Best posts made by barliman2001

At any rate, gone are the days when anything went through... I remember flying from Ireland to London Heathrow using an expired German target shooting club membership card as ID...

@Dr-GO That one is on the brink... hovering over the abyss of being banned by a moderator...

@Dr-GO said in Having to play in too many sharps?:

@barliman2001 said in Having to play in too many sharps?:

@GeorgeB said in Having to play in too many sharps?:

@Trumpetsplus said in Having to play in too many sharps?:

@GeorgeB QED

Sorry, Ivan, my ignorance is probably going to show here: What Is QED?

Originally, it's Latin and the abbreviation for Quod Erat Demonstrandum, meaning, "what was intended to be demonstrated". The abbreviation was first used in mathematics.

"So it is proved" is another interpretation of QED. And Barliman, quid pro quo if you agree, yes?

Of course.

For me, they are the first line of defence whenever I try out a "new" horn (new to me, that is. I have abandoned buying new horns), and they work well for a first clean before you try and buy.

What did the trumpet player want who continued to practice from 12 midnight to 4 am every night? -

A cheap price for the house next door!

@Tobylou8 It was a very bad joke bordering on the unpalatable. Deleted with reason.

Ok, this is a post I've long considered where to put... there is so much in it (yet not in depth). Let it rest here, and see what comes of it.

Yesterday, we played a concert, "Musc from Animated Movies". Choir, kids, choir, small smphonic orchestra, combo. Titles ranged from "When you wish upon a star" to "Happy", with excursions into Shrek, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Jungle Book and the like. Venue, a large, somewhat unorthodox school hall: One central hall three storeys high, with two large open staircases doubling as seating leading down, and an additional wing with seating. Seating all over, up to the top (with the audience being on two balconies, as it were).

One staircase had to be kept free as eergency exit, so we placed the stage there. Front to back: Kids, Choir, Combo, Orchestra (with the orchestra well hidden from the audience's view by the choir). Conductor directly in front of the orchestra, conducting the choir via a camera and screen arrangement.
At rehearsal, everyone complaining that they could not hear a thing. Sound going off into Nirvana, so bad you could barely hear yourself.
Performance: Hall filled with 800+ audience (oversold, and some people standing around in the aisles contrary to fire prevention regulations...
And the hall suddenly came alive! One really could hear the whole structure... wonderful. I had a one-brand gig bag with me - Courtois flugel, Courtois C, Courtois Balanced Bb. And that old Balanced Courtois made the day - filling the entire hall without amplification.
Correction: I had the ACB picc with me as well, for "Fairytale" from Shrek, but that was in it's own case... read more there.

@kehaulani Schmuck Allee in Salzburg... yes, I've seen a pic of ssmith1226 standing there, looking appropriately, with his wife looking smug... I don't think I'm telling any very personal secrets when I divulge that he just had bought a few minor goodies at the Schagerl factory shop (just a new gold plated Killer Queen flugel) and was now in honour bound to spend a reasonable sum on placating his wife...

Scottish gangsters were easily caught after a smash-and-grab raid.
Why?
They came back for the brick.

@sessionaire I believe strongly in energetic work and Ortho-Bionomy. This kind of gentle massage has proved itself time and time again, the latest incidence being my recent eye trouble. I had a total ablation of the retina, resulting in 100% blindness in my right eye. When diagnosed, several doctors told me the retina was not only lifted off, but in shreds, and that even extensive restoration surgery would only result in that eye being able to distinguish light and dark. I had the surgery done - two operations, one of 4 hours, the other of 6 hours duration, both very painful, because you cannot do them under full anesthesia - and when I had left hospital, my wife (a fully qualified ortho-bionomy therapist beside being an opera singer www.reginaschoerg.art) began a set of treatments. Only yesterday, I saw my ophthalmologist again, and the exam showed that the ablated and torn retina is now whole again and fitting in its proper place, resulting in a sight power of 40%, and rising. The ophthalmologist was flabbergasted - "I know of no case of such a thing happening" and has asked me to allow a group of students to see me. So now I am the wonder of the age, due to a relatively new treatment. Why not try it yourself?

@Kehaulani said in Acoustics... and a bit more:

@ barliman - I've read several of your posts where you write, "orchestra". In the U.S. that means a large ensemble with strings (ELO withstanding). When I worked in Germany, the term orchestra was used for any large instrumental group, with or without strings. Which do you mean? Thanks.

In this case, it was the Vienna Lakeside Symphony Orchestra. Eight first violins, six second violins, three violas, three cellos. Two flutes, two clarinets, one bassoon, one saxophone. Two trumpets, one trombone, one baritone horn, one tuba. Electric bass, drumset, piano.
I think you can call that an orchestra...
In earlier posts, I was referring to the Vienna Klezmer Orchestra which had a large string section as well, in addition to an unholy number of clarinets (nine!! including a bass clarinet), seven flutes including a bass flute, three recorders, a full brass section and four accordions...

@administrator Forget all the overpriced Bachs, or whatever. If you want something in the Bach style - and better lacquer quality - go for the B&S Challenger I or II series. If you want something lighter than Bach - and even longer lasting - the Stomvi Elite range is superb. And if you do insist on something from Asia - either find yourself a good used Jupiter STR1010 (comes with two bells, and can be easily retrofitted with Schilke bells) or go for the XO 1600 Roger Ingram model.
Or you can tell Ivan Hunter exactly how you want your instrument to be, and he'll adjust one from his own range exactly to your liking. www.jaegerbrass.com. After his move to Germany, his workshop is back in business.

@SSmith1226
Kids at school comparing their Christmas presents.
Ed replies, a bit bored, "A football, a stone sling and an airgun. The usual." -
"Why, "the usual"?" his classmates ask.
"Well, my father's a glazier."

About a year ago, I suffered a catastrophic retinal ablation during an orchestra rehearsal and had to have eye surgery, resulting in several operations and permanent damage to my right eye. Recently, I've found out that several of my trumpet friends have had similar experiences, and I've talked to my ophthalmic surgeon. He is one of the best ophthalmic surgeons world-wide, and a come-back trumpet player. He found that there might be a necessity to look at the combination of trumpet-induced enhanced eye pressure and eye damage, and that there has been no relevant research so far. He is quite interested in this problem now and would like to get in contact with trumpet players who have experienced similar problems. Anyone interested is asked to kindly provide some kind of address or contact so that they can be included in the research programme. This means ANY TRUMPET PLAYER with eye problems that were not there before taking up the instrument. I can assure you that this surgeon - Professor Thomas Neuhann MD, an ophthalmic surgeon in the seventh generation - and his team will explore all the information with utmost care to privacy and will in most cases be able to either eliminate or alleviate existing conditions.

@J-Jericho said in Acoustics... and a bit more:

IMO acoustics at a venue requires a balance of science, art, and experience to be successful. It's impractical to test-fill the space with the anticipated number of warm bodies prior to the performance and to replicate in advance air density, temperature, and humidity.

Well, in one orchestra we had a Red Cross worker, and at every dress rehearsal, the Red Cross provided up to seven hundred woollen blankets to simulate the audience... they usually declared this an "emergency exercise".

@dr-go Blowing my warm air... how awful!
Reminds me of the Scotsman who took his wife to the doctor's because of her tummy pains... when the doc said, "Oh, its just wind," the Scotsman blew up: "Jist wind?? It was jist wind that blew down the Tay Bridge!!"

@SSmith1226 Steve, you're incorrigible. What about the time when you went into a hospital and posed as a surgeon?

@mike-ansberry Actually, glaucoma is excessive pressure in the eyes, and it can be treated with special eye drops.

@georgeb With breaks, of course. Austrian weddings involve many speeches all over the day, and lots of pranks. In total, there's perhaps twelve ours playing time in 28 hours of attendance.

@georgeb I know that feeling well... had exactly the same experience with my Recording. And as my - by this time two - Courtois Balanceds give me the same feeling (while being much more assertive - they are more like background Wagner horns, with an incredible lower register), it might really be the balanced make that does the trick.