- Accent
- A mark (>) telling you to start a note with extra energy.
- Accidental
- A sharp, flat or natural sign that isn't in the key signature.
- Anacrusis
- Another name for a pick-up: notes before the first full bar.
- Andante
- A walking-pace tempo.
- Allegro
- A fast, lively tempo.
- Bar (measure)
- A section of music between two bar lines.
- Beat
- The steady pulse of the music.
- Bell
- The flared end of the trumpet where the sound comes out.
- Breath mark
- A comma (,) above the staff showing a good place to breathe.
- Buzz
- The vibration of your lips that makes the trumpet sound.
- Concert pitch
- The actual sounding pitch. Trumpet in B♭ sounds a tone lower than written.
- Crescendo
- Gradually getting louder.
- Diminuendo
- Gradually getting softer (also decrescendo).
- Dot
- Adds half the note's value again.
- Dynamics
- How loud or soft the music is (p, mp, mf, f…).
- Embouchure
- The way you shape and use your lips and face muscles to play.
- Flat (♭)
- Lowers a note by one semitone.
- Forte (f)
- Loud.
- Key signature
- Sharps or flats at the start of each line that apply to the whole piece.
- Ledger line
- A short extra line for notes above or below the staff.
- Legato
- Smooth and connected.
- Lip slur
- Changing between partials using air and lips, without the tongue or valves.
- Long tone
- A held note practised for steady, beautiful sound.
- Mouthpiece
- The cup-shaped part your lips buzz into.
- Natural (♮)
- Cancels a sharp or flat.
- Partial
- One of the notes available on a single valve combination.
- Phrase
- A musical sentence, often 2 or 4 bars long.
- Piano (p)
- Soft.
- Repeat sign
- A double bar line with dots: go back and play the section again.
- Rest
- A silent beat or beats.
- Scale
- A ladder of notes going up or down in steps.
- Semitone
- The smallest step in Western music (a half step).
- Sharp (♯)
- Raises a note by one semitone.
- Slur
- A curved line over notes: tongue only the first one.
- Staccato
- Short and separated (a dot above or below the note).
- Staff (stave)
- The five lines and four spaces music is written on.
- Tempo
- The speed of the beat.
- Time signature
- Two numbers telling you the beats per bar and which note gets one beat.
- Tone
- Two meanings: the quality of your sound, or a whole step (two semitones).
- Tonguing
- Starting a note by releasing the tongue, as in "too".
- Transposing instrument
- An instrument whose written notes differ from the sounding pitch.
- Treble clef
- The clef used for trumpet music; it curls around the G line.
- Valve
- One of three pistons that make the tube longer and the pitch lower.
- Water key
- A lever that lets condensation out of the trumpet.