Posts made by barliman2001

Really had to unlock the thread again after yesterday...
Ok, first rehearsal with the ACB picc. Descant part for "Fairytale" (out of Shrek).
Orchestra horribly sharp. No problem with the ACB - you can tune it up to C.
In the part, it really sang. My trumpet partner in crime (trumpet student at Vienna's Music University) was impressed and said so, wanted to try it... did try it, with a few excerpts from Torelli and Michael Haydn... gave it back, cursing all the while.
I asked him why?
Well, turns out he only last week bought a brand spanking new gold-plated Scherzer, for an outrageous $ 5.600,-, and now likes the ACB better!

@Kehaulani said in WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BECOME AN EXPERT?:

@Rapier232 said in WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BECOME AN EXPERT?:

@Bertie

Well, for what it’s worth, I was a National Police Firearms Instructor for 20 years. I taught people with absolutely no experience whatsoever from basic level all the way to very advanced close protection and hostage rescue teams. I found some people, including me, were absolute naturals at all shooting disciplines. Others found the skills difficult and some found them impossible and failed to reach the necessary standards required. So I’d disagree, natural talent/ability does exist, and those with it will out perform those without.

That's funny. I recalled that, as an enlisted man who had never held a firearm in my life, I scored an A.F. Rifle Marksmanship Medal the first time out and, years later, after never having ever shot a handgun, I also earned a Side-Arm Marksmanship Medal. Likewise in your experience, while I was shooting there were others that just sucked at firearms no matter how hard and how often they tried.

I can only second that, as a qualified Shooting Instructor in sports. I've trained many a beginner, starting them off on small-bore pistol. Most of them became decent, if not remarkable, shooters. Safe to bring them on the range after a couple of months or so. A few became top shooters within weeks. I took a team of four of these rookies to our regional championships. First competition for every one of the four. And we took the cup by a wide margin. Second came a team of grizzled veterans who had been doing this sort of thing for decades.
And then there was one exceptional guy who took to shooting within half an hour. Never had any connection to firearms before. He had learned all the safety rules before (as every one has to have before they are first let loose on the range with a "hot" gun) and scored bull's eyes on the first go, with both eyes open. Later, we discovered that he was a natural two-handed shooter as well - able to hit two targets yards apart, with a gun in each hand, at the same time. In civilian life, he was a karate instructor and organist at the local church.

When we discovered about his ability with firearms, he founded a security business and now owns twenty-nine armoured vans for bank cash transfers, has 90+ employees and has been tasked with add-on Personal Protection duties for state visits. Proudest moment of his life was when the Secret Service approached him for assistance during President Obama's visit to Germany...

Now that everything has dissolved into broad smiles, I am closing the thread. Thanks for watching and commenting.

@ACB said in Which picc?:

@barliman2001 I agree completely! Thank you for your patience and flexibility.

I return the compliment.

@Kehaulani said in How many of you taught yourself to play?:

If I understand correctly, for those American readers, Lutheran Brass Ensemble doesn't mean the same in Germanic countries as it does in America. Most areas in Germany only have either Protestant or Catholic churches. (Evangalisch/Katholisch). There are exceptions but not for the purpose of this discussion.

Protestant (Evangelisch) churches follow the Lutheran lineage but are not sect-specific, like Lutheran, Methodist, Reformed, etc. Rather it's an all-inclusive term.

Yeeees... but even within the term "Evangelisch" there are two different sects: The "Evangelisch-Lutherische" church which means "Evangelical within the confines of the Augsburg Confession" (i.e. Lutheran), and "Evangelisch-Reformiert" which means Evangelical, but not Lutheran, i.e. mildly Calvinist. The Lutheran Brass Ensemble or Posaunenchor is a purely Lutheran thing, developed by Lutheran pastor Friedrich Kuhlo who wanted brass instruments to accompany the organ and be an extension of it. Therefore, all organ music was to be played on brass instruments as well (hence the concet pitch reading), and therefore he had the Kuhlohorn developed, a circular-shaped narrow flugelhorn (in his day, most trumpets were rather shrill pea-shooters).

And you are correct in saying that many regions only have Catholic or Evangelical churches. Yes; but Catholic can - in some regions - mean Old Catholic as opposed to Roman Catholic, and Evangelical can be either Lutheran or Reformed.

All's well that ends well.

To put an end to all you people getting blue in the face holding your breath for news of the ACB Doubler picc...
It Has Arrived.
Sturdy box big enough for a euphonium. Lots of bubblewrap, then a nice lightweight case with a big outside pocket and rings for either a shoulder strap or backpack straps. Two straps provided.
Sturdy zipper.
And then...
more bubblewrap
A nice fabric leadpipe pouch with a spare A leadpipe
A nondescript 7C mouthpiece (not a bad one, as they go)...
and one gorgeous ACB Doubler piston picc in yellow brass with satin lacquer.
Nice finish, nice to touch. Comfortable to hold. And then...
Surprisingly easy to play (a Selmer is much harder, and even the Stomvi Elite is not as free-blowing). Intonation is superb - not much facial acrobatics needed to keep in tune in all ranges. And the tone is quite pleasant as well. Needs a bit of getting used to, but that's with every picc.
At that price (Trent was so kind as to ask the show demo price, and included the second leadpipe) I am very, very happy!
Oh yes, what did I pay?
$ 685, and had to pay another 100 bucks import duties (collected by the postman).
Still very happy. First official outing is a concert with the Vienna Lakeside Music Academy for their concert "Over and Under" featuring music from animated movies, 25 January. So now I'll have to do a bit of practising!
Trent, thanks!!

@scottfsmith said in How many of you taught yourself to play?:

I taught myself trumpet, I started maybe four years ago after teaching myself trombone a few years before that so I could play along with my son. After a couple years I stopped getting better, I couldn’t play much above the staff, so I started taking lessons. I would still be a pretty mediocre player if I didn’t make that step.

I was also doing odd things like naming the notes in concert pitch, so for example what all Bb trumpeters call G I would call F. It took me a long time to un-learn that bad habit..

It's not a bad habit, it's just a different way of looking at things. I started off in a Lutheran Brass Ensemble, fingering concert pitch (C = 1+3)... had myself made slides in Ab ...

Drunk husband is coming home late at night, to find his wife waiting behind the door with a broom. "A-are you cleaning, or flying away?"

In Bavaria, unwary tourists can fall prey to the Wolperdinger, a vicious flesh-eating hare with a roebuck's horns. These horns carry a strong venom which, however, is only dangerous to non-Bavarians. If touched by these horns, these individuals generally develop "Prussian disease" manifesting itself in trying to copy Bavarians in dress and language, making themselves abominably ridiculous.
One of the finest drawings of an actual Wolperdinger was done in 1503 by Albrecht Dürer. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolpertinger#/media/Datei:Wolpertinger.jpg
Once the venomous horns have rendered the victim without the will to resist, the Wolperdinger can do serious damage with his protruding fangs. The creature is the more dangerous as it has wings and is able to fly short distances, often perching on branches and dropping on unsuspecting travellers.

Well, this is the perfect place to tell my particular relationship with the trumpet. I always loved the instrument - from three years onwards. I once, at age five, even got a toy trumpet, even made of brass!, with ten "valves", each of which was confined to one note. They don't make them any more... at any rate, I loved that thing, but it did not feel right. It had too many of these round things sticking up above the leadpipe. Proper trumpets had only three, I knew for certain. So one day I sneaked away into the basement with my grandpa's small metal saw, and started working... neatly sawed off seven of the ten "valves". So now it not only looked like a proper trumpet, you could actually grip it like a proper trumpet. I was intensely proud of this achievement and showed it to my parents who were unaccountably angry. They were talking about, "you're always ruining things" and when I said that I wanted to learn trumpet, they told me I would only break it like the toy trumpet... so I was thrown onto piano and violin (both were already in the house).
And I hated it. They soon realized I was hopeless with the violin, but kept my nose to the grindstone on piano. The local music school would not do, so every second day, they carted me to a neighbouring town for lessons with a very special, very old-school teacher: A spinster of about 69, complete with moustache, and a wooden ruler lying on the piano to whack a student's fingers with. For seven years they forced me into this kind of thing, and I became quite good at piano - out of sheer self-defence! - won a few local competitions... until I boldly told them that they could throw me out or beat me to death, but I would not go to that teacher again... They tried a different teacher for another year or two, but by this time I was refusing to practice so piano lessons ended, after nine years or so. And quite a few years later, at age 22, I won a trumpet in a raffle. Well, a bugle. No valves or anything, just a tube with a bell flare and something that could imaginatively be called a mouthpiece.
OK, I thought, this looks like fate. How do I get this thing to work? So I got out a Maurice André record cover - 1970 vinyl, in fact this album https://www.cdandlp.com/maurice-andre/l-extraordinaire-maurice-andre/33t/r118969818/ - retreated in front of the big bathroom mirror and looked closely at how Maurice's lips were shaped on the mouthpiece. Tried to emulate the shape, put some tension on and - - - toot! Since then, I styled myself "student of Maurice André". It became true about ten years later...
Next day, I went into the local music shop and bought myself a trumpet kit - Chinese "Comet", complete with 7C mouthpiece, cleaning set, wooden case and set of white gloves, for 99 Deutschmarks. Continued to work with "Maurice". After two days, asked my choir director to find me a trumpet teacher. Which he did. And only a week later, accompanied me to a specialist shop where I bought my first "proper" trumpet, a Bach Strad 229 C/Bb... new, for a whopping 2,999 Deutschmarks (we're talking 1988!). No stopping now...

@tjcombo said in A little humour:

thanks for editing!

A football team won Chanel no. 5 perfume as sponsor. Unfortunately, their mascot was an old camel prone to farting.
At the press conference where the new sponsor was to be unveiled, the mascot had to be there as well and let out huge winds. The team manager grasped the situation by saying, "We contacted Chanel no.5 because we can't stand Camel #2s any more!"

"You've got a nice broad chest, you'll go into our football team." -
"But I can't play!" -
"Who said anything about playing? It's the advertising space that counts!"

A guy fell into a shark tank and survived.
Why?
He wore a shirt, "Red Sox for Superbowl".
Not even the sharks would swallow that!

"Garbage Air Flight 321 to Rome Tower, declaring emergency. We've lost #1 engine." - "Rome Tower to Garbage 321, do you have an engine left?" - "Affirmative" - "Then there is no problem."
...
"Garbage 321 to Rome Tower, declaring EMERGENCY!! We've lost engine #2 as well" -
"Rome Tower to Garbage 321, do you have an engine left?" - "Negative" -
"In that case, repeat after me, Our Father, Who art in Heaven..."

A husband and wife are looking at Niagara Falls. After a while, she says: "Would you jump in to save me if I fell in?" - "If I say yes, would you jump?"

@SSmith1226 said in A little humour:

A man lay sprawled across three entire seats in a theatre. When the usher came by and noticed this, he whispered to the man: “Sorry, sir, but you’re only allowed one seat.” The man groaned but didn’t budge. The usher became impatient.
“Sir,” the usher said. “If you don’t get up from there I’m going to have to call the manager.”
Again, the man just groaned, which infuriated the usher who turned and marched briskly back up the aisle in search of his manager. A few moments later, both the usher and the manager returned and stood over the man. Together the two of them tried repeatedly to move him, but with no success. Finally, they summoned the police.
The cop surveyed the situation briefly then asked: “All right buddy, what’s your name?”
“ Sam,” the man moaned.
“Where ya from, Sam?” the cop asked.
And with pain in his voice, Sam replied: “The balcony.”

The Bavarian poet Ludwig Thoma did not like the Opera very much, but he was always invited to premiere performances and simply HAD to go. Usually, he went to sleep during the overture, and woke up in time for the final applause. One day, he overslept the applause and was finally wakened by an usher saying, "Excuse me, sir, but you are only allowed to sleep in the Opera house as long as the performance lasts..."

A clarinet is only acceptable when the letters "in" are taken out...

A woman surprises her friend as she is emptying out the ashes of her late husband down the toilet... "I suppose you're entitled to an explanation," says the widow. "He always wanted to be buried at sea - so now he can start making his way there!"