Trumpet Student

That's exactly about how old I was when I started. I was very small for my age, and I used a cornet with which to begin simply because it was shorter and smaller than a trumpet.I began taking lessons in our town with a truly fine teacher of trumpet and cornet.I was only in second grade in school. I have been playing ever since, and am now a retired teacher of 35 years.Yet, I also taught privately the cornet and trumpet in addition to teaching other subjects within the school.I attribute my success, also having played professionally for some years later on, to having started so young.It was later I sort of "grew into" playing the trumpet with it's larger size than the cornet. I would strongly urge using the normal size cornet and later changing over to the trumpet.And yes, I was so small back then that even the cornet seemed rather big, but I did somehow manage to become somewhat of a child prodigy on it at that time. By fourth grade the solo contest rooms in which I played grew to standing room only crowds, which, if I may say so, I found it rather "scary".I was also a bit of a "novelty" in that people enjoyed seeing such a small fellow actually playing a cornet that was nearly as large as I was. Today, I have a collection of trumpets,one that is still quite large to hold and play, a Herald Trumpet 56 inches long with a banner or flag hanging from it. I've played it for Christmas, weddings, and special services in church in addition to several school functions.But, yes, the cornet first and later the trumpet, of which today I have several of both.