通过我的翻译希望能使更多的朋友了解国外这方面的一些思想和方法——同时我也希望得到你们的建议和纠正——并一起讨论交流——
原文：
What you should know before you begin on the instrument. You may be surprised to find that you really do not simply "blow" a brass instrument! You do not jam the mouthpiece into the lips! You do not pull out valve slides carelessly! And so on.
You will recognize the fact that habits are formed early. The first time you pick up your instrument, you start to form habits. They will be either good habits, or bad habits -- depending upon your approach. Skilful playing on a brass instrument stems from a series of good habits, poor playing, from a series of bad habits.
It is unfortunate, but true, that bad habits seem the easiest to fall into; they wait at every turn for the unwary student. And starting over again after years of working the wrong way; it is harder to unlearn bad habits than to learn good ones.
So stop short, and think! A few weeks of careful study now may save years of frustrating work later. A little patience at this most important stage -- taking each step in its turn -- attention to the formation of good habits, will make it not only possible, but inevitable that you will succeed in becoming an excellent player.
译文：
当你在演奏乐器之前你应该知道什么呢？你可能会惊奇的发现，你并不是在简单的“吹”乐器；并不只是简单的把嘴唇塞进你的号嘴里；并不是漫不经心的调节你的调音管等等。
你将意识到一个事实那就是你的吹奏习惯早已经形成。当你第一次拿起你的乐器，你就已经形成了你的吹奏习惯，这些可能是好的、当然也可能是不好的，这完全取决于你的方法。技巧性的演奏完全建立在一系列好的习惯上，而糟糕的演奏则来源于不好的习惯。
这是一件非常不幸但又是真实的事，那就是坏的习惯的养成似乎是非常容易的，这些坏习惯时刻在等待着那些不注意的、粗心的学生，并开始一次一次的长时间使其处在错误的状态下演奏，而且改掉一个坏习惯要比养成一个好习惯难上加难。
所以，我们一定要停下片刻，认真思考。对于几周时间的粗心练习也许会影响到我们以后几年的演奏。在这个最重要的阶段一定要给于你所做的练习一点耐心，认真打牢每块基石，对于好的习惯要能做到有心的记忆，这样就不仅意味着有可能，甚至是必然的会使你走向成功，成为一名真正优秀的演奏者。
