Best posts made by barliman2001

Welcome in the Club!

@Comeback Don't worry - three trumpets an two cornets is only the Stage 1 of N+1 Disease (N being the number of instruments you have..). When you're in my shoes, with 29 trumpets and cornets, two trombones and two euphonia, you get to realize that cleaning is thoroughly overrated...

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.

Well, at least you need massive amounts of air moving through the trumpet to use spitballs.

@grune said in Instrument Maintenance:

@barliman2001 that's an enviable collection for any serious player. which is your favourite?

Every single one, depending on the purpose. I've got a wonderful 1950s Courtois Balanced for jazz and big band work, a #7 Benge for anything chamber music/brass quintet, a really nice Buescher Aristocrat for larger orchestral stuff... even runs down to a Conn International that's perfect for carnival/mardi gras work because some previous owner had it lacquered blue and enamelled with a drunken vulture... the one very special favourite amongst trumpets would be a Selmer high-G picc that I inherited from Maurice André.

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...

Air is needed to play trumpet - as I just found out when a spitball got stuck.

Quite interesting that in the Asterix comics, 2017 saw a chariot race through Italy where one team consisted of charioteer Coronavirus and his offsider Bacillus...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asterix_and_the_Chariot_Race

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.

@rowuk Robin,
as a part-time singing teacher, I've utilized the Circle of Breath many times... it really works. But as I feel it is more or less YOUR CoB, I let you explain it.

@administrator Are you going to start building violas?? Shame on you!

@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...

@joelf Welcome to TB! You've come to the right place to find company and advice. There are three No-Nos here:

1. No politics
2. No woodwinds
3. No shirking

And there are three Musts:

1. Must check in regularly (even if only once a month) because there's so much new stuff coming in
2. Must always be ready for a joke to be flung around
3. Must always keep track of the number of instruments you have (incurable n+1 syndrome)

Oh, and one final obligation:

HAVE FUN!

Now that we've relearned how to wash our hands, we can tackle how to use indicators in traffic.

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.

@dr-go Won't ban you for that.

@BigDub Wearing a uniform for a flight upgrade is easy. But flying internationally with just a target shooting club membership card as ID - that's tough.
Did it. In the old days, on a flight from Dublin to London Heathrow. As neither the UK nor Ireland had any compulsory form of ID, they accepted anything with your pic in it. They did not notice that that club membership card was nine years out of date!
(And no, it was AFTER 9/11).

@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...

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

Doctor: "Your cough sounds much better now."
Patient: "Well, I'm practising enough day and night."