Posts made by barliman2001

You might like Nikolay Iliev's new BONONIA flugelhorn, with a "left-handed" wrap and an unusual hand position... www.iliev-brass-music.com

@mediocreplayer I had a similar problem with the Stomvi Elite Piccolo... with the first valve sticking during slow play. All kinds of work on the valve did not help even though the instrument was returned for repair several times. Finally, the late Uli Pfreimbtner found that the valve block was ok, I just tended to grip the valve block in slower passages and thus pressed the valve casings too hard...

And Nikolay also provides a very good traditionally-styled student flugelhorn, the DUNONIA model. Here is a demo video:

Just wanted everyone here to know that there is a new, very novel and very versatile flugelhorn out there... the BONONIA by Iliev Brass Music in Bulgaria.

Nikolay Iliev is a well-versed trumpet professional currently doing great work in getting disadvantaged kids off the streets and into his wind band project at the school he is working at as Head of Music... his work in repairing the instruments donated to this school for his kids to continue playing has made him into a respectable instruments craftsman, and combining his life-long experience as a professional with ideas he picked up from all over the place led him to develop a new flugelhorn which is intended to be the answer to a multitude of questions in the flugelhorn world...

The BONONIA flugelhorn is a high-riding, "wrong-way-round" flugelhorn (somewhat like some ideas of Ray Farr) which allows the bell to swing freely except for a couple of stays for stability. The right hand is supported by an extra bit of tubing carrying a pinkie ring that can be swapped for an attached hook, and the distance from valve block to hook/ring can be easily adjusted. The leadpipe can currently take two different mouthpiece receivers - one for a normal small shank flugelhorn mouthpiece, and one that accepts both trumpet and alto horn mouthpieces. There will be additional mouthpiece receivers for French Horn mouthpieces and for small shank trombone mouthpieces.

I have test-driven the prototype, and came to the following conclusion:
The BONONIA flugelhorn is of outstanding consistency. With a flugelhorn mouthpiece, all registers up to double C are within easy reach and really consistent, with slotting being very precise while still allowing for some leeway. It is veerycomfortable to hold as you can easily rest your left elbow on your hip while playing... a very good fixture for those long gigs.
With a flugel mouthpiece, sound is as it should be - warm and cuddly, while always ready to strip paint if required. With a trumpet mouthpiece, the upper register becomes even easier to reach and the sound goes in the direction of a slightly brash rotary flugelhorn. And with an alto horn mouthpiece, you get the feeling of a really plushy comfort blanket or cuddly toy while barely compromising on the high register. A well-balanced sound.

Here is a video of the BONONIA flugelhorn, in all of its currently possible configurations:

Why saxophones are almost universally hated...

@BigDub The mouthpiece receiver is under the bell bow.

@ljeanmtz The main danger is retinal ablation which can lead to blindness. Apart from busting a blood vessel - which is a dangerous sign in itself! - retinal ablation is a condition where the seeing part of the eye - the retina - loses contact with the eye background, often rupturing inn the process. First warning signs are blurry vision in that eye and swarms of black dots. When the damage is already done, the eyeball usually slowly fills with blood, creating a sensation that your vision is through a red filter - until it goes black. It is a condition that needs immediate surgical help, or the eye will go black permanently.
I had "bloody vision" happen to me during an orchestra holiday in Sicily; I was diagnosed almost immediately in the local hospital and sent to Palermo for treatment - which I politely declined when I saw the nurses chasing a few street cats out of the operating theatre... I was medevacced to Munich and was operated upon within two days; but the damage was already done. Since then, I have only had the use of one eye.
So, don't hesitate to see a specialist NOW!

@J-Jericho Fairly common at the time... I've got three cornets with that water key design. Prone to getting untight.

Vintage Besson London cornet with Bb/A rotary switch...

Dear Sir,

while I do understand that you are under pressure to sell, perhaps this is not the proper place for such a transaction... we are a trumpets-only community, and instruments like the Bb tuba offered are outside our range of experience and not sought after here. But perhaps - if you agree - I can find a better channel for you.
Slava Ukrainy!

@administrator I seem to remember details about that kid of scam elsewhere here...

Here it is, under the title of Matt Brockman: SCAM:

"
administrator
administrator Global Moderator
Mar 3, 2024, 6:59 PM

It has come to my attention that an unscrupulous sleaze ball is ripping off unsuspecting individuals who are looking to improve their trumpet skills.

This is a PSA: Matt Brockman is a hustler & scammer. His program is not worth 1/10 of what he offers. Please do not purchase anything he is selling.

Please see the following threads:

https://www.reddit.com/r/trumpet/comments/1812yta/matt_brockman_sales_pitch/

https://www.trumpetherald.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=161676&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0&sid=549c6012863e691194d4a650fefd2662

@Kehaulani-0 I have my two inclusive Autistic music groups - www.auti-group-web.de and Soundtistics, sponsoring members always welcome!
But there is nothing around even slightly approaching a brass band - the only thing I tried out was a wind band specializing on movie music, called Filmharmonie Wien; but as they rehearse in a location without assured parking, I had to abandon that idea (since my stroke in November 2023 I am dependent on two crutches; and my Autism prevents me from getting public transport, quite apart from the fact that I would need to walk about half a mile with two crutches and a big gig bag...).
All the other bands around are traditional Austrian oompah bands who require a lot of marching and the wearing of traditional Austrian costume - and I have had my fill of that. Quite apart, the usual round of waltz - march - polka tends to get tedious...

@Kehaulani-0 Yes to your question, "Did you bring it up?" Yes, I did - several times. First time when they forgot to bring music for me. Second time when they invited me onto flugel. I asked them, "will I be able to hold on to that chair?" and their reply was, "yes, indefinitely, as long as you like." As a result, I had a friend of mine - the composer Philip R. Buttall - make an arrangement of his Eclogue for Flugelhorn (one of my favourite pieces, and one that was composed for me and is dedicated to me) for brass band and presented it to the band, at my own expense.
Not two months later, they shoved me onto repiano (four weeks before a concert, which I greatly resented). I told them I would not like another instance of such behaviour.
As to the new conductor... the former conductor is a professional trumpet player with many years in a renowned German brass band under his belt. When he resigned (and was relegated to Bb bass), I several times told the Committee that the new guy should be someone with brass band experience and that I knew someone who could adequately fill that role. Next thing I knew was the Committee's announcement about the new conductor (the chor guy).
Still, I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and even offered my help - I even bought more suitable sheet music and donated it to the band.
Since then - almost year - not single one of these pieces has been even looked at, and my offers of explaining the true nature of brass bands to the new MD were declined... and when I offered to take on the MD's job myself, I was rejected as "not experienced enough."
It's true, I don't have a glittering diploma; but I have been playing in brass bands for over 35 years now and have conducted quite a few, usually with fair success - amongst others, there are two Irish bands that were on the brink of dissolution when I was asked to take over, and they are now alive and kicking. And having attended conducting masterclasses with Roger Payne, Phil McCann and Derek Broadbent might possibly be thought more appropriate for being a brass band conductor than having studied choir leading and recorder at a conservatory...
But then, the band is an official Scouts' band, and both the band president (who took over on flugelhorn) and the new conductor are Scouts... and I never was...

I am pi$$ed off.
Totally.
What happened?
Several years back, I joined a British Brass Band somewhere in Austria (location on request), and was put on Sop. I was very ok with that - until someone else came and wanted to play sop (without any brass band experience). Without being asked, I was put onto 1st baritone. Still was sometimes asked to sub for the sop. But usually was shifted around between both baritones and both euphs, according to rehearsal needs. Then, they returned me to sop. Ok.
A few weeks later, the band held a three-day training camp far off in the mountains (four hours' drive). And somehow, they forgot to take all the sop music. So I was there, without music and without another instrument to revert to. I left the camp.
For another year, I was shifted around, never knowing which instrument I was going to play before the rehearsal. A very unsettling experience - so I left the band.
A year later, they approached me and asked me whether I would like to play flugelhorn (my dream instrument) with them, and assured me that I would be able to hold that seat for as long as I wished. OK. I rejoined.
Three months later, on arrival at a rehearsal. I was told to switch to repiano cornet. Someone else had taken the flugel chair. And for a year or so, I did that job. Reliably.
And only yesterday they sent a message in band WhatsApp group announcing that someone else was taking the repiano chair. Someone without much experience in the brass band world.
No mention of any further role for me in that band.
I am the more pi$$ed off because I brought several good, reliable players into the band, organized fundraising events for them and even sold some of my cornets to band members who only had trumpets, at ridiculous prices (such as a fully restored, silver plated Besson International for € 300), just to get the cornet section properly kitted out...
Seems they want me to leave.
But then, some of them are already hankering after their former oompah band outlay with clarinets, and the new conductor has no brass band experience whatsoever - by training, he is a choir master and does not himself play any brass instrument - and has been putting on big band and film music repertoire...
Unfortunately, the nearest British Brass Band around is some 200 miles away...

Something a bit unusual, but qualifies for Vintage Horn Eye Candy...

Kuhlohorn by Clemens August Glier

(sold into the US, now being played in a Community Band in Vermont)

Welcome in the Club!

For the last few years, my main axe has been a Recording...
combined here with a Swiss Brand Turbo mouthpiece in 1 1/2 C size

Good flugelhorny sound, yes; but he is playing that Kuhlohorn with an inappropriate mouthpiece. They were intended - just as all rotary flugelhorns to this day - to be played with a trumpet mouthpiece. The original Kuhlohorn sound is something like a straight cornet with a proper cornet mouthpiece.

@administrator Indeed it is. The inventor, a pastor Kuhlo, wanted something more mellow in tone than the peashooter trumpets ubiquituous in his day, to better fit in with trombones and helicons (cornets were almost unheard-of in Germany at the time)

@Newell-Post It's the same as with my Garreis tenor trombone - how in all the world got it fitted with a very small and narrow trumpet mouthpiece before sale??