Posts made by barliman2001

Just wanted to tell you that from 3 May until 16 May, I'll be in the lovely coast town of Cefalù in Sicily, as 1st trumpet of the Filarmonici di Cefalù orchestra. We are rehearsing and performing two programmes, one containing Brahms' Second Symphony and Elgar's Enigma Variations, the second a mixed chamber music programme involving trumpets only in Elgar's Salut d'Amour and a wind ensemble arrangement of his Elegy.
The whole thing is organized by a cello player under the brand name of Symphonic Holidays, www.dacapo-travel.eu.
I presume - from my previous experience with Symphonic Holidays - that it will be a gorgeous event, with lots of glorious Italian food, sea and sun and sand, with little to no time to be spent at a computer. Expect me when you see me back. Ciao!

P.S.: For those who mght be interested in gear, I am carrying a one-brand-only gig bag containing my Courtois Balanced Bb for Enigma, my Courtois Roger Delmotte D for Brahms and my Courtois Bb/A cornet for the rest.

I don't want all that negativity to come inside my home. I reassured my wife that for example, she should embrace her mistakes. That's when she gave me a big hug.

I was in a cafe and saw two of my local shop owners had met for a coffee, and overheard one saying to the other, 'I was sorry to hear about the fire at your place last week.'
The other said, 'Ssh - not so loud. That's next week.'

@dr-go It's only humorous on the face of it, I know... I've known too many people with that kind of attitude myself.

A trumpet player is sitting outside a bar, weeping bitterly... a friend of his passes by and asks him, "What's the matter? Did they throw you out?" - "Oh no..." - "Then why are you weeping? Are you out of cash, shall I lend you some?" - "Oh no, I'm rollin' in cash..." - "Then tell me why you are sitting here, weeping!" - "It's too horrible - I'm not thirsty."

I can't offer any medical advice. But I know that Maurce André suffered catastrophic dental problems at one point in his career and was almost forced to give up because after massive dental surgery, his embouchure ha vanished and his dental geometry had changed so much that normal mouthpieces did not work for him any more.
So he had an asymmetrical mouthpiece made, and thrived on this. Stomvi either were the guys who supplied the mouthpiece or took up the idea, at any rate they now are more than competent at developing special asymmetrical mouthpieces, and they have a range of specialized asymmetrical rims for their quick-change Stomvi Mouthpiece System. I would drop them a line. Usually, they have a mouthpiece specialist available in their branch offices at set times and at ITG and other occasions.

My experiences with Bach instruments... somehow, fate was very unkind to me in that respect...
My first ever "proper" trumpet was a Bach Strad 239 C, with additional slides for Bb, which I - as a total beginner - used as my primary horn. The C configuration was something I never used, and was the downfall of this instrument. My teacher at the time was a rotaries-only player, and then had to jump in at some musical production requiring a piston C. So he asked if he could borrow it for one day. No problem, except...
the horn was stolen from his greenroom in the theatre.
He was admirably insured, and I received the value of both a Bb and a C. I had caught the rotary bug and got myself a Ganter G5 and a Bach rotary C. That was a wonderful instrument, but still a bit too "pro" for me at the time. But - I did use it for a time, usually for Mozart masses.
Until my house in Ireland was burgled and that rotary Bach C was stolen.
My next Bach was a 37. Had it for about three months, and then, it was stolen from me in a tram... I was sitting next to the exit, with the case right beside me, and at a stop, a guy exiting the tram just grabbed the case and jumped off.
And my last attempt at Bach was a high-F that I wanted just to have the alphabet complete. One of those whims one gets. Had it ordered specially, paid through the nose, waited an ungodly time for it - almost a year! - and then it ended up in a freight aircraft that crash-landed in Frankfurt and burst into flames. Got my money back after more than a year's haggling with insurance but I never even saw that horn.
Decided that Bach somehow was not for me. Never had another mishap with any of my other horns... All other horns of my collection were not taken in that Irish burglary... even though they were on display in an unlocked, glass-fronted cabinet... the Bach rotary was half-hidden in its case...

@ssmith1226 However, by cleverly combining some, you will be able to get astounding results:

1. A piece of toast will always fall onto the buttered side

2. A cat always falls on its feet.

So you take a cat, liberally coat its back with butter and throw it down. It will try to fall on its feet, but then the buttered side would be uppermost, so the resulting reaction will cause the cat to hover a foot or so above ground and rotate faster and faster, until you can connect a crankshaft to the cat and drive a generator.

@trumpetsplus Thanks, Ivan!

Matter resolved, thread locked.

Dear friends,

in August, I am to play Brahms 4, two movements on trp 1, two on 2. Yet unknown which ones. And being the latecomer that I am, I never properly learnt transposing, so I got myself enough trumpets for all the ordinary stuff. Now, Brahms 4 has 3 movements for trumpet in E (natural)... and one in C. Does anyone have transposed parts for this symphony for C trumpet throughout (or Bb or D or Eb)?
Thanks for your help!

@ssmith1226 ... and is quite erroneous, seeing that the UK left the EU several years ago...

@ssmith1226 If the Mendini gets stolen or lost, you can always give me a quick call and I'll arrange for my Arnold & Sons pocket trumpet to reach you within two or three days (I got it for free or rather for writing a review of it for a music magazine here in Austria)

@ssmith1226 Well, you know where to reach me if you need some contacts. Or just tell me whereabouts you are going. Or just contact Nick Jones of Coronation Brass - he knows all the Welsh bands.

@ssmith1226 Steve, there is an easy solution. In Scotland and Wales, there are brass bands aplenty. Just bring a cornet - not a pocket trumpet (they are not much smaller than a shepherd' crook cornet) - and ask whether you may sit in at rehearsals of the local bunch of roughs. If you need addresses for that, just give me your itinerary and I can have a play with my contacts there. Much better than sitting in your room annoying Barbara...

@georgeb Still playing until he peacefully passed away at age 92.

A live concert Dusko played when already 88...

An old, blind Marine wanders into an all-girl biker bar by mistake.
He finds his way to a bar stool and orders a shot of Jack Daniels.
After sitting there for a while, he yells to the bartender, 'Hey, you wanna hear a blonde joke?'
The bar immediately falls absolutely silent.
In a very deep, husky voice, the woman next to him says,
'Before you tell that joke I think it is only fair, given that you are blind, that you should know five things:

1. The bartender is a blonde girl with a baseball bat.
2. The bouncer is a blonde girl.
3. I'm a 6-foot tall, 175-pound blonde woman with a black belt in karate.
4. The woman sitting next to me is blonde and a professional weight lifter.
5. The lady to your right is blonde and a professional wrestler.
   Now, think about it seriously, do you still wanna tell that blonde joke?'
   The blind Marine thinks for a second, shakes his head and mutters, 'No...not if I'm gonna have to explain it five times.'

I have just learnt that Dusko Gojkovich has passed away after seven decades of a very full career that included playing with all the greats of the International Jazz world.

It's a personal thing for me as I once had a very impromptu chance of playing with him - I was attending a concert of his big band in renowned Munich jazz club "Unterfahrt", with a friend of mine playing 4th trumpet. Shortly before the interval, my friend collapsed on stage and had to be taken to hospital by ambulance for a ruptured gall bladder (he recovered and is well). While being carried out, he told me to take his place and carry on, and Dusko okayed that I jump in. I always carry my mouthpiece, or I would not have been able to do so. And so I played the second half of the concert, on an unfamiliar instrument, sight-reading (or attempting to) a programme I had never rehearsed, and managed at least not to blunder too audibly. Afterwards, Dusko told me that whenever he played in Munich, I was to have a free ticket, and invited me to a civic ceremony where he was given the Munich Medal of Honour (only twelve living incumbents at any one time!) and the Freedom of the City...
A good friend, a wonderful musician... may he now see all his friends again.

@trumpetb In principle, some of the concerns mentioned here are correct; but the Czech Republic is a stalwart member of the European Union (much more stalwart than Hungary or he recusant UK) and a staunch NATO partner, so for the foreseeable future, armed conflict is only going to involve the US and the Czech Republic on the same side.
The comparison with UK law is lopsided as the UK does not have a written Constitution yet - they have been "muddling through" without one for the last 1,000 years - whereas the US have one that severely limits the risk of an obscure law peeking out of its corner.
Examples of such laws and ordinances:
Until very recently, taxis (or "hansom cabs" as they are still officially designated) had to carry a bale of hay for the cab horse, even though cab horses have gone out of fashion for at least 100 years...
A student at Oxford dug out a 1300's regulation that on his exam day, he was entitled to a free meal at the University Refectory, and fought that issue until he got a positive verdict and his meal. The day after the exam, he was fined an enormous sum, the equivalent of one shilling sixpence in 1264, for not wearing a sword during his exam...