Best posts made by barliman2001

Composers and performers of all ages have been freely interpreting the work of their predecessors, even if only by playing pieces that were written for the instruments of the day on modern instruments. Obviously the modern piano sounds very different from the harpsichord many of Bach's works were originally intended for, and even farther from the spinet they were composed on; and the modern trumpet is a totally different beast from the original, and the performers are acclaimed - just think of Glenn Gould and his Bach performances. One guy that takes Bach even further into modernity is Jacques Loussier and his PlayBach group...

Moshe,

I am not taking up anything religious here. But I want to offer some practical help.
You say you neep some form of transport to get yourself and your racing vehicle (the electric wheelchair) to the venue. Can I help you by contributing to the cost of such transport? And perhaps, if a few more members contributed, we might get this problem out of the way in a few moments. I suggest that you create a crowndfunding site, and publish that here.

@ButchA said in Not really a "mouthpiece safari" but the need for a "saving grace" type of mouthpiece...:

Thanks, everyone!

One more question: Does anyone have experience with Denis Wick mouthpieces?

Indeed I have. For me, the rims are a bit soft and round, and some of the cups are deeper than other mouthpieces.

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...

Locked. Not loaded.

That set is just a bad copy of the Stomvi mouthpiece system...

@Dale-Proctor Well done!

I'm just now enjoying the pleasure of being assistant deputy helper at the Gutenstein Master Classes (www.meisterklassen-gutenstein.com - my wife is Vice President of the show), and that entails a lot of ferrying people around: from Vienna to Gutenstein Village and back, fro and to the airport, shuttling people from their accommodation in the village to the rehearsal rooms and to the concert hall and so forth. Every master class lasts a week.
Today, I had the fun of ferrying three viola players back to Vienna. You should think that for informal master classes, you would have a small case, perhaps a suit hanger for concert dress and the instrument case. Not this lot. Every single one came with a big case, a small case, a backpack, two bags of groceries (for f...'s sake, it's an all-inclusive thing, with all meals included), the viola case (one even had two violas!)...handbags... little paper bags of souvenirs... I could not resist asking why they had that much luggage. I got a classic viola answer:
"Well, it might perhaps be snowing by the end of the week."
In Austria in July!!!

For quality at really cheap prices, there are the A&S (Arnold &Sons) copies of Bach mouthpieces, sometimes marketed under the Stoelzel brand. They come at around $12 each, and are really good.

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.

Like the guy who went to the dentist and was asked whether he wanted his tooth drawn first class or second class. "Well... what's the difference?" he asked. "Oh, it's quite simple. Second class, you get all the young nurses and all the old equipment, and in first class, it's the other way round."

@administrator If you are happy with the 3c, stick to it. If you want to play around, get yourself a Stomvi Combination System (two stems, seen different cups, one rim; but you can order additional rims, different cups, different stems... https://stomvi.com/en/products/mouthpieces/mouthpieces-trumpet/classic/1210-combi-system-trumpet-kit

I've been using it for more than ten years now - apart from my Bach 1C Megatone for Big Band - and several friends have taken to it as well. It's about as pricey as an AR, but much more flexible.

And if you want to play around on a mouthpiece safari first, go for the Arnolds & Sons range, sometimes marketed as Stoelzel. They are reliable copies of Bach favourites at incredibly low prices...

https://www.thomann.de/gb/search_GK_blbmbt_BF_arnolds-sons.html?shp=eyJjb3VudHJ5IjoiZ2IiLCJjdXJyZW5jeSI6NCwibGFuZ3VhZ2UiOjJ9&reload=1&oa=ala&gk=BLBMBT&cme=false&manufacturer[]=Arnolds %26 Sons&bn=Arnolds %26 Sons&filter=true

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

What's the name for the breathalyzer used by Mexican Police?

Coronatest

Chad, after telling his wife he's bought another trumpet...

@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...

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

"Dad, who was Adam's mother-in-law?" -
"He did not have one, he lived in Paradise."

Nice! From the profile, a typical "peashooter" of the period...

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