Posts made by barliman2001

I don't intend to go into discussions of which mute to use where. I'll just add a small hilarious anecdote... Once, while playing in a certain orchestra, the piece had the two trumpets using harmons... first with the stem in, then with the stem extended and finally with the stems out. Unfortunately, we had only one and a half bars to get the extended stems fully out, so we had to take the stems out while leaving the mute in... you can imagine what happened. At the strategic moment, not only the stems came out, but the mutes as well... and there was a well-synchronized "kerlunk" as two Harmons hit the stage floor almost simultaneously...

@flugelgirl said in Mute Musings:

Corks are meant to be sanded so they properly fit the bell. Since bell flares can be very different, sometimes when you get a new horn you need to replace your mute corks. Mutes that fit my last daily player well needed replacements to fit my current horn correctly.

That's why H&B put rubber fittings on their Harmon Wah-wah. These fit any horn and won't tumble out.

I just joined a new orchestra who are doing Music from Animation Movies for their next programme. Conductor and arranger is a Church musician without any clue as to how to arrange for brass... the "mildest" piece has five sharps... ugh!

@mrhappy Actually, mine should be late 1950s.

@mrhappy I've got a C trumpet marked Gaudet (with original Courtois valves) and the 154R flugel.

@Dirk020 Yes indeed. And I've seen video footage of the endoscopic inspection Votruba are doing on every instrument they take in for resale.

@Niner That's an old idea... http://wahlfahrt09.de/geschichten/csu-ohne-c/index.html First picture shows the remains of St. Prosper, a 5th-century historian and theologian (secretary of Pope Leo I) who is on show in my home town's Parish Church.

@Niner I played it before I bought it. Typical Courtois which is what I like. Somehow, every Courtois I ever played was an instant hit for me. I've tried several styles on it - Haydn, 2nd movement, Mahler 5 beginning, Stormy Weather, a few Arbans, some Big Band charts. Suitable for everything. Strong sound in the low range, can be mellow and really sing everywhere, and if you give the horn some beans, you can peel paint with it. Interior condition is mint - clean, tight valves, perfect compression. Outside - well, about one third of the plating is gone at the usual places. No dings or dents. I'm very, very happy (and my wife is happy that I did not spend all her hairdresser's allowance! )

I visit Votruba's shop in Vienna on a regular basis. Mostly to have small things on my horns seen to - waterkey corks and springs, a new bottle of oil, perhaps some new corks to a mute. But I always keep a weather eye open on their "pre-loved" window... and today I got lucky. They had a Courtois Bb, a Balanced model, silver plated, for a mere € 300. True, about one third of the plating has been played away; but there are no dings or holes, no red rot, and the valves go plop! and move as they should. A narrow kranz on the bell, very like a Selmer K-Mod. Serial no. 10xxx. Does anyone here know more?

Before this post, I had never heard of Elmer Churampi; but now, I consider him the legitimate heir of Maurice André. Don't misunderstand me - there are many excellent players out there, each and every one with their own personal style and area of excellence. I admire every single one of them, be it Tine Thing Helseth, Alison Balsom, Hakan Hardenberger, Guy Touvron, or Sergey Nakariakov, or... whoever. But no one after the sad demise of MA quite got that mixture of silky smoothness with technical brilliance and - from what I gather - a likeable personality. Elmer Churampi nails that. His performance of the Hummel is remarkabl near MA's style, yet is no mere copy. I raise my hat and a few celebratory glasses to the young guy!

@SSmith1226 Steve, you're incorrigible. What about the time when you went into a hospital and posed as a surgeon?

@OldSchoolEuph It certainly can, my friend, but only if every member uses this forum in a civilized and orderly way. In the case of the deleted topic, there was very little fact and an enormous amount of defamation and abuse. And as there was indeed 90% abuse and only 10% content, it was easier to delete the whole topic.

@administrator Deleting is a last option; but perhaps it might be a good thing to refer as to which topic was deleted - there is no means of knowing now what was deleted and why...

@tptguy Before you do anything drastic: What kind of mouthpiece are you using? Perhaps it's just the mp that does not suit the instrument. And which Bach Strad are you playing? Shepherd's Crook as well?

As to "off-brand" horns - there are many, many good quality makers in Germany and Austria who are only known locally. Schagerl and Lechner, many have heard of. Dowids of Munich is already on the "not-so-well-known" list. Votruba of Vienna - a blank to many, even though they are at least on a par with Lechner. And in the tiny village of Künzing, in Bavaria, lives a man called Uli Pfreimbtner who really is on the forefront of research in trumpet design. He recently unveiled a trumpet and flugelhorn made entirely out of nickel silver (which makes these instruments virtually corrosion-free) with new rotary valves of his own design. Here's the link:
http://www.musikinstrumente-neusilber.de/Aktuelles.html
At the moment, that site is in German only - Uli is a bit slow in getting his site into English.

@Dr-GO Here in Vienna, I am always eager to welcome any former TMers or TBers - as Sethoflagos, rowuk and SSmith1226 can witness.

@L-A-Horn The Ganschhorn is $5k+ only if new. There are a spate of used, nearly new Ganschhorns out there at less than half the price. These once-loved Ganschhorns usually turn out to have some kind of problem - in many cases loose stays.

@L-A-Horn Depends on what kind of bang you want. If it's just a metallic bang, you can buy any used Chinese junk TSO for ten bucks, throw it out of an upstairs window and wait for the bang...

@SSmith1226
Kids at school comparing their Christmas presents.
Ed replies, a bit bored, "A football, a stone sling and an airgun. The usual." -
"Why, "the usual"?" his classmates ask.
"Well, my father's a glazier."