You might also want to check out even some Bach or other brass quintet hymns. Those are simple, mellow, lyrical but pleasing to play (in my opinion) and allow us to focus more on sound production.

The Pacific Symphony recently posted a streaming concert of one of my favorite pieces of music and, even better, it was arranged for brass. The first trumpet part does go above the staff but I played the melody transposed down a bit for a while and found that pleasing and a lot of it was slurred, so I didn’t have to deal with articulation. And it’s slow.

https://youtu.be/dD9eMCtInak

WindWorks wisely has us check to make sure we can articulate each pitch before we move on to the next, which makes a lot of sense.

But when I’m wanting / needing to focus more on the fundamental production of sound and ensuring I’m relaxed and things are free and efficient, I often play bits and pieces of stuff like this and it helps me.

Find what Inspires you–something you really want to play and find it pleasing, etc. I’m not a singer, but that’s the ultimate goal–Adolph Herseth talked about that.

Good luck philip and, most importantly, ENJOY! 😉

There have been times when I found myself not enjoying playing anymore as I was so focused on results and my expectations, that I lost sight of what it was about. Important to bring context to our technical development and keep ourselves honest with ourselves–not too hard, not to easy. And, at the end of the day, it’s all about music.