Posts made by barliman2001

This question is one that hits me very directly as it is connected to my permanent condition as an Autistic... We in the Autistic Spectrum tend very much to overemphasize our shortcomings and belittle our capabilities - it's just one of the expressions of how our brain is functioning. I don't say that only we experience this; but most of us are more prone to thinking we are not good enough than Neurotypicals. I'm looking at my own example: I finished my Leaving certificate with best marks, being third in a class of 129; I completed undergraduate university in record time with an MA in history as third of a class of 355. I then completed my PhD in record time - less than a year - coming second in a class of 88. And yet I always sought after becoming better still because being second was already a cause for depression - I was simply unable to put my achievements in relation to what others managed to do. Even when I reached the absolute pinnacle of my chosen profession and was awarded a Professorship in Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, I was not content. I could not strive for more, but there was that nagging thought I was not good enough... it ended with a divorce and deep depression; several years of therapy which did not help me at all because the therapists did not recognize the root of the problem, i.e. my Autism (and please forget everything about Rain Man and similar movies: There are such people about, but they are at most one % of the Spectrum). Only when one clever psychiatrist, at the goading of my wife, took the trouble of testing me for Autism did I suddenly receive the master key to everything that had ever happened in my life, and to my own mind. Since then, I have found the key to compromise and happiness; and now, I am not driven any more to try and reach unattainable goals, but am content to be what I am, and - in music - to be a good player within my own comfort zone. I still try to do as well as I can; but I now accept my own limitations while still trying to improve. And I am happy that way.

Hope you could make some sense out of this.

And here's another, with a special scene from 4:40...

This is what happens if a group of superb dancers just have fun with a good band...

@kehaulani Thank you for clarifying. I was sure that some kind of misunderstanding had occurred.

@kehaulani Please refrain from using wording that might be deemed pejorative... ("suited to your skills and needs..."). Oversight?

@kehaulani That's why I take pictures!!

Welsh brass band Coronation Brass are going to Bitburg/Germany again, for the annual European Folklore Festival there. Second weekend in July, four days of fun, music and lots of free beer! We are still shy of one or two cornets... Ivan Hunter's definitely coming, ssmith1226 can vouch for it being a really fun thing... so come on and apply! Either by replying here, or by writing to coronationbrass@hotmail.com. And here's some pictures of previous festivals!

Trombones have their uses in pretending you are something you are not...

Tito Puente comes to mind.

@administrator Do you mean the New Year's concert, in the Musikverein? Pretty damn hard, and expensive. Probably three or four years on the waiting list before you get tickets. But you can pretty easily get hold of tickets for the dress rehearsal a few days earlier.

OK, I get the message... I'll solve.

• Top row, left to right:
  Gene Watts (Trombone, Canadian Brass 1990s)
  David Ohanian (French Horn, CB)
  Ron Romm
  Pour Elmar, Avec toute mon amitié, Guy Touvron

• Second row:
  Amicalement, Maurice André
  Fred Mills
  With best wishes, Sergej Nakariakov (signed his name in Cyrillic)
  Jens Lindemann
  Dusko Gojkovich
  Chuck Daellenbach (Tuba, CB)

Wynton Marsalis signed another case of mine because we happened to meet unplanned (in fact, in a full hotel breakfast room, he had to ask to sit at my table, ending up in a three-hour warm-up session in his room and a free ticket for that evening's concert. I had not even known he would be there (Leipzig) and was there for a historians' conference and getting myself a Friedbert Syhre Corno da Caccia - which was a fun instrument to play, but I never came to use it in a gig, so I sold it).

@j-jericho Sorry, you only got one word right - Amicalement. But who wrote it, is the big thing...

@ssmith1226 You got four...
Guy Touvron, Jens Lindemann, Ron Romm and Dusko Gojkovic. Six to go.

So far, no one has identified the autographs on my case... come on, exert yourself!

Already in TM, and here as well, I've from time to time talked about the trumpet case that I've been lugging around to every trumpet concert of note that I attended - usually with some kind of rare, original or weird instrument inside. I've had it backstage quite often, and usually was able to induce the star of the evening to sign that case. Quite a few people were clamoring for pics.
Now, the wait is over. Here it is.

So far, ten renowned brass musicians have signed. Whoever gets them all right will be entitled to a pot of coffee with cake in a Vienna coffee house.

@administrator At least 00:00 exists. The city of Augsburg made themselves a laughing-stock when they celebrated their 2000 year anniversary one year early... they had calculated in a "Year 0" which did never exist...

@georgeb I know that feeling well... had exactly the same experience with my Recording. And as my - by this time two - Courtois Balanceds give me the same feeling (while being much more assertive - they are more like background Wagner horns, with an incredible lower register), it might really be the balanced make that does the trick.

@dirk020 Thanks very much for your generosity... I have a great many great trumpets as well, but there is a difference between a great horn and the one that you feel can read your mind... and Courtois instruments always do that...

An update.
When I approached Votruba as to whether they could do a bit of restoration on my Courtois Balanced, they told me that due to the wear and tear on the outside, the material was now so thin they would not risk polishing holes into the instrument... from that moment onwards, I began looking for a second such instrument. There are not many on the market, and they are either played into hell or downright too expensive... until my friend Theo van Kampen jumped in. Many years ago, I bought an Olds Special off him, and a few weeks later, he asked to buy it back because he did miss it so... so I agreed. And now, when he heard I was looking for a Courtois Balanced, he told me he had one I could have... arrived here today and ruined the neighbours' morning because I JUST COULD NOT STOP (forgetting I was on the balcony and treating the whole neighbourhood to Arutjunian...) just as good a player as my old one, but in almost pristine condition (99% lacquer, tight, plopping valves and everything). Serial # 297xx. And did not cost me a fortune, either... Very happy camper indeed!

@kehaulani A common misconception... many players believe in buzzing their lips without mouthpiece or instrument... good for some, but usually not really convincing for others.