Posts made by barliman2001

And here is a very short soundbite (from Wood Notes)

https://www.facebook.com/regina.schorg/videos/1462815754629587/?comment_id=320098674453597&reply_comment_id=706899228128318&notif_id=1715556793796595&notif_t=mentions_reply&ref=notif

@dfcoleman Pics please...

@Vulgano-Brother Not only there...

@Dr-GO Thank you.

Now here's my report on what happened since I last wrote...

I am not yet fully recovered after my stroke, and I very much doubt I will come back to the same shape I was beforehand (lost too much weight, har, har!). Even though I am back to driving myself, my former zest for long-distance driving has disappeared, and I am medically unfit to fly. Walking is possible, even though I need a crutch to avoid toppling over and am more comfortable with two.
Bearing all this in mind, I decided to go to Sicily by train. Fortunately, there is a connection from Munich to Cefalu requiring only one change of trains... and I reserve tickets accordingly, including the disabilit services of the train companies involved.
And it went like oiled clockwork. I arrived at Munich main station by taxi to find a porter with an electric cart already waiting for me. He brought me and my luggage (one biggish case for the ordinary needs of ten days of travel, and a Ritter Junior gig bag containing my Courtois Balanced Bb, my Courtois Roger Delmotte D, four mutes - straight, cup, bucket and Harmon - a music folder and all the necessary titbits) directly to my train for Bologna, helped me in, carried my luggage to my reserved seat and stowed it there. Very comfortable train ride to Bologna, where two guys with a wheelchair and ramp greeted me at my seat, brought me and my stuff to the exit and to a special waiting lounge. There, I was able to safely leave my accoutrements while roaming about the station. In good time, another two guys colleted me from that lounge, brought me to my sleeper train to Cefalu and settled me into my compartment... Italy has very nice long-distance night trains.

This was my temporary home for the 17-hour journey to Sicily.

Next morning, I was served breakfast in my compartment...

At the rather rural station of Cefalu, I was met - in the train - by the next team, escorted into a wheelchair and removed from the train with an hydraulic lift and had my welcome meal with the members of the orchestra...
The next nine days were filled with rehearsals of three wonderful pieces - William Grant Still's Wood Notes, Brahms' Double Concerto and Kurt Weill's Second Symphony. Tough going; but fortunately, we were well guided by conductor Cayenna Ponchione, and the whole thing culminated in a really nice concert in the sold-out Teatro Cicero in Cefalu...


And the return journe worked like a treat even though the Italian railways were supposed to be on strike (but by law, night trains and disabled services are not allowed to be hit by strike action)...

A view of the Mediterranean, from my compartment...

That is the Teatro Comunale Salvatore Cicero in Cefalu, Sicily. Nice place for a concert.

And one more clip of the weird and rare...

We are getting more and more modern... I present to you the

VALVE OPHICLEIDE!!

With Vienna Valves...

There's something new in the neighbourhood...

And the illegitimate love-child of the Serpent was the Ophicleide...

@Dennis-Anthony-Ferry I've been trying to learn that since I started playing in 1988... never worked for me...

@robertwerntz Alphorns can be dismantled into small pieces!

Hi all,

in a few weeks - departing Munich on 25 April - I am to play 2nd trumpet in Brahms' Double Concerto for Violin and Cello, in the Teatro Salvatore Cicero in the lovely town of Cefalu in Sicily. Now, the part is written for trumpet in D - originally for those big low D trumpets then in use. Last Brahms I played - 2nd Symphony - was written in D as well, and it worked quite well with my Courtois Roger Delmotte Then, it was no problem - I drove to Sicily with my own car and had enough luggage space. This time, I am going there by train, and luggage space is extremely limited. Last year in Cefalu, I carried three instruments... this year, I can at most manage two, and only one would be a bonus... the other pieces of the programme (Wood Notes by William Grant Still and 2nd Symphony by Kurt Weill) only require a Bb, but need lots of mutes... so if anyone here has the Brahms in a Bb transposition, I would be very appreciative indeed!

A friend of mine, former musical show trumpet player Alexander Gerzenberg, now has decided to throw his vast expertise in all things trumpet in with the Breslmaier company, being part responsible for mouthpiece development. A few days back, he gave me one of his first efforts at hands-on creating screw rim mouthpieces for my birthday. It's quite a story, so I am sharing it with you.
One of the chief products of Breslmaier is creating screw-on rims for existing mouthpieces, and vice versa. Usually, the leftover bits are thrown away for recycling... now Alexander has made it his pastime to root through the throwaways looking for something nice. What he found was a Bach Mt. Vernon 1 1/2 stem and cup, and a Bach Mt. Vernon 1 1/4 rim, both discarded. He cut a thread on both, inserted a slightly tapered distance ring and thus created what might easily be described as a Bach Mt. Vernon 1 1/4 A mouthpiece...
I played it for a full day yesterday, on both my Courtois Balanced and Olds Recording, and it was fabulous... nice control, warm silky smooth sound with optional paint-stripping... definitely a keeper! Thank you, Alexander!

P.S.: Tried it on my Courtois Roger Delmotte D today, a very mouthpiece-sensitive horn, and it was grand on that as well...

@harry A picture would help...

@josephtriscari62 WELCOME! You have found your way into the friendliest and best informed trumpet forum on the web!

@BigDub Cefalu in May is clement - nice sunny weather, but not too hot, with the sea already warm enough... outside dining in the evenings, with wonderful seafood...

My wife, enjoying a sefood platter (with local oysters!) nd the local frizzante wine...

So, just to get everyone up to date on me as a moderator and a human being... and explaining why I have been more or less absent for such a long time...

End of last October, I suffered a stroke. Mild one - the medical term is infarctus cerebelli, a closure of a blood vessel in that part of the brain. Our medical men have already commented on that, and their comments were very helpful indeed.

Since then, I have had five weeks in hospital and another five weeks of rehab. The latter was fun - very attentive nurses, lots of programme, and a chance of concentrating on Arban again (I had my pocket trumpet with me, with a practice mute, and managed to do at least an hour per day...)

Since then, things have been improving very much. From just lying in bed without being able to properly move, I have progressed to being able to walk - albeit slowly. Within the house, it's free walking, with an occasional grab at a table whenever vertigo raises its ugly head, and outside I am still dependent on crutches (can get by with one, but it's safe with two).

Driving is no option yet - have to get a specialist's assessment for that. The rehab clinic did a full assessment and told be that my reactions and sight are good enough to drive, but as the clinic would be liable if I caused an accident after being in their care, they denied my ability to drive (simpl for liability issues!)

That specialist's assessment is on 11 April; but notwithstanding the results, I will be going to Sicily to my annual holiday with Symphonic Holidays (www.dacapo-travel.eu) for nine days of rehearsals topped up with a concert... going by train from Munich to Bologna, and then by night train directly to Cefalu - which, by the way, is a very charming small town near Palermo...

More updates later!

Flowery lane, in Cefalu, Sicily... I'll be back there in a couple of weeks!

Small breakfast in Cefalu, Sicily...