In this article, the author discusses how a trumpet player can develop a strong embouchure. Many players practice lip slurs, which are exercises to strengthen a player's muscles while building flexibility Since there are only seven valve combinations on the trumpet--open; 1, 2, 3; 1, 3; 2, 3; 1, 2; 1; and 2 (the third valve alone is the equivalent of 1, 2)--a trumpeter must be able to play several notes using each valve combination. Bugles, which are trumpets without valves, have only a single harmonic series, which leaves them with so few notes that a bugler cannot even play a scale. (The overtone or harmonic series is based on fundamental frequencies and frequency ratios, allowing players to produce multiple notes with the same fingering.) We hear intervals from harmonic series in bugle calls like "Taps" and "Reveille." Practicing these sets of common intervals (fifths, fourths, and thirds) without tonguing individual notes creates a flexible embouchure. This skill is important because a trumpeter needs to be able to produce any one of the thirty-one notes in the normal 2.5-octave range at will. However, strength and endurance are far from everything a player needs to be good. Brass players must also command a wide dynamic range. They must have the diaphragm and embouchure control to produce sounds so soft that they make the listener strain to hear them, as well as sounds so stentorian that they carry across concert halls and battlefields.