Posts made by barliman2001

What'sa the advantage of being schizophrenic? - You're never alone.

Why does one talk to oneself? - You always get an expert opinion!

LOCKED, AT DR. GO'S REQUEST.

@SSmith1226 said in A little humour:

A young man wanting to earn some extra money decided to hire himself out as a handy man and started canvassing a nearby well-to-do neighbourhood. He went to the front door of the first house and asked the owner if he had any odd jobs for him to do.
“Well, I guess I could use somebody to paint my porch,” the owner said. “How much will you charge me?”
The man quickly responded: “How about $50?”
The owner agreed and told him that the paint and everything he would need were in the garage.

The man’s wife, hearing the conversation, said to her husband: “Does he realise that our porch goes all the way around the house?”
The husband shrugged and went off on his way. A short time later, the man came to the door to collect his money.
“You’re finished already?” the husband asked.
“Yes,” the man replied, “and I had paint left over, so I gave it two coats.”
Impressed, the owner reached into his pocket for the $50 and handed it to him.
“And by the way,” the man added, “it’s not a Porch, it’s a Lexus.”

STEVE!!!

Well, there are still a few good personal touch music stores around in Europe. Vienna has Votruba's, which is an old-established family business; Salzburg has the "Brasswerkstatt". In Munich, age-old competitors Hieber and Lindberg amalgamated into a single company, but their services have improved. And smallish family stores are spreading all over, selling ecological and local produce. All is not lost.

My most exquisite trumpet memory is a recital by Maurice André in Munich - or, rather, not the recital but what happened afterwards.
I attended the recital and afterwards, went to the stage door to perhaps get Maurice to autograph my special "signatures case". When I got in, I found Maurice heartbroken and almost in tears. He had broken off the screw to the tuning device on the leadpipe of his picc. It was Saturday night, he had not thought of bringing a second instrument, and was due to play a matinee concert next morning.
Well, I got him to calm down a bit and told him I could help him get that fixed within the next few hours, if he would leave everything to me and just hop into a taxi with me. From the taxi, I called up my good, now departed friend Hermann Ganter who lived over his workshop as an instrument maker and repairer. I just told Hermann that I was coming within the next half hour and that he should be awake and sober.
When our taxi arrived at the very outskirts of Munich, Hermann was on his doorstep with his working apron over his nightshirt and, without really looking, growled that I was in for some rough treatment if... "Oh, Monsieur André, I am enchanted..." The repair was a very minor affair, but Maurice was happy, and invited me to stay a week or two at his place in the South of France. Which I did. We became firm friends, and a few weeks after Maurice's passing, I got a parcel with a lawyer's letter saying that the contents of the parcel were intended by Maurice as a last parting gift to his saviour after the Munich recital.
The contents? A 1966 Selmer high-G picc that Maurice had played during the first years of his career. He still remembered that I did not really like a Bb or A picc, and willed that high-G to me...

@Jolter It's nice; but then, I've got a very, very nice Benge #7 sitting at home...

@Kehaulani It's a dance band in a big band formation.

For other locations: In Germany, the Deutscher Tonkünstlerverband (Musicians' Union) provides contract forms; in Austria the Younion (which includes musicians) does the same.

I'm in trumpet playing for the fun of it; but some of the fun comes of being paid for the fun you're having! From an early point in my trumpet playing, I was a regular member of several church orchestras and got a fee for every performance. Easter weekend was always the best-paying in the year. Usually, the run started off on Easter Sunday at about 4 am in a freezing church, sitting there with the brass quintet waiting for the lighting of the Easter fire (usually about 90 minutes after the beginning of the service), the call "Fiat Lux" and the first fanfare (frozen instruments, frozen fingers, frozen lips). Then, an hour later, the first orchestral Mass. If you were lucky (and sitting in an organ loft or somewhere at the back of the church) sneak out after the last notes of the Agnus Dei, jump into the car and go to the next church to repeat the performance. With good time planning, one could do up to five churches (and five orchestral Masses) in one day, netting between 500 and 700 Euros. And then, on Easter Monday, another three performances so you could reckon with a minimum of 800 Euros for one weekend... Later, joined the Irish RTÉ Concert Orchestra as a paid sub; and nowadays, I'm playing regular paid gigs with the Markus Fluhr Big Band (www.bbmf.de) and a few other bands.

@Jolter said in Is Thomann-USA American-based?:

@grune You're right about the horns branded "Thomann". I agree the ones I've tried were not terrible.

But more importantly, keep in mind this is Europe's largest music business we're talking about here. They have a very complete inventory of almost every imaginable (major) brand of instruments. So to say that their horns are made in China can come off as unnecessarily disparaging.

Well, if you go in at the lower end of the price scale, the Thomann branded horns can be quite discouraging. I had one of their Black Jazz flugels, and test played an Eb Alto Horn and a Euph. All of them were more or less despicable, especially the valve sections.
That said, Thomann list a great many wonderful instruments, and tons of accessories and stuff. Their own brand trumpet cases and gig bags are very good, and there's nowhere else where you can get some of the rarer accessories in quick time.

@Jolter There is a Besson Meha for sale at Votruba's shop in Vienna. I've test played it, and it's one of the really good Mehas... here's the link: https://www.votruba-musik.at/gebrauchte-instrumente/trompeten-fluegelhoerner.php

@administrator It's relatively easy on a piston picc because you can use your left hand index finger for 4 (as Maurice André did). Difficult to do on early rotary piccs, but some now can be ordered with a left hand button or #4.
Or just change to a high-G and have done with it.

Yesterday - first band rehearsal with the Courtois. Very enlightening, and was very happy afterwards. It all happened as always in my relationship with Courtois horns - the trumpet seemed to know in advance what I wanted to do, and simply did it. Mind you, I had to hold back a bit because it is such a loud horn... with any other horn I was always in perfect balance with the other guys (two Strads - 37 and 43 - and a B&S Challenger II). Yesterday, I was always in danger of blaring out... very easy upper register, with a sonorous lower register to boot.

@SSmith1226 said in The One:

@J-Jericho said in The One:
Now, I haven't explored high-dollar trumpets, but the way my Studio plays for me, I have no inclination to do so.

You are a stronger man than I am, J. Jericho!!!

Steve, just be honest. You're following the sethoflagos routine - equal sums for trumpets and your wife's jewellery. And you love your wife so much that you just have to keep on buying trumpets...

@Dr-Mark We'll keep your seat warm here.

@J-Jericho said in The One:

My Olds Studio plays like no other trumpet I've ever played, and I've played quite a few interesting trumpets. Now, I haven't explored high-dollar trumpets, but the way my Studio plays for me, I have no inclination to do so.

My Yamaha YFH-731, the brass instrument with the best intonation I have encountered, is a keeper, also. There's plenty of room to bend notes if I want, and I can create any timbre I want as well.

The second-best, as far as intonation, is my aptly named York Perfec-Tone cornet. Great sounding horn.

I do not expect to replace any of these instruments; I truly love each one.

Olds Studio - yes. I've got one too, and it's my go-to horn at the moment. Except, perhaps, for my newly-acquired Courtois Balanced, or my Buescher Aristocrat, or my Benge #3... But in one respect I am totally sated - my Courtois 154R flugel. I've had that since 1991, and I haven't looked at another flugel since. True, I bought a few on e-bay; but every single one of these went to other players within a week or so. So now, I don't even look at other flugels.

@Dr-GO said in Having to play in too many sharps?:

@barliman2001 said in Having to play in too many sharps?:

@GeorgeB said in Having to play in too many sharps?:

@Trumpetsplus said in Having to play in too many sharps?:

@GeorgeB QED

Sorry, Ivan, my ignorance is probably going to show here: What Is QED?

Originally, it's Latin and the abbreviation for Quod Erat Demonstrandum, meaning, "what was intended to be demonstrated". The abbreviation was first used in mathematics.

"So it is proved" is another interpretation of QED. And Barliman, quid pro quo if you agree, yes?

Of course.

@Rapier232 said in Mute Musings:

Mutes, the bane of my life. Most of my playing is in theatre pit bands. I’ve probably spent more money on mutes for shows than I’ve been paid. Hat mute, Cleartone, metal and fibre straight mutes, metal and fibre cups, plunger, felt mute, even an extra Harmon because there wasn’t enough time to remove and replace stem between use. Sometimes I feel more like a juggler than a trumpet player. Why those that write scores don’t understand the player’s time requirements is a mystery. The puzzled face of an MD when you ask "Do you want this passage with a cup, or straight? Because you can’t have both. I physically cannot change mutes on a quaver rest".

Many of these parts were originally written for two players. One to play the straight, and the other to continue with the cup. Unfortunately, modern orchestras don't work that way.

@GeorgeB said in Having to play in too many sharps?:

@Trumpetsplus said in Having to play in too many sharps?:

@GeorgeB QED

Sorry, Ivan, my ignorance is probably going to show here: What Is QED?

Originally, it's Latin and the abbreviation for Quod Erat Demonstrandum, meaning, "what was intended to be demonstrated". The abbreviation was first used in mathematics.