Best posts made by flugelgirl

@Dr-Mark part of the reason I say this is because I worked with a student whose regular teacher had hosed him all up by telling him his teeth had to be perfectly aligned and his mouthpiece perfectly in the middle before he could play. He spent so much time trying to get set to play, and his sound was horrible! Got him into a pickup the horn breathe, play, put it down and repeat exercise, and and by that afternoon his world had changed. I hope he never went back to that teacher!
Another player I went to college with decided to experiment with his mouthpiece placement over the summer for no apparent reason and ruined his playing for about 3 years. A big shame - he was an amazing player before that!
Sure, some people need help, but 99% of them need more help with air than embouchure.

I grew up in Maine, moved to Boston to attend Berklee but was unhappy with the quality of the education and moved back to Maine to attend University of Maine at Augusta until I figured out what was next. Much better education, with unlimited access to teachers that really pushed me, unlike the half hour a week I got with my private instructor at Berklee, but I missed Boston. Joined the Navy when I ran out of money for school and was stationed in New Orleans, Silverdale WA, Norfolk VA and San Diego, finished out back in Norfolk. Had a lot of travel throughout the US and South America, as well as a bunch of cross-country moves. My husband (from Miami) and I enjoyed our time in the Seattle area the most, so that is where we chose to retire. Been back in the area almost 3 yrs and still loving it!

Subbing for a big band job, and then a blues band on New Year’s Day. Never had a New Year’s Day gig before - I guess there’s a first for everything!

My longest layoff was Boot Camp - at that time they weren’t finding the MUs and moving them to the band right away. Several weeks later they offered to let me change divisions, but it would have set me back two weeks in training. I opted for the faster route out of there! The bugler for my recruit grad ceremony was so terrible, one of my non-musician shipmates leaned back and whispered “I can’t stand it! I can only imagine how bad this is for you!” The calls were so bad they were unrecognizable- we only knew what to do from practicing with the recording so many times!
I become a very dark and mean person when I’m not playing enough - one of the many reasons I’ve never stopped. I like who I am a whole lot better when I’m playing, and so does everyone else!

We’re all different. I sound the same on a 1.5 as on a 3, but have to work a whole lot harder for it. That makes it an easy choice for me. Also, you have to consider the job that you’re doing - playing in a commercial setting has different needs than an orchestral setting. Different equipment for different jobs, and different faces! This is one of the many reasons I did not want to live in the orchestral world where people are so focused on one specific horn/mouthpiece combination for no real reason other than “insert famous player here” used it. When I was growing up, there were several choices of teachers I could have studied with - the orchestral teacher would not accept you in his studio unless you bought a large bore Bach and a 1C mouthpiece. The jazz and commercial teachers didn’t care what equipment you showed up with as long as it worked and you sounded good on it. That made the choice easy for me as a kid since I couldn’t afford new equipment! It ended up being a great choice since I excelled in the genre and loved the music.
For all the amateurs out there, play what is most comfortable for you and work with it. Strive for your best possible sound, and don’t worry about it too much. Tailor your equipment around the job that YOU are doing, and it will take you farther than playing what works for someone else’s job.

My morning warm up includes a section of flexibilities - just enough to help get ready for the day and make shakes work right. When I was in college trying to learn shakes, I did sections of the Colin Lip Flexibilities as a warm up every other day, and it worked quite well. Went back to that alternating with Claude Gordon when I had to work myself back from sick and injured later on, and it worked very well.
My dogs seem to think flexibilities are Happy Puppy Sing -a-long time. It was cute the first couple of times, and not so cute years later!

Many times even as a soloist, you have lines that are meant to be part of the ensemble. Always helps to identify these before you get there! As a sight reading sub, you have to do a fair bit of figuring out how the lead player is going to interpret the line, or as a lead how to best interpret the line so the band can follow you. This becomes particularly important when the band has never met you and you’re reading down the gig!
@GeorgeB I was fortunate to have teachers who taught me what I needed to know to navigate the professional world, and also the tons of sight reading experience I got in the Navy. There were so many times I got handed a book at the last minute because someone else got sick or something, and always in the back of my mind I was thinking “ Okay, but you guys are just training me not to need you anymore...”

@Niner you shouldn’t feel sad about supporting Kelly first. Family owned business and super nice people who actually make something playable that they use themselves. I met them at NAMM and they were great!

@georgeb I LOVE Willie singing Jazz!! His phrasing is so nice!

I have one from 1939, and a short shank fits best, which is why your Bach doesn’t fit correctly. Any Denis Wick or ACB short shank fits perfectly. Probably any other brand as long as it’s short shank.

I really like Craig Fraedrich’s books, especially his older scale studies book. I like the new theory book he has out, though - great way to introduce a student to jazz theory. Each example includes playing exercises at the end of each lesson, which makes so much more sense than treating it as a classroom type subject.
Here’s the link to the older scale book:
http://craigfraedrichmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Treble-Scales-1.pdf

I also really like Patterns for Jazz, and Pat Harbison’s technical studies book.

One of the things some will neglect when talking about breath support is posture. Without good posture, it is almost impossible to breathe properly. I see this in my students all the time, and the second I remind them their breathing and sound are immediately better.

Just be thankful that you can clean yourself pretty easily. Most trumpeters have been taught to disassemble and clean their instruments. Euphonium players seem not to know that the bottom valve caps are movable parts and never clean no matter how much they play. French hornists and other rotary players are incapable of disassembling their instruments and have no idea what a rotor looks like or how it actually functions. Tuba players want to clean but just don’t have the space, and tuba chem cleans are expensive enough that they go too long between cleanings unless they have the budget for it. Trombonists fall into two categories: those that clean constantly and are super picky about every detail of maintenance and repair, and the caveman who never cleans anything.
As for my own horns, the daily players get cleaned about once a month with a soap and water bath. I have my own dip tank in my home shop, but sometimes will pop one of mine in the work Ultrasonic tank when I’m done for the day, depending on how much time/energy I have. Regular home cleaning saves you money in the end, because most shops will charge you a flat rate for a clean, and added hourly rate for any work they have to do on top of that, which includes pulling slides, removing corroded stems, etc. If it takes me 2hrs to get your horn apart, you’ll be paying me a whole lot more to clean it! The fix for this is regular maintenance, not trying to do it yourself if you don’t have the skill or training.

This reminds me of some conversations I’ve had with customers recently. One had never touched a trumpet yet, didn’t know how to make a sound, and wanted to know which equipment would make him sound like he played a Monette. The other one immediately launched into how “x” method changed his playing and that I should do it too. Thanks, Bub, but no. He was a 70yro comebacker, and while I’m happy he’s doing so much better, it was nothing I had a need for. If you’re doing more talking or equipment searching than practicing, you’ve already missed the point.
Twice this week I’ve had to tell other people’s students that their valves are slow because they have terrible hand position and are hitting them sideways- something that my former teachers yelled at me about constantly. Mindful practice with good physical habits goes a long, long way!

@SSmith1226 I would never recommend that someone who is not trained to ultrasonically clean an instrument to do so at home, especially in a cleaner set up for other purposes. I would also never clean something like a gun in my setup just because the approach and chemicals used may be drastically different, and I have no training for guns.
As far as rotary maintenance goes, oil rotor spindle and bearing before playing, and play regularly as the condensation from your breath is part of what keeps rotors moving. You can pull and clean slides once in a while, but get your regular pro clean if you’re not familiar with disassembling and reassembling rotors and strings. They are a bit more complicated than pistons and require the right skill and tools.

My 1941 Mercury - only Bach I’ve ever bought, and i’ve Played hundreds...

@Kehaulani For me, that’s an easy choice. I don’t gig on vintage horns, not because I can’t, but because I don’t want to play on something worn out, or come to rely on something I can’t replace. I did gig on vintage horns at one time, but it was terrifying any time I had an accident on a gig and no other horn I had on hand could take the place of the one that was damaged. Every A1 I’ve played with the same specs as mine has felt the same, and I also find very little difference between these Jupiter horns of the same model - one of the things I like about them, very consistent. I could replace them with another without worry. In contrast, almost every Bach I have played is different with very few exceptions. The models that feel most consistent to me are the Artisan, the Commercial, and the Mariachi, but I don’t like any of them enough to own one. It would be pretty much impossible to just pull a 37 or 43 off the shelf and expect any two to feel the same.

Here’s my Super Deluxe - as you can see, it is top sprung with little rollers for guides. The friend that gave it to me has one in better condition that is also top sprung but with typical Getzen plastic guides.

Sadly, live music in my area is still on hold. The last gig I still had scheduled for 2020 just got postponed, to be rescheduled for next year. NAMM 2021 has been cancelled, though some of the workshops will still happen online. Hopefully once live events are safe again audience will still be ready to come to them! I fear that one of my regular gigs may go away for good - a local Senior Center with a large dance hall that had all ages ballroom dancing, which is pretty popular here. One of the regular dancers died of COVID-19 shortly after the last dance I played there. Hopefully there will be a vaccine, and people will actually get it when it’s available! It really makes me angry how many people without any scientific knowledge or training are deciding that they know better. I wear a mask for others, because I touch gross things on a daily basis. I practice good hygiene for me, because I don’t want to get sick with the regular flu, let alone this! I also practice good hygiene for my husband, who is immune compromised.

Here’s a screenshot conversation a friend sent me this morning - the one on the plane is a bandleader, friend they were texting is Executive Director of a group I play with. This could also be titled “How to not get a gig”! The musical world is small, and news travels fast....names have been blacked out to spare the innocent, as well as swears to spare your delicate eyes...