Best posts made by barliman2001

@ssmith1226 Well, you know where to reach me if you need some contacts. Or just tell me whereabouts you are going. Or just contact Nick Jones of Coronation Brass - he knows all the Welsh bands.

@Kehaulani That's more or less a new take on that old Nazi German joke... a guy goes to his town hall and tells the civil servant he wants to change his name. "Well, let's hear your name to see whether a change is permissible." - "Adolf Shittyfuck" - "Oh yes, I can understand you don't want that name changed. But our Führer has made such a change possible. What would you like your new name to be?" - "Albert Shittyfuck".

@J-Jericho I have his e-mail address.

HERE is an original Sousa recording, dated 1911, from a Graphophone cylinder:

As regards speed in old recordings: Of course there was a time restraint in these days. The technical ability was limited, and if a conductor and his orchestra wanted to do a recording of a certain piece, the technician would ask "How long?", be told a figure and then say, "Can't do that - too long." And then they would dispute whether to leave out a bit (quite a few written repeats simply vanished in this process) or whether to speed things up. And sometimes they did that, just to be able to record at all. There usually was no discussion of artistic merit because that had to go to the wall before the question of "record or not". And as recording was a profitable business even in the times when they were still discussing whether recording would stay or would be a one-time wonder, they usually chose to record.
Remember, when Sony developed the CD, they asked Karajan whether he thought 70 minutes was a good choice for max playing time, and he said they needed at least 75 minutes so that Beethoven's Ninth Symphony could fit on one CD without speeding up. They did not quite manage that, so 74 minutes became the standard. And an old Karajan recording of Beethoven #9 now suddenly was one minute shorter on the new medium compared to the old vinyl recording...

@ssmith1226 Steve, there is an easy solution. In Scotland and Wales, there are brass bands aplenty. Just bring a cornet - not a pocket trumpet (they are not much smaller than a shepherd' crook cornet) - and ask whether you may sit in at rehearsals of the local bunch of roughs. If you need addresses for that, just give me your itinerary and I can have a play with my contacts there. Much better than sitting in your room annoying Barbara...

At this stage, please don't start a mouthpiece safari without first consulting a teacher. Otherwise you'll throw good money into the Leprechaun's Pot.

An old Austrian farmer - the kind who's still wearing leather trousers every day - gets a talking to by his wife. "You really should start wearing underpants at your age," she says. "It's much warmer and cleaner. I bought you a pair for your first trial." - "Ok" he says and puts them on before setting out for the fields. At midday, he feels the need for some relief and retires behind a hedge, lowering his leathers but forgetting the new underpants. After finishing what he came to do, he grudgingly concedes that his wife was right. "It's much warmer," he says to himself, and, looking behind him,"it's much cleaner, too!"

@butcha Congratulations!! Well done!

@Dale-Proctor Well done!

@ssmith1226 If the Mendini gets stolen or lost, you can always give me a quick call and I'll arrange for my Arnold & Sons pocket trumpet to reach you within two or three days (I got it for free or rather for writing a review of it for a music magazine here in Austria)

I totally concur. I have 1957 Courtois Balanced that blows all my other Bb horns to pieces (and that includes a Benge, a Besson Meha, a Buescher Aristocrat and an Olds Studio). I've got the feeling that horn knows beforehand what I am trying to do and just does it. I got the same feeling with a Gaudet (Courtois "student" brand, with Courtois-marked valve blocks) C, and even more so with a Courtois Roger Delmotte D I recently found. And, of course, my incomparable Courtois flugel...

On a serious basis: Fighting is another way of expressing interest, even sometimes of feeling within a family. For me at least, the lack of impassioned discussion with all its proliferations means that so far, there is no feeling "I'm at home here". It's like being in the entrance hall of a posh hotel - not even a rock star would seriously misbehave there. The damage is done in the privacy of the room...

@barliman2001
And that is how the orchestra looked like, in the Teatro Civico Salvatore Cicero in Cefalu... (here with Brahms' Double Concerto)

I've just researched the matter. Greatleather is a boutique leather goods manufacturer with an eye to musicians' needs. Without this connection, I would have terminated this new membership; but seeing that there is a direct connection with trumpet playing, I'll let the memership live. Homepage at www.greatleather.com.

I've test played a few of the TARV cornets from Leningrad, being involved in the Vienna Russian Wind Orchestra - the only orchestra outside the former Soviet Union to concentrate on Russian military band music in original settings and arrangements (

). These instrument were better than they looked; but not better than the usually low prices asked for them. Acceptable as tutti instruments, but usually not capable of solo playing. For that, the Eastern Bloc used either the Amati and Cerveny brands from the CSSR or the GDR-made Weltklang stuff. Most musicians from these countries, however, tried to get hold of Western instruments.
There was a joke in those days: What's the difference between a Capitalist and a Communist violin player? The Capitalist has an old violin and a new car, with the Communist it's the other way round.

As regards "Knock knock..."
An old lady had a parrot and a TV. One day, the TV broke down, so the old lady called an engineer to repair the TV. However, shortly before the engineer came, the old lady had forgotten the appointment and went out shopping, leaving the parrot in charge.
A very few minutes later, the TV engineer rang the bell. From inside, he heard a voice calling, "Who's there?"
He replied, "The TV engineer."
Again, a voice from within, "Who's there?"
Slightly exasperated, the caller replied, "The TV engineer..." -
"Who's there?" - "THE TV ENGINEER!!" - "Who's there?" - Yelling at the top of his voice, "THE TV ENGINEER!!" - "Who's there?" (engineer has a heart attack and faints in front of the door)
A few minutes later, the old lady returns, sees the unconscious man in her front garden and exclaims, "Who's that?" - "The TV engineer, the TV engineer..."

Definition of Alzheimer's Alcoholism:
You drink a lot and then forget to pay for it.

Niiiceee... if only there weren't so many mouthpiece pouches covering the horn!

@tjveloce Just looked at yours. Nice, but mine is an even better bargain. Rose brass, and no wear signs whatsoever on the valves... comes from a collector who rarely played it... he preferred his Keilwerth Tone King (don't know why!). Previous owner now down with dementia, and his carers had to sell the collection to pay for the care home. The whole collection went to Votruba's who did a full service on every horn, but somehow did not recognize the Recording for what it was (Olds horns being very rare occurrences in Austria). I told them what kind of a gem they were selling - after I had paid their price and got the horn in my hands... btw, I did not pay their asking price of 1100 Euros, but exchanged an UMI Benge 7 for it...