Posts made by barliman2001

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

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

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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??

@administrator It's just an alto horn in French horn shape with a trumpet shank receiver and right-handed.

@administrator That is not an oddity - these things are still played in many European wind bands when they don't have French horn players...

Theory is a nice thing. With embouchure, I can only say - "what works, works." I've seen too many excellent players with weird to absurd embouchures...

@Vulgano-Brother You are perfectly right.

The main distinction of the Wagner tuba is that it is in effect a bass French horn. Therefore, it is usually played by French horn players who need to use the valves as with a French horn, i.e. their left hand. The shape roughly resembles a rotary tenor horn except for he fact that it is a mirrored tenor horn. So anything that is played right-handed is a standard rotary alto or tenor horn (tenor horns are by far more frequent, as the Eb alto parts in Continental wind bands tend to be played by Eb bass trumpets), and anything left-handed (apart from very rare tenor horns custom-built for left-handed players) therefore almost certainly is a Wagner tuba.

As I said - rotary tenor horn.

@administrator The item was sold before I could look at the ad; but IF I saw the right picture, it would be a straightforward rotary tenor horn. Wagner tubas have their valves oriented left-handed.

@Bb-Brass Arnold & Sons are also good clones of good Bach pieces... and they ave the additional advantage that they are readily available in Europe (whereas Blessings aren't).

Do you use proper valve oil, and not a creeping oil like WD-40?

Strange instruments seem to find me... my first trombone was inherited from a friend who departed this life some twenty years ago. Fifteen years later, his daughter called me and was rather embarrassed... they had only now for th first time since his demise, opened up her father's music room and inspected the contents... and his #1 trombone, a 609 B&H Sovereign, bore a hand-written label that it was to go to me... this horn...

First thing I did was to visit my friend's grave and play Amazing Grace... and then happened onto a newly-formed big band with lots of trumpets and no trombones...
A couple of years later I was in a Vienna antiques store looking for a comfy seat with ears when I noticed a trombone hanging from the ceiling. Asked the seller "how much" and got a gruff answer, "two hundred". Replied, "here's a hundred - ok?" - "ok". It's a 1940s Willi Garreis tenor with valve, originally built of a member of the Munich Philharmonic, with a "long water key" feature... quite nice, all original and still in quite good shape. Came with a 12C generic trumpet mouthpiece...

And a couple of years back, found a Besson International baritone horn on e-bay for a whopping € 65..., got it, played it in a couple of brass band gigs
and then thought something might be wrong with the horn... brought it to Ivan Hunter who diagnosed that the horn had at some time suffered a catastrophic accident, been dismantled and somehow reassembled wrong way round... too costly to repair back to original condition, so he got it to convert into art...
and then, on e-bay again, found a Weltklang euphonium "for collection". Went to England for it (had some other things to do there anyway) and heard a remarkable story... the euph was owned by a long-time brass bander who had been given an ultimatum by his wife to either lose the horn or lose the wife. Chose wrong, the poor fellow... and his wife insisted that she should get the use of any money he would make out of the sale, so he gave it away for free...