Late at night, at George Mason's Southside Dining Hall, I ran into a trumpet player who complained that he couldn't practice trumpet in his dorm when he wanted to. He'd have to leave the dorm and go out in the cold to find a secluded enough place to practice his instrument. With the barriers to easy practice, he would simply practice less frequently.

But his roommate, also a musician, didn't have the same concern. You see, our trumpet-player's friend had a keyboard with MIDI support, and would plug in his headphones whenever he wanted to practice.

That got us thinking: why couldn't we have a MIDI Trumpet that would react to different trumpet embouchures (buzzing noises trumpet players make into mouthpiece) to help him practice playing his instrument.