for 7 Trumpets

Each year my friends receive a special birthday greeting from me on Facebook, featuring one of my over-the-top renditions of Happy Birthday as seen in my Happy Birthday Trumpet Playlist.

This year I’ve created a new over-the-top version with which to honor my friends on their special day, arranging and recording a short version of Stevie Wonder’s Happy Birthday for 7 trumpets. And by 7 trumpets I really mean 3 trumpets, 3 flugelhorns, 1 bass trumpet, and a Band-in-a-Box rhythm section.

Any trumpet player caring to repeat this silliness for themselves is welcome to download and play my arrangement.

Resources:

Stevie Wonder's Happy Birthday for 7 Trumpets. Arranged by Gary Badger - www.GaryBadger.com

Transcribed and arranged by me, and free for you to use.

What do you think? Please leave a comment and let me know.

Roger Glover – Love Is All

If you recall the original recording and cartoon video clip, you had an awesome childhood in the 1970s/1980s!

Love Is All from The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper’s Feast was a mid-70s hit in Europe. But its video, which features a guitar-playing frog, extended the song’s worldwide popularity and etched it into the minds of a generation. For years, ABC TV Australia used it as a filler before the nightly news, French TV played it nightly at station close, and children’s TV programs in the United States played it extensively.

We decided to have some fun with this too. I transcribed and recorded the horn sections parts for trumpet, flugelhorn, and trombone. And now you can play them too.

A big shout-out and congratulations to my friend Jean Michel aka “Mich Much” for leading this collaboration project for the 4 years that it took to come together, and his outstanding audio / video engineering.

Resources:

Roger Glover - Love Is All - Trumpet Flugelhorn Trombone Flute charts. Transcribed by Gary Badger - www.GaryBadger.com

Transcribed by me and free for you to use.

What do you think? Please leave a comment and let me know.