Best posts made by ButchA

Wow... I would never suspected Paul Anka to have "anger management issues"!

Anyway, Happy Holidays everyone!!

Thank you, guys!

Another embouchure/pressure thing I was also playing around with, is mentally thinking that someone has their hand on the bell of my trumpet and they are trying to pull it away from me while I am playing.

There should NEVER be a need to jam the trumpet MP into your lips with crushing pressure!

Thanks.... It was the very first time I played a small cup MP, in that video. I was unsure and a little hesitant (as seen in the beginning when I put it to my lips).

I will try it more and more and see how well it plays. The main thing is that I don't strain, and I don't get that temporary indentation on my upper lip from too much pressure.

Incredible paintings! I agree, I thought they were photographs!

WOW!!!

Not a problem... Glad you had a nice Christmas and played your trumpet. Jingle Bell Rock is always fun to play. We (the Shriners Band) play that all the time during Christmas concerts and during a chilly Christmas parade, riding in our float.

I spent the day (and evening) trying to figure out a new guitar amplifier. My wife, daughter, and son-in-law, all chipped in and got me a huge 100 watt guitar amp with so many bells & whistles on it, I have to read the owners manual! The best part is the main power output is switchable, so you won't blow the roof off your house, or cause the neighbors to call the cops, ha ha... It has a switch that goes from 100 watts to 50 watts to as little as 5 watts, so you could play with all the power and intensity of a live rock 'n roll concert, but it's only at 5 watts and at normal room volume. My wife loves that idea! ha ha ha...
It is one of those high tech, fully integrated, guitar amplifiers, where everything is built in. It even has a USB port of the back to connect to a computer and download sound settings to it! You can't simply pick up a guitar and plug in and start playing "That'll Be The Day" by Buddy Holly, with a simple volume, treble, bass controls. This thing has so many knobs, push buttons, switches, etc... I am still scratching my head, looking at it and saying, "wait a minute... WHAT?!?"

I played a gig tonight (6:00 - 8:00) at a local pub here in town, as a prelude to the annual Oktoberfest. It was sort of a "warm-up" type of gig for us. The best part is I had NO PROBLEM with playing! No sensitivity, no pressure, no straining, etc.. I worked out fantastic, and all it was, was, a simple adjustment to my embouchure!

Teeny tiny little place, as seen in the photo. We were scrunched up in the corner on a tiny raised up stage. My buddy Steve and I were the only ones on trumpet & cornet (in the front on the right side of the photo).

Edit: We are called "The Sauerkrauts" from the ACCA Shriners Band here in Richmond, Virginia.

@GeorgeB ,

Thanks... Endurance is my biggest thing right now. I feel like I just don't have the chops that I used to. Right now, an easy experiment with a different diameter rim (along with the massive, wide rim shape), might prove to be a good answer.

What's funny is I don't care for the ubiquitous Bach 7C that everyone and their brother has played. The rim itself feels too narrow, like a french horn mouthpiece or something. The whole size, depth, diameter, of the 7C just turns me off.

So far I like the comfort and ease of playing with the 10¾CW mouthpiece. Once I fiddle around with it some more and get used to it, I am quite sure I will have no problems. The other option is to really consider the Wedge MP, but I don't understand how it works, how it gets all assembled, etc...

@Tobylou8 , you mentioned photos... That got me thinking, so I had to go way back to old photo albums and scan an old photo of me.

Yes, this is me -believe it or not- as a little kid (age 10 = 1971) on Lake George, NY! I am holding a smallmouth bass and a perch that I caught by myself while fishing with my dad, and caught more than he did! Note the old 5½hp Johnson Seahorse outboard!

Here's a hilarious You Tube video I made once I plugged into the amp and started reading the owners manual. It's a BOSS KATANA ARTIST 1x12 massive 100 watt amp!

Warning: The last few amp settings are not for the faint of heart. You'll hear some vicious heavy metal guitar tones!

@Niner said in DUH!! I finally figured it out, after all these years! (playing with minimal pressure):

Did you get paid in beer? Was it German beer?

No. We raised $400 bucks for The Shriners Hospital, and that was all. Tiny little place, and it was also Sunday evening too. We had to pay for our beer on top of that. You can see my glass of Yuengling in front of me on that table.

Honest? Seriously... Uh...

I practice only a few days a week, and only for maybe a 1/2 hour at max. I hate to say it, especially on a great trumpet forum like this, but I am more of a rock guitarist than anything.

I started trumpet in 4th grade at around age 10 or 11, and also picked up a guitar around the same time. Both instruments competed with each other, and still do to this day.

I heard this years ago, and just recently found a You Tube clip of it. I think I need a new trumpet, as my beloved childhood '67 Holton Collegiate can't make those notes! LOL!!!

In regards to that other post I made where I finally figured out how to rework my embouchure so I no longer "eat the mouthpiece", as the saying goes...

I have been practicing more and more with very light pressure, very mellow, and building up my range and endurance. It works! It really works!

In this quick video, I am trying to see if I can make my '75 Olds Ambassador "sing" like Shirley Jones did in "Carousel" to Gordon MacRae with the beautiful ballad "If I Loved You"... Hopefully I did it justice. I was trying to play as sweetly as possible with the lightest amount of pressure on the mouthpiece.

LOL... C cup with a W (wide) rim. Very, very, comfortable. It does take a little to get used to though, but once you get it figured out, it's great!

There is also something goofy with the "smilies" that puts a broken link block right before the actual smilie face...

Happy
Sad

I agree... Everyone had a "horn section" back in the day! Even if the band didn't technically have the instrumentation/members, they paid for a horn section and/or added them to tracks in the studio!

Must have been a great way to make a few bucks back then too!

@GeorgeB

Thank you! I appreciate it!

For everyone: Below is the "backing track" that I transposed into Bb so you can play along to it. I uploaded it into Soundcloud.

https://soundcloud.com/butch-ammon/if-i-loved-you-in-bb

This is so wrong on so many levels...

I just pasted in the You Tube link... No weird URL brackets or anything like that:

Here's Chicago's song "Does Anybody Really Know What Times It Is?"