@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!

@kehaulani Still not comparable.

I noticed that on this trumpet, the stems of the valves each have the instrument's serial number stamped on them. This is a great touch, because it allowed me to know that they were original.

I now notice that the 3rd valve slide also has the last three digits of the serial stamped on the underside. However, none of the other slides have this. So, I was wondering....does this mean the other slides may not be original? If not, why only stamp the 3rd valve slide, and not the others?

What markings does your Silver Flair have?

@kehaulani
Although I wouldn't go so far as to call Ray Anthony a musical prostitute, rather I would label him more of a musical entertainer who did a good job of keeping the big band sound alive during a period when the younger generation's taste was leaning toward hard core rock and roll.
I know he sounds like Harry James but he wasn't the only one copying Harry's style.
I own a lot of his records and enjoy listening to them often.

I have been gone too long. Welcome rowuk, and any more refugees from TM

I am every day confronting this question and I have no answer that will either be convincing or satisfying.

Perhaps it is easier to declare who has "it" instead or trying to define what "it" is

Miles had it
Chet had it
Louis had it
Bix had it
African tribal music has it
Japanese folk music has it
Japanese drumming has it
Zen flute playing has it
Whale-song has it
many more than I can list here have it

It is everywhere if we look for it and yet not everyone has it, although it appears that all are capable of it if they choose to be.

Often we search for it and reach for it and it eludes us but the pull is so strong that we never give up the search for it for in the reaching for it we do sometimes attain it and when that happens we are uplifted and listeners are fulfilled and they are filled with wonder.

It is never an intellectual exercise but instead it is an emotional connection and the notes we play are the vehicle.

Musicians who can attain it look into their own souls and use their skills to represent what they find there, the listener receives it and if the musician has attained it, it reaches in, to the very heart and soul of the listener.

Then the listener begins to dance or they begin to weep or they are transported to a different place a better place, but always they are moved beyond words.

Words are sometimes used to try to describe it, words such as hypnotic transcendental meditative but they all seem to fall short.

I have been lucky enough to have witnessed it many times but I have never been able to quantify or define it.

Always it arrives when it is not looked for as though it is in hiding and must be tempted out like a frightened deer or a mouse, but seeking it out and trying to illuminate and bring it out scares it away.

It is an experience like dance and is fleeting and is gone before it can be annotated, can we annotate a dance can we annotate colour can we annotate fear can we annotate pleasure, we can perhaps annotate the actions of something, for sure we can annotate a note in a stave or a phrase but the emotional experience of it cannot I think be annotated.

So what is music, perhaps all we can really say is this - Music is an emotional experience that envelops us and moves us to a different and often a better place.

@Dr-GO
Thank you and others for the Berp valve oil recommendation. Did buy the 8 Oz bottle. Oil my horns about once a week.

@zetka on a similar note, I found this image [originally taken May 2020] showing the piston from my Musica Steyr cornet [Amati 2551 or B-1038, the Connquest/Wonderphone-inspired model] and an Amati Excelent Super [yes, that is how it was spelled], with G3 Meister pistons.
The barrel is slightly different, with the Musica having the guide notch punched out of the top like Conn and in line with the pin, and the G3 having it molded from the bottom across from the pin. Conn, KHS, and Chinese makers had the pin mounted to the mobile portion of the piston, versus Amati attaching it to the barrel. The Excelent Super was Monel, with the Excelent and other models having Amati's infamous Chromium surface piston.
Amati-Kraslice piston comparison Meister series Excelent Super Excellent Musica Steyr.jpg

In my world, we are creatures of habit. I am convinced that the „where“ is secondary, what we need is „stable“. This gives us a reliable target for development.

Recently, I have been spending a lot of time on the natural trumpet. The mouthpiece there is huge(19.5mm) and the proportion of upper to lower lip far different than with my „modern“ trumpets. This seems to be insignificant for playing. We just need a very stable base in everything that we do.

Generally, embouchure questions only come up when something is not working. There seems to be the blind assumption that we change one thing and are cured. This has NEVER worked. In my teaching, body use and breathing come first, then a relaxed exhale into the note. We build stability over time by strengthening the foundation and not moving too fast to get an octave more in 4 weeks before an audition. The attitude about preparation is the biggest reason that we get into trouble. We need to play things out of our scope because we did not improve the scope when we should have.

Generally, a good program with lipslurs can improve the embouchure by evolution instead of cold turkey revolution.

@ROWUK said in Jaw Position and the Upper Register:

Now, one word of warning. I learned first hand at TrumpetMaster that pedantic, repetitive posting never results in anyone taking ones side. Generally the target audience just goes away shaking their heads. Sometimes passion is too close to politics or religion (with a small R).

Lesson learned. Showing off book learning is no way to help people. Thank you.

@SSmith1226 said in Clean with 'alcohol'?:

@Dr-GO

As far as modern, scientifically documented data, there are literally numerous peer reviewed studies, for example showing that soap and water, is far more effective than alcohol based hand sanitizers for prevention of Clostridium Difficile infections in a hospital or office setting.

AD841668-BA80-4E6F-9BF3-71A0FAD97CA1.png

Hand washing with soap and water is significantly more effective at removing C. difficile spores from the hands of volunteers than are ABHRs. Residual spores are readily transferred by a handshake after use of ABHR.

Thanks for understanding.

I could not agree more on this subject. Because of C. Diff... soap is all I use going in and out of all rooms. AND lest one forget, the soap wash must be done for at least 20 seconds (the time it takes to sing "Mary has a little lamb"). This I taught to all of my medical students before I took them into the Neonatal Unit to teach them how to perform the Newborn exam.

@tmd
How do you manage that? ( asking for a friend )

@Mike-Ansberry Can we continue to say that that American Standard horn was a really $hitty instrument? (sorry for the bad pun).

@j-jericho said in Favorite Music:

For Maynard Ferguson fans:

God how l have loved playing this Maynard chart!