Easter Services

BigDub

My Easter gig went fairly well but certainly not flawless. The prelude "Let the Trumpet Sound" is written on 4 pages. As I transitioned from page 1 to 2, the left margin of page 2 was covered by page 1, so there was about 3 measures of improv until I could get page 1 out of the way. From that point on, things went rather well.
I had an almost identical situation like that myself for our postlude. I had the three pieces of music, each being two pages, all together and thought I had them in order ready to go. My second page for the postlude, E-luded me. I think looked through every last one of the sheets before I could find it. We were already playing. This made the second trumpet player more nervous than he already was. Sorry about that. No one should suffer for my disorganization!

trickg

@BigDub said in Easter Services:

@trickg said in Easter Services:

@BigDub said in Easter Services:

I feel very good about how things went for me as well. I knew my endurance was going to be tested to a high degree so in anticipation I was doing "two a days" practice sessions for the week or more leading up to Easter. It was just enough to help me through some high passages ( for me, anyway ) on the Hallelujah Chorus, Christ The Lord is Risen Today ( descant on C, two verses ) and the first part in Grand Choeur Dialogue. All of these then repeated in a second service as well. At one point, I reminded myself to breathe, breathe, breathe, and I am glad I did that. It really helped me relax as well. Also I was mindful the whole time who this was for, and it wasn’t me for sure!

What horn did you use for the Hallelujah Chorus? I keep thinking about getting a pic, but that's about as far as it goes - I've used my D trumpet on the Hallelujah Chorus 7 or 8 times now, and it always seems to get it done ok, whereas I've never felt great about my pic playing on the occasions where I've done it.

I used my Dillon C trumpet, though not a D, still made it a little more manageable than had I used my Bb. A piccolo would have even been nicer, but it seems that people like the D best for the Hallelujah Chorus. I am not accustomed to a piccolo but I would have made it my business to get accustomed to it if one was available. I was able to cleanly hit the D towards the end on both occasions. That would have been an E had I played it on my Bb ( you would know that.....) Thinking about that would have kept me up at night.....I used the C for all the music yesterday. It is surprisingly not a terrible horn now that I know its little intonation differences.

Really? I've always been under the impression from other guys I know who do this kind of music that they prefer to to the Hallelujah Chorus on pic in A - it puts in the key of F, so everything lays really nicely.

The one thing that I have noticed as being a bit of a detractor with using pic is that intonation is a bit more of a factor - because it's such a small horn anyway, it doesn't take much movement with the tuning slide for it to be out, and if it's out, it's not as easy to lip in. D is a bit more forgiving that way, or at least that's been my experience with it.

Newell Post

@BigDub Piccolo trumpet is a harsh mistress. It seems like you should get a whole additional octave out of the deal for free. But unless you are a real master, you mostly just lose the lower octave and get tinny sound. Resist the call of the dark side. Borrow one if you must before investing.

trickg

@Newell-Post said in Easter Services:

@BigDub Piccolo trumpet is a harsh mistress. It seems like you should get a whole additional octave out of the deal for free. But unless you are a real master, you mostly just lose the lower octave and get tinny sound. Resist the call of the dark side. Borrow one if you must before investing.

I think this is why I don't particularly like playing on a pic, and have always preferred either D or Eb, depending on the tune and key.

BigDub

@Newell-Post said in Easter Services:

@BigDub Piccolo trumpet is a harsh mistress. It seems like you should get a whole additional octave out of the deal for free. But unless you are a real master, you mostly just lose the lower octave and get tinny sound. Resist the call of the dark side. Borrow one if you must before investing.

Nobody’s talking about buying anything here....I only would try borrowing someone else’s, and that doesn’t seem likely. Like Patrick was saying, most people like to use a Trumpet in D. My use of the C Trumpet was availability mostly, and the part was written for C trumpet as well ( not that I couldn’t re write it ) but, yeah, I have heard a lot of similar comments about the piccolo trumpets. I have tried one, once, at Dillons. It was a Schilke so I think it might have practically played itself for me. I did find it not so uncomfortable. I don’t think the intonation would be very good on one of the piccolos I have seen on EBay for $99.95 with free white gloves and hard case.

barliman2001

@BigDub I once had a spate of piccs... starting off with an old Selmer, then changing to a Besson Kanstul, then adding a Stomvi Elite, then a Votruba Pro... another, younger Selmer... and then I happened upon a Scherzer high G. And that one very soon told me that for me and my kind of playing, A/Bb picc was simply wasted effort. All the Baroque pieces that I was playing on A picc suddenly became much more manageable when I switched to the Scherzer high G... no more sharps anywhere... and then I got my claws on an old Selmer high G out of the estate of Maurice André... and that was one revelation. It beat the Scherzer and all the other piccs by such a margin that I sold every single one of them.

BigDub

@barliman2001 said in Easter Services:

@BigDub I once had a spate of piccs... starting off with an old Selmer, then changing to a Besson Kanstul, then adding a Stomvi Elite, then a Votruba Pro... another, younger Selmer... and then I happened upon a Scherzer high G. And that one very soon told me that for me and my kind of playing, A/Bb picc was simply wasted effort. All the Baroque pieces that I was playing on A picc suddenly became much more manageable when I switched to the Scherzer high G... no more sharps anywhere... and then I got my claws on an old Selmer high G out of the estate of Maurice André... and that was one revelation. It beat the Scherzer and all the other piccs by such a margin that I sold every single one of them.

So it sounds like it’s two thumbs up for the high G trumpet over the Piccolo. Pretty amazing stuff that you are playing the same horn Maurice Andre used!
My thoughts are I will never find myself in a scenario where I will truly need any of these specialty horns. Never say never, though. I have found the C to be useful for me more often than I even imagined. A flugelhorn may be something I would enjoy.
I really get confused with how many steps a particular instrument would have to transpose from concert pitch. I am glad when I do arrange music for my Brass Group I don’t have to think that through. The program does it automatically. Very helpful.

barliman2001

@BigDub It's the high G FOR ME. Other players may have other needs. But for my kind of playing, it's perfect. And it's slightly easier to control than a full picc.

A Former User

@barliman2001

Hello,

is your high G trumpet something like that (Selmer Pic in G/F, the 4th valve pushed down transposes from G to F) or something else?

trickg

@barliman2001 said in Easter Services:

@BigDub I once had a spate of piccs...and then I got my claws on an old Selmer high G out of the estate of Maurice André... and that was one revelation. It beat the Scherzer and all the other piccs by such a margin that I sold every single one of them.

Are you saying you own and play on one of Maurice Andre's pics? That's very very cool!

barliman2001

@Voltrane More or less the same, except for the ring on #3 valve slide which mine does not have. Mine is bare brass and has two leadpipes (your leadpipe is not original) as well as an additional longer slide for #4 valve.

barliman2001

@trickg Unfortunately, I don't play it as well. The case is hand-signed as well.

flugelgirl

Funny how so many of us gravitate towards one high horn more than another! I am completely at home on picc in Bb or A, my horn or someone else’s though mine always feels best. I hate playing D trumpet with a passion, though I can tolerate and play well on Eb. I don’t care much for C but have no problems playing it. Picc is a rush, though, and I love it. I do maintenance practice once or twice a month right now, but had no problem picking it up, sight reading, and playing in tune for Easter. I suppose I owe it to all the very diligent practice I put in early on and also to about 6 or 7 years of Brass Quintet where I played it in a group almost daily.

Dr GO

@flugelgirl said in Easter Services:

...I suppose I owe it to all the very diligent practice I put in early on and also to about 6 or 7 years of Brass Quintet where I played it in a group almost daily.

And that my friends is how it's done!

A Former User

@barliman2001
You are right. I bought this horn quite cheap because the owner did not have the original leadpipe. He used a leadpipe with a Cornet mp receiver from another maker that did not fit well the horn.
I asked Selmer and they told me the original leadpipe was the same than the A leadpipe of my A/B pic. It is this one you can see and it fits perfectly.
But I am curious...Would you mind to post pictures of you 2
leadpipes?
Thanks

stumac

About 20 years ago I obtained a Selmer G/F brand new when the former Selmer agent cleaned out their store, they had 2 trombones, 3 cornets, 3 Bb flugels, 1 Eb flugel, 1 Radial C trumpet 2 G/F Trumpets

Previously I had bought from them a B700 Bb trumpet and a C99 Radial trumpet all at a good price.

I have never performed on the G/F, several years ago I bought a Radial D and an Eb, have performed on both, last time Beethoven's Wellington' Victory.

Have not played an Easter service since we moved 10 years ago.

Regards, Stuart.

BigDub

One other thing that I remembered happening on Easter Sunday, second service. For the Hallelujah Chorus, they invite anyone who has ever sang it to come up front and join in singing it. Nobody turns around and stares at me when I start to play, usually.
This time there were two little girls who came up with Mom ( I am guessing ), and I was so tickled when they turned around as if they heard the ice cream truck coming down the street, biggest smiles on their faces. They probably couldn’t see me in the back of the crowded platform when they first came up, so when I started in it was a total surprise to them. As I said, the grownups are too proper, and, well, grown up to turn and stare. I bet it was all they could do not to. I'm glad I get to stand behind the bell, rather than in front of it........just saying.

Dr GO

I have noticed this topic has been dormant for the past Easter, as I imagine Covid restrictions has been so critical in impacting large gatherings. I just finished a day of playing Easter Services at an area Lutheran Church, that had a full service, all masking, using alternating pews with staggered seating in family units. It worked well.

For this service, I was fortunate to get Descant Trumpet parts for all Hymns and had traditional organ trumpet parts for the opening Prelude, Te Duem, and the processional, The Trumpet Shall Sound.

The Traditional Selections Included:
Bist Du Bei Mir
Now All the Vaults
Crist the Lord Is Risen Today
Jesus Christ Is Risen Today

Dale Proctor

I played an Easter service today in our church (Baptist) with a large double brass choir. I played the top line on both pieces, but I usually play 2nd part in the church orchestra. This was the call to worship:

This was the second hymn of the service - fanfare and melody on V.1, fanfare and descant on V.3:

Dr GO

This is the version I played. I played the melody line on the 1st verse; the vocal descant line on the second verse; sat out (organ solo) the third verse; and the descant trumpet line the forth verse: