Enjoy your lunch!

I read a quote from Stravinsky that implied that, for him, it didn't have a thing to do with emotion. That he was focused on extreme care with craft. . . only.

And yet, his music resonated, emotionally, with me. At another tact, I've left concerts with two people, having heard the same music, were at opposite ends about what they had heard. And both equally qualified to have a well-informed opinion. Which implies to me a lot of it has to do with background, personal preferences and even how you are feeling that day.

@GeorgeB said in How to Listen to Classical Music: Tonality:

That is so damn interesting. The information here tells me just how poor my knowledge of music theory really is. I also now appreciate some of the more complicated pieces we do at the band that have different key changes within the composition. Thanks, Dr.Mark.

Yeah! What he wrote!

Hi Comeback,
Yeah! I'm so glad you like it!
Have a great weekend

@Dr-Mark said in How to Listen to Classical Music: Motifs and Seeds "Musical Arguments":
I've been so lost sometimes it felt like I was on a bad side of town without GPS but all I had to do is go back to the melody for a while and start again with little motifs once my comfort level returned.

As an aside - about being lost -

A friend left for music school (jazz emphasis) and the first time I saw him back was at a jam session. He was accompanying a vocalist and his note choice was really interesting.

I figured he got a holy grail at jazz school, so when we took a break, I told him how much I liked what he had done and how different it was from before he went to conservatory, and I aked him what he was doing.

He looked at me and said, "I didn't do anything special . . . I was lost". LOL

@Jolter said in Tone Centering for Trumpet (Centering & Tuning) Part III:

Thanks for posting this thread! I found the link very informative and it helped me with how to think about (and visualize) slotting. The discussion has been slightly less educational but only slightly so. 😉

One thing that bugs me about the article is that if you come at it from a scientific (or in my case, engineering) perspective, that figure is extremely confusing at first. Only after a while did I understand what it was supposed to illustrate: how the Y axis means pitch, yet the orange surface area indicates the amount of overtones. To an engineer, those two values do not belong in the same diagram...

@Trumpetsplus said in Tone Centering for Trumpet (Centering & Tuning) Part III:

Not a fan of recreational (part-time) trumpet players indulging in deliberately avoiding the resonance of their instrument. I have a colleague who bends notes so often in his public warmup that he is unable to start any note in tune. Blog on this coming up in the next week or so.

I think I saw an interview (old stuff, 80's) with Håkan Hardenberger where he describes doing severe pitch bends (downward) as part of his practice routine. I don't recall if it was part of the warmup or not, but I think it was supposed to help with embouchure development somehow. I've only seen one or two people doing it, in person, but there seems to be some sort of "method" to it.

Yes, there is some method to it - for people that practice as much as Håkan does. The problem is that we are supposed to train fine motor capability at any level. Moving on to advanced concepts without the foundation builds a contraproductive six pack with our face muscles!

@administrator said in Håkan Hardenberger: How To Anticipate Pitch And Breathe:

Hardenberger is one of my favorites, bar-none.

Me Too! Hakan is the kind of guy you call when no one else can play the piece. I've heard him play stuff that would make most trumpet players run for cover. He's scary good and from all the videos I've seen, he appears to be a nice guy. I can't confirm it, but I think I read somewhere that Alison Balsom (my daughter's favorite) took lessons from him.

Generally spoken, there's too much pontification and peer pressure going around on internet forums. For some, it's a diversion from just getting down and doing the hard work.

I played a Schilke H (similar to Bach 7C but with more comfortable rim), through H.S. and part of college. Then switched to a Purviance 4*D4. Played the Purviance in the service. One of the Air Force's only two bands in the Far East, so it couldn't have been too shabby.

I'm not saying play a "small" mouthpiece. I'm saying ignore all the peer pressure and play what fits.

@Kehaulani said in Brass Projection vs Resonance by Sean Jones:

Interesting. But I thought you didn't have to buzz to produce a sound.

Oh my Goodness! Stirring an old (X) will cause a lot of stink and be of little if any use.
Hey! How about shaken, not stirred! You could say with that statement, I've "Bonded out".

@fels said in D is for Dynamics from TrumpetAtoZ by Brain Davis:

So the administrators found a sleeping room for me at a Carmalite Monestery - third floor. I had my Olds Recording with me and thought i would try to practice in my room. Did not work so well. Even with a mute.

I had to laugh a little when I read this. I can just imagine a guy running with a trumpet in his hand to the chapel section of the monastery yelling "Sanctuary! Sanctuary!" while being chased by a bunch of guys in long brown robes.

@Dr-GO said in You Know More Scales Than You Think!:

Then there are the pentacostal scales.... or is that pentationic... doesn't matter, as I can play them in any tongue!

That's the Paleontological Scale. It's played on the jawbone of as ass.

Here is the trumpet master of the pentatonic scale. Enjoy.

@Kehaulani
The more you know

The BBC story is here: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-13092827,
and a video link is here: https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/king-tutankhamun-trumpet-oldest-in-existence/

As promised:

schlossberg routine.jpg

Play this!

67df3951-b29a-4963-9953-b8fcf6f3497c-image.png

I agree with ROWUK. I started playing trumpet in third grade (no lessons) - gave it up but took up piano lessons -- resumed trumpet in 5th grade (no lessons) - continued both piano and trumpet --- between sixth grade and junior high school (6 grade to 7) i had my first lessons -- took lessons in both piano and trumpet throughout junior high and first two years of high school. Then moved to a nearby city - no lessons. Bought an illegal "fake book" and took a few lessons on piano from a teacher who for the first time in my "education" introduced me to the circle of fifths. No more trumpet lessons for twenty years. Then, perhaps one year of lessons from the local symphonic principal. He introduced me to long tones and breath attacks.

Otherwise - it is the love of music and the drive to get better at what you do.

@ROWUK Great to hear that you're back playing and getting decent results. FWIW, my dad who had stopped playing cornet after getting a full top denture was talked into playing euphonium when he starting transporting me to band practice way back when. He used a denture adhesive called Fast Teeth which seemed to work for him. He did use a lot of it. I remember him saying that if he didn't remove and clean the denture straight after rehearsal or a gig, it was a couple of days before he could remove it :-).

It's the difference between spelling words out phonetically and recognizing whole words as a single symbol, or even entire phrases. Eventually you start to think in those composite symbols, just like we all know what things like IIRC, LOL, IANAL, OMG etc. which is pretty much when you can apply the fakebooks effectively.