Posts made by Bob Pixley

I know Jeff and have played at a few venues he was also performing at. He is a tremendous player on historic instruments, as well as a great jazz player. He knows me by my real name, though, not as Bob Pixley...lol

Yes, the 6B was very similar to the 38B. Same basic specs, valve block, leadpipe, and bell shape. It had less nickel plating and no trigger or slide stops. Nice playing instruments.

My elbow sometimes hurts after playing for an extended period of time, but it always goes away by the next day or so.

@Niner said in King Liberty:

The King Mini Liberty Trumpet was the most rare. Only a hundred were produced as rewards to various people ...probably dealers mostly. But..... apparently they worked like the real one...except for the sound. When this video starts off it sounds more like a clarinet.

I saw one of those on display in a music store in St. Louis years ago. I did get to hold it, but didn't get to play it. It's basically a not-so-good Bb piccolo trumpet. Hey, I know Jeff Stockham, too. He's a fantastic trumpet, cornet, keyed bugle, and french horn player.

A few years ago, I was asked to play in a newly-forming local Mariachi band. It was to be a band that played from printed music, not from memory, so I said ok. Sounded like fun and a way to make a few extra bucks.

I spent the next few weeks before our first rehearsal listening to Mariachi music and studying the vibrato, style, articulations, and tone of the trumpet players, and practiced emulating it. I picked my small-bore Conn 6B with a Bach 3C mouthpiece as the weapon of choice.

Well, the first rehearsal rolled around, and it appeared that about half the band had no idea what Mariachi music was supposed to sound like. It was pretty square, and didn't get much better in subsequent rehearsals. We played one gig, and then the leader of the band had health problems and that was the end of it. So much for my Mariachi career...lol

This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. The broadcasters of your area in voluntary cooperation with the Federal, State and local authorities have developed this system to keep you informed in the event of an emergency. If this had been an actual emergency, the Attention Signal you just heard would have been followed by official information, news or instructions. This concludes this test of the Emergency Broadcast System.

@Dr-GO said in Reasons to NOT Collect Trumpets:

@Bob-Pixley said in Reasons to NOT Collect Trumpets:

Many people collect cheap junk that they will never play to any extent. Instead of applying that money to one good trumpet, they have 10 wall hangers instead.

I have may good trumpets 3 over $3,000 another that currently sells fo $12,400 on sale (40% off) and I play all of them.

And when I play them they are truly "off the wall!"

So, do you collect cheap junk? I bet not. The point I was trying to make is people with limited disposable income buy numerous cheap horns that don't play well, instead of putting that money toward a good instrument. Yes you are a great trumpet player with piles of money - I get it.

Many people collect cheap junk that they will never play to any extent. Instead of applying that money to one good trumpet, they have 10 wall hangers instead.

@mafields627 said in Frustrated:

In my experience message boards that are not heavily moderated are much like a toddler with no structure -- lots of shouting, name calling, and an altogether unpleasant atmosphere.

The absolute BEST message board I am a part of is tidefans.com and it is such because of the insiders that know what is going on with the program and the moderation that keeps it civil. If the moderation wasn't what it was the insiders would go and we would all lose out.

TBH, I wish that TH was actually more heavily moderated. A lot of great posters (pros and knowledgeable amateurs) have left because stuff was allowed to go too far.

@OldSchoolEuph said in Frustrated:

@Comeback said in Frustrated:

Glad to see you posting here, OldSchoolEuph. I have learned from what you have written on TH and TM. Hopefully this young site will mature into a reliably useful helpful resource.

I imagine I'll post here more often now that I have figured out that I need to use Chrome to have site functionality (yesterday....I'm slow)

I had that same problem. Switched to chrome and everything worked!

I played in a community band when I was making a comeback after laying off the trumpet for 7 or 8 years. It was good experience and a place to get my chops back. It is one of those bands with no admission requirements, just show up and play, so there was a wide variety of skill levels. Lots of nice people, and fun most of the time. When it was good, it could be really good, and when it was bad, it could be very bad. It all depended on who showed up at any given time. As for politics, there was little of that going on that I knew about.

I started out on last chair 3rd, and over the course of a few years moved up to 1st chair solo. After a couple years on 1st, I auditioned for the local semi-pro symphony and won the 3rd chair spot, so I resigned from the concert band at that time. I spent about 5 seasons with them, but the politics was horrendous and most of the trumpet parts were boring (when I even had a part).

I've also played in a few local big bands and a brass band, but those were by invitation only, so the skill level of the players was reasonably high. Some bands just for the fun of it, and some for fun plus a little cash. I was in too many groups at one time, though, and it became a real drag. The brass band degraded into playing nothing much but pops concerts, and I resigned my 2nd part spot and went on the sub list. Now I regularly play in only one group (a large church orchestra), and sub in a few others when needed. That's enough...

@tmd said in Reasons to collect trumpets?:

...My current collection. I mostly use my Bach 43 Trumpet and Olds L-12 Flugel. And I occasionally use my Bach C, Getzen Field Trumpet, and CarolBrass Pocket Trumpet.

• Bach 1974 Stradivariuis lightweight 43 Bb Trumpet
• Bach 1980 Stradivariuis 239 CML Trumpet
• Bach 1965 Stradivarius 37 Bb Trumpet
• Bach 1947 Stradivariuis NY 67 Bb Cornet
• Olds 1957 Ambassador Bb Trumpet
• Olds 1957 Ambassador Bb Cornet
• Olds 1969 L-12 Flugelhorn
• Carol CPT-300LR Pocket Trumpet
• Getzen 1974 Eterna 896 Flugelhorn
• Getzen Eterna 940 Piccolo Trumpet
• Getzen M2003ES Bb/G Field Trumpet
• Besson BE1020 Cornet
• King H.N. White 1969 Eb/F Alto Horn

Mike

My regular trumpet is a 1976 Bach 43 ML. My C trumpet is a 1982 Bach 239 CML. My flugel is a 1970 Olds L-12. I also have a Bach Strad cornet, a Besson cornet, and a Kanstul field trumpet. Strange parallels...I guess great minds think alike...

I've bought some out of need (like a C trumpet for classical, a good cornet for brass band, etc.), some out of curiosity (which I've usually sold because they didn't do anything for me), and some because they were really old and neat. The really old, neat ones don't play that well, so I've kept just 2 of them (a couple nice 19th century ones). I have a few Bb trumpets, but play only one with regularity, and really should sell a couple of them. I have a few decent cornets, but only play 2 with any regularity, so again, I should sell a few more of them (I sold 3 last year). I suppose I used to be a collector, and had more horns than I care to admit, but now I'm just a guy who owns a few more horns than I need.

@Kehaulani said in Structure of the Trumpet by Yamaha:

@Bob-Pixley said in Structure of the Trumpet by Yamaha:

You don't "buzz your lips" while playing. Your lips flap in the breeze when you blow into the mouthpiece.

Bob - honest question Nothing argumentative, but don't you describe lips flapping as the
result of an embouchure?

Well, sure. They have to be positioned correctly to produce the note you're desiring and a pleasing tone. Not the same thing as making a buzzing sound with your lips with no mouthpiece.

You don't "buzz your lips" while playing. Your lips flap in the breeze when you blow into the mouthpiece.

@Comeback said in The new Martin Committee "thread" from a TM emigrant:

I tried to find current contract info for Sherry a short time ago and was unsuccessful. All I leaned was that her company seems to be no more. She sure did a nice job of restoring the engraving on my LeBlanc...

Yeah, she retired a few years ago. Luckily, I had her work her magic on one of my cornets back in the day. Such fine workmanship at such a reasonable price. You may recognize this one...

@tjveloce said in The new Martin Committee "thread" from a TM emigrant: ...Oh, by the way, I found a woman who can do the engraving through Robb Stewart, and I spoke with her.

So who's freshening up the engraving? Is Sherry Huntley still doing small jobs on the side?

I've owned a few Conn Director cornets (15A and 17A) and one Director 15B trumpet over the years, and the cornets played surprisingly well. Easy to play, with good intonation. The only drawback was they were too bright. The trumpet was just so-so. It was kind of lifeless. The Director cornets were better trumpets than the Director trumpet...lol.

I gave this one to one of my nephews when he was starting band in 6th grade. He played it all the way through 10th grade and then got a trumpet. The Conn was then passed down to his sister, who played it until a couple years ago when she got a trumpet. Nice little cornet.

@adc said in Student trumpets:

@Bob-Pixley said in Student trumpets:

I've owned 4 Ambassadors, 3 trumpets and one cornet. They are great student horns, but just so-so for higher level playing. I did play one (a 1950s trumpet) in a big band for a few years and it worked pretty well, so they probably do have a place in jazz, swing, and similar types of settings. Legit music, nope.

I played several Ambassadors in the last few years. The King 602? was superior IMHO.

Did you ever play a Conn 36A Cornet?

No, but I've played a 12A and it was a terrific cornet. Not a student-level instrument, though.