Best posts made by barliman2001

There's something new in the neighbourhood...

@Rapier232 said in Mute Musings:

Mutes, the bane of my life. Most of my playing is in theatre pit bands. I’ve probably spent more money on mutes for shows than I’ve been paid. Hat mute, Cleartone, metal and fibre straight mutes, metal and fibre cups, plunger, felt mute, even an extra Harmon because there wasn’t enough time to remove and replace stem between use. Sometimes I feel more like a juggler than a trumpet player. Why those that write scores don’t understand the player’s time requirements is a mystery. The puzzled face of an MD when you ask "Do you want this passage with a cup, or straight? Because you can’t have both. I physically cannot change mutes on a quaver rest".

Many of these parts were originally written for two players. One to play the straight, and the other to continue with the cup. Unfortunately, modern orchestras don't work that way.

My best buy ever was a Besson International Cornet which I watched being put into a garbage bin... pulled it out, asked the guy whether I could have it. He said, You're welcome to it, and I walked off. Had it restored for a mere 75 Deutschmarks (now approx. € 30) and have been playing it ever since. Last time someone offered to buy it I was tempted with three thousand dollars... and declined. You don't sell a good cornet.

A viola player wants to escape his instrument and all its results, so he decides to learn some new instruments... goes into the music shop, looks around and says,
"I want that long harp, the red trumpet and the accordion." -
"You a viola player?" - "Yes, why?" -
"You can have the hatstand and the fire extinguisher, but the radiator stays!"

The A slides can come in handy, though... I once had to play an Easter Sunday gig in church... Mozart Organ Solo Mass (trumpet in C). What the conductor had not mentioned was that for Holy Communion, the choir and orchestra were to perform the Haec Dies by Caspar Ett, which asks for a trumpet in A... Luckily, I never go to gigs without some extra hardware "for emergencies". Usually, when using the C, this emergency hooter is a 1920s Buescher with a Bb-to-A switch valve... one turn of the screw, and Caspar Ett was performed by the trumpet asked for.

@kehaulani-0 Exactly. And that in rapid succession!

@stumac said in Wanna hear/see somethings exceptiona/l?:

Among the best tap dancing I have seen, great playing by all, BUT if I had come in cold during any of the long solos I would not have a clue what tune they were playing. All scrambled egg music. ( perhaps I am showing my age).

Regards, Stuart.

Not scrambled egg music, because with scrambled eggs, you recognize them and know approximately what's in there. These solos are something like that Chinese food, "Eight Jewels" - looking and smelling nice, but you have no clue whatsoever what's inside. And in some Chinese restaurants, you don't even want to know...

Thanks for continuing this topic. But please consider that graduate schools are a phenomenon of the USA only. I would like to ask those members who have non-USA experience in this field to contribure.

@Tobylou8 Actually, it's not a cornopean, but a stop-gap device: It's a right-handed French horn, to be played by a cornet or flugelhorn player in bands where they could not get their hands on proper French horn players... they are still being made!
http://www.flohmarkt.ms/hoerner/meister+hans+hoyer+f+waldhorn+rechtsgriffig+goldmessing+neuware/a/f45e9e5d/?absIndex=20&categoryId=3401000000&keywords=es-waldhorn&rView=gallery

@SSmith1226
In Vienna, where public conveniences are rare and far between, a man had an urge... no proper location anywhere. When he tried a street corner and a tree in a park, he was chased away. Finally, in desperation, he entered a doctor's surgery. Claiming urgency, he was ushered in at once and explained that he just couldn't... Seconds later, the doc watched an extraordinary performance... "Why," asked he the guy, "did you say you couldn't?" - "Oh, I can," says the guy, "but only if they give me a chance!"

And one more bit of info:
http://www.buescherloyalist.com/serial.html
This list puts it between 1930 and 1931

Following an old tradition, scratch brass band CORONATION BRASS will be performing at the annual European Folklore Festival in the brewery town of Bitburg, Germany. It's a varied, four day festival with everything from Georgian youth dance groups to Dutch jazz bands, from the dance group of a Swedish old peoples' home (the youngest performer is 85!) to local oompah bands and the pipe band (German Dudelsackgruppe from a place fittingl called Dudeldorf)... A few TM and TB members have already played with Coronation Brass (ssmith1226 exclaimed that he would not take part the following year because his liver never recovered from the experience... well, it's a brewery town, isn't it?)

It's a sight reading event - no rehearsal, and you don't get the music beforehand, and have to fill at least three gigs per day with music - and of course, you are always very welcome to sit in with one of the other bands!

The dates: Festival kicks off on Friday, 12 July 2024, and ends with an open air night concert b Coronation Brass the following Monday.

Anyone wanting to know details, see the festival or even to join Coronation Brass (shepherd's crook cornets only!) should contact me IMMEDIATELY, as most seats are already filled...

![13692472_1363935326969037_563871893479750704_n.jpg](/assets/uploads/

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Lots of free drinks and free meals!

I can play that solo as well ...
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.
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only five octaves down and twenty times slower!

Yes, I know, Courtois and dating don't go well together...
but I just got a Courtois cornet from Ukrainian dealer Igor Igor (three concentric cardboard boxes and then the original case, well protected with bubble wrap inside). Condition almost as new. Serial # is 72xx, has the name Gustave Murset engraved on bell.
Probably 1950s or 1960s - but can't date. Anyone out there who might be able to help? Info on Gustave Murset also welcome.

@SSmith1226 So you did get that Stomvi corno... does Barbara know?

@dale-proctor From my rather extended experience with Buescher trumpets, normal mouthpieces fit easily and without problems, and the 204 model # stamped on the valve block excludes it being a trumpet shaped cornet. So my guess is that that Herco mouthpiece might have begun life as an alto horn mouthpiece...

It's that special time of the year again, and I am heading north with a small party from Brass Band Vienna to join Coronation Brass for their umpteenth participation in the European Folklore Festival in Bitburg, Germany... four days with four gigs each, no music beforehand, it's sit down and play... sight-reading old favourites and the whole time-honoured cheeseboard, with a few older test pieces thrown in for good measure... this year, the line-up of participations has more brass-related interest: Several big bands, a New Orleans-style brass band, couple of oompah outfits and the local ruffians who have evolved into a large wind orchestra of some quality... Anyone in the area from 12 July onwards should head there and get their ears full of brass playing of all sorts... meet Coronation Brass and have a few free beers with them - Bitburg, after all, is a small town next to a big, big brewery... they say the brewery employs more people than are living in the town...

@ssmith1226 Happy to have been of assistance.

@trumpetb No, I won't roast you. I prefer deep-fried.