Posts made by barliman2001

Trumpet player to antiques dealer: "Can you really tell me the value of scales?" - "Of course. They are not rare - though rarer as they should be. They are usually not in perfect condition - and nobody really, really wants them. No value at all."

What's cheek?

Send a card "get better soon" to a viola player who's not sick.

(stolen from Rowuk)

@_mark_ James Morrison and his multiphonics come to mind.

@tornado1957 So you're a youngster compared to a friend of mine who started trombone at the ripe age of 78. No previous brass background, and now, four years later, he' s solo bone in his community band... He started to play after his wife of 52 years of marriage left him for a 34-year-old plumber...

@tornado1957 If you don't play, why don't you start?

Seriously, it's one of those gizmos many people buy in the earlier stages of their development as trumpet players. It MAY help some people in developing lip/finger coordination; but in my experience, it's so far removed from an actual trumpet that you are better off with a good practice mute. Since I got my Sandovalves (yes, I plead guilty to that) in the first or second year of my playing ("Heck, something with Arturo Sandoval's name on it MUST be good"), I've noticed that after the initial hot phase, the thing began lying about until my wife firmly advised me to "put that ugly thing away". Which I did. It must still be there - haven't seen it for ages. Whereas my trusty Denis Wick practice mute is a constant in my gig bag.

@georgeb With breaks, of course. Austrian weddings involve many speeches all over the day, and lots of pranks. In total, there's perhaps twelve ours playing time in 28 hours of attendance.

I've test played a few of the TARV cornets from Leningrad, being involved in the Vienna Russian Wind Orchestra - the only orchestra outside the former Soviet Union to concentrate on Russian military band music in original settings and arrangements (

). These instrument were better than they looked; but not better than the usually low prices asked for them. Acceptable as tutti instruments, but usually not capable of solo playing. For that, the Eastern Bloc used either the Amati and Cerveny brands from the CSSR or the GDR-made Weltklang stuff. Most musicians from these countries, however, tried to get hold of Western instruments.
There was a joke in those days: What's the difference between a Capitalist and a Communist violin player? The Capitalist has an old violin and a new car, with the Communist it's the other way round.

@georgeb Weddings? Coming home at 2 am? That's a tame wedding... here in Austria, a wedding starts at 6am, with a rousing fanfare played in the street in front of the groom's house; then there's the morning snack and schnaps; then the registry office wedding, afterwards the church wedding, then the reception. After that, the dance band takes over from the oompah band until midnight, when the newlyweds retire; and the dance band continues, because next morning, the wedding guests have to wake up the honeymooners... so if you are lucky enough to be in the dance band and sub in the oompah outfitm you are getting up at four am, play for more or less 24 hours flat out, and are back at home around 10am... tired, not wired!

@dr-go I'd give money to see that!!

I'm risking a repeat offence...
Conductor:"We'll start again at measure 3."
Viola player: "Sorry, sir, we haven't got any numbers!"

@rowuk Robin,
as a part-time singing teacher, I've utilized the Circle of Breath many times... it really works. But as I feel it is more or less YOUR CoB, I let you explain it.

Hi,

you are probably not correct in saying that you need a wider mouthpiece. It might just be that in the course of your life, your jaws and teeth have changed in shape and size so that your ideal embouchure does not sit in the middle anymore, but slightly to your right. That is no catastrophe - there are many fantastic players out there who are using an off-centre embouchure. Try where your tone and range are best and most comfortable to you; but that is something best done with a teacher. Try if rowuk here might take you in an online session - he's one of the wisest around here.

@trumpetlearner Everything can be cleaned; with oldish cases, it's usually quite a chore. I suggest that you store the original case safely away and invest in a sturdy gig bag that can hold not only your horn, but all the odds and ends you are likely to need. With me - active in about four different wind and brass bands, two symphony orchestras and one and a half big bands, that means not only the obvious oil, grease, snake and cloth; there's pegs to secure the music on windy outdoor venues (enough to help out two colleagues), two music stand lights, spare batteries, a small multi-tool, trumpet stand(s), pad, pencil, sharpener, rubber, usually there's even a spare shirt (I once had a hot dog thrown at me by a drunk guy during a beer festival gig)... some of the other guys even keep a few condoms in their gig bags, just in case!

John entered a Covid-19 Vaccine Centre and was given his first dose.
On the way home, he found he had suddenly developed severe vision problems. So he called the vaccine centre to ask whether he should see his doctor or go straight into hospital.
"Don't go to the doctor OR the hospital. Your only chance is to return here and collect the glasses you forgot!"

@dr-go As long as you're not storking me...

@bigdub Extremely rare... especially as in that picture a heron is standing in for the stork...

@_mark_ Good for you. But from now on you will need a teacher - if only to show you where you go into those pitfalls every self-taught trumpet player encounters. I suggest either Brian Graber in New Orleans who does excellent online work (https://briangraber.com) or Glenn Butler in Arizona if you're somewhere in the US; if you're somewhere in Europe, you can't go wrong with Robin Wukits (https://www.facebook.com/public/Robin-Wukits) here known as Rowuk the Sage.

Teeth don't usually matter, unless you have a massive under- or overbite. Tension is all-important, and mouthpiece pressure as well (or rather studied lack of same). The more mouthpiece pressure you put on your lips, the more important teeth become; but at the same time, the more damage you can do to your lips, ranging from occasional tingling to numbness to full-blown, even irreversible, lip paralysis. So your focus at your stage of trumpet playing should not be on high notes (and if your teacher focuses on high notes, you should immediately change to another one!), but on consistency and low pressure within the first octave. And you can achieve that by following Rowuk's Circle of Breath (it's a staple topic here, you should be able to find it easily) and a low-pressure approach by practising long low notes.

A string quartet are on the road to a recital, and their car is run over by a big truck. All of them pass away, and meet again at the Pearly Gates. St. Peter welcomes them, saying, "Well, that truck somehow was not quite planned... as compensation, you can now do almost anything, rehearse without a single cracked note, play concerts before the greatest composers of all time, and they will applaud you... there's only one caution: Never, NEVER ever step onto one of those little black clouds."
And everything goes well in heaven. They rehearse to their hearts' content, and play concerts; at one, Bach, Beethoven, Brahms and Bartók are in the audience together. But after a few weeks, the First Violinist comes to rehearsal with a horribly ugly old woman at his side... when his colleagues ask him how that came about, he just swears, "those d##n b####y little black clouds... I stepped on one, there was lightning and thunder, and there she was." The other three renew their determination never ever to step on a little black cloud... but they get careless, and first the cellist, then the Second Violin appear at rehearsal saddled with the ugliest and most screwish women in history.
After a few more months, the viola player appears at the morning rehearsal with a stunning young blonde at his side, in an extreme minimum of clothing... of course, his colleagues are curious as to what happened to him... "Oh, nothing happened to me, guys", is the viola players reply. "It's her who stepped on a little black cloud."