Best posts made by barliman2001

@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?

@jolter The guy is a former lawyer who is now doing this. He bought a couple of houses in French abandoned village Bardou and started with chamber music sessions there, and now he's upgraded to full symphonic. I've known him for a couple of years, and you could not find a nicer organizer. Most competent - as a cellist as well - and always on the look-out for new players. Best possible service, too - no need to bring music stands or lights or anything, as everything in that line will be provided. For cellists and bassists and the like who can't take their instruments on flights, he can provide instruments and only recently commissioned a new double bass from a reputable maker for just that purpose. And it's not only music, either. Every Symphonic Holiday comprises sight-seeing outings, picknicks in lovely landscapes and enough spare time to do things on your own.

"Please, sir," an old lady asks of the Cemetery Official, "where can I find grave 458, row 19?" - "Strewth! Sneaking away like that and not finding home again!"

Just happened onto this clip... Maurice André with a very different repertoire!

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.

@georgeb Indeed, Cefalù with Symphonioc Holidays is always a treat. It's a great little town, with spectacular volcanic beaches and a very steep Rock as background, an 11th century Cathedral, no cars - the roads are too narrow - and a plethora of wonderful restaurants. Combine that with rehearsal rooms from the 15th century and friends in the orchestra who regularly meet there... a dream come true.

A Christmas thought:
What would a crib be without Jews, Arabs and Foreigners? -
Just an ox and an ass.

I don't think his playing in this rather well-hidden French TV programme is robotic...

From 23:01 onwards, he is playing the G picc he left to me at his passing...

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

@N1684T At this time, I've been through four hospitals in three countries, starting off with Huddersfield Royal Infirmary in the UK (which is a place to avoid - not the UK, but the hospital)), the ordeal beginning on 15 March...

Ok, change of topic. A guy is drinking in a bar with his friends and seems pretty miserable. "What's the matter, Jake?" one friend asks. "Normally, you're the life and soul of the party, and tonight you're like a mouse eaten by a snake..." - "It's my mother-in-law," he says. "She's changed her will and totally disinherited us, just because I looked at her." - "That's pretty nasty, for such a minor thing." - "Well, it happened as we were saying Grace at lunch, and I looked at her when we reached, 'and deliver us from Evil'..."

@rowuk Trumpet players have done a lot in Ukraine already... a friend of mine (professional flutist in Lviv opera, by choice second trumpet in the local fire brigade orchestra, lingerie model due to her exceptional... assets...) volunteered for the National Guard and on her first day of duty, destroyed a Russian APC... she unbuttoned her uniform to the belt, played Kalinka on her trumpet and minced her way to that APC... the crew opened all hatches to applaud her... and at that moment, she chucked in what in WWII would have been called a "geballte Ladung" - five hand grenades wired together...
After the explosion, she played the Ukrainian Anthem...

She plays drums as well:

@dr-go Thank you very much, Doc.

@administrator You can always find me in Vienna - quite near to Prague.

Every one is a natural. Otherwise they would be robots.

Joking apart - everyone is a natural, with a certain talent for something. It is never the same thing, and will still need very hard work to attain the dizzy heights of professionalism (be it as a professional or as an amateur). But it is a fact that you need to be born with the proper talents and anatomy for a certain thing, or you can put in all the hard work you can and still achieve nothing.

A naturally colour-blind person will probably never become a painter notable for vibrant colouring.

@administrator Thanks.
I've already conducted my first lesson in hospital - one of the nurses inherited a trumpet from an uncle (a rather decrepit but still functional Cerveny) and now wants to learn. Thanks to the good advice in Ivan Hunter's booklet Trumpeting 4 Fun (which, by the way, I am translating into German just now for publication sometime after Easter) she played her first note after only three minutes...

@Kehaulani-0 Exactly. And as Bitburg is a small town attached to a biiig brewery, the brewery picks up most of the cost...

@J-Jericho said in A little humour:

Whatever happened to Peter Cetera's brother Et?

He married and took the surname of his wife, Aliis.

@administrator The soloist, even though obviously classically trained, manages the utmost pathos without singing one really recognizable note...