Wow , Steve, I’ve never heard someone voice so much frustration over a trumpet method before. I couldn’t disagree with your assessment of Greg’s method more strongly. I began lessons in middle school with someone who simply assigned exercises out of the Arban Method each week without much explanation. In college I studied with a protégé of Bill Adam where I played the same “routine” every day. Since then I’ve studied methods by James Stamp, Claude Gordon, John Haynie, Carmine Caruso. I even experimented with exercises by Cat Anderson. The point is I gleaned things along my journey that worked for me and discarded a lot of things that didn’t. Greg’s method is so sequential and thoroughly thought out. It couldn’t be more solid pedagogically. I can say I’m playing my best today because of Greg’s videos and exercises. I also use his ideas in my own teaching with great results. Many of my students have won chairs in all-state band and orchestra. I had a recent graduate that was lead trumpet in the all-state jazz band two years in a row.
Steve, I would also encourage you to get with a good teacher and I would guess you will grow to appreciate what Windworks has to offer.