I am a retired printing and publishing executive who played trumpet from 1953 to 1965 in a small 5 piece combo. Music and playing the trumpet again in 2016 helped me deal with the loss of my darling wife in 2012. Playing again has been my salvation.
I played a Conn 28B Constellation between 1953 up until I stopped playing in 1965. I loved that horn and kicked myself in the ass for selling it. I am now three years into my comeback and finally playing a Conn again. This time it is a 1999 Conn Vintage One 1BR-46 Trumpet that I got from Trent Austin and it is a honey.
I like that TrumpetBoards saw fit to have a place for come back players. I came back to playing in the spring of 2016 at the ripe old age of 80 after a 51 year hiatus. Those 3 years up to now have had plenty of ups and downs, including 3 lip injuries last year, but things are really starting to work out for me. This year I have changed bands because the one I belonged to since the fall of 2016 was no longer challenging enough. The one I recently joined offers plenty of challenge, including being able to play beside a 30 year pro trumpet player who goes out of his way to help me learn the band's extensive play list. Right now I am in Trumpet heaven.
I hope other come back players here will join me in sharing our trials, tribulations and, most importantly, our successes and joy from playing the devil's instrument we all love so dearly.
I am pleased to report that rehabilitation is going well. Starting to regain lost endurance an inch at a time. My range still a little weak B to high C above staff, but that will work itself out as my playing improves. I played about 45 minutes of our 90 minute band practice last night, dropping an octave when needed and this morning practice went well.
The band will be playing at a special Battle Of Britain memorial service this Sunday, consisting of Canada's National Anthem, God Save The Queen and 7 selected Hymns . Nothing difficult here so I will play the entire service.
I want the good doctors here to know that I am truly thankful for, and following, their advice.
George
Next Wednesday our band is booked to play a reception for A Volunteer Award night. The event runs from 6:30 to 9:00 pm and we play as people arrive and at various times throughout the evening. Below is our play list :
Cabaret
Alley Cat
Disney Film Favorites Medley
Snowbird
King Of The Road
Over The Rainbow
Rock Around The Clock
Pennsylvania Polka
Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head
Mambo No. 5
Looney Tunes Overture
What A Wonderful World
Colonel Bogey March
The Way We Were
Hawaii Five O theme
Sweet Caroline
Lots of lip burners here. I hope I survive...
I love the 1952 silver plate Selmer Paris medium bore Bb I purchased from
ACB in 2016 and now I have added a companion in this gorgeous 1959
Selmer Paris 24B K-Mod medium large bore Bb in lacquer.
This is a honey with a rich warm tone and will serve as a backup to my Manchester Brass band horn. It is in beautiful condition. Of course it came from ACB.
My longest layoff was 51 years. I had played between 1953 and 1965 and by the latter the good gigs were disappearing . It was also a time when work and family needed full time attention so I just sold my Conn 28B and concentrated on my career in printing and publishing and it was a move that paid off. After my wife of 57 years passed away in 2012 my world turned upside down. After three years of existing in a dark hole I finally started to see light again and in March 2016 I felt it was time to get back at playing the trumpet. Playing again became my salvation.
I have used a Wedge MD65 (.650" measured vertically ) for the past 2 years and though it has been good to me in many ways ( comfort and increased endurance ) the setting on my chops is often a problem. A slight deviation of placement within the oval shape of the Wedge affects my overall playing ability. My OLDchops are just too unforgiving.
But I loved the Wedge and lived with the problem until a recent pinched nerve problem with my left shoulder and arm brought the situation to a head.
The pinched nerve did some damage causing me to lose some mobility of the left arm. I usually play with the elbows pointed away from the body, but in order to hold the horn, I had to rest the left elbow just above the hip, and even then the horn would move a little on the chops affecting my tone, breathings and what not.
I discussed this with Josh, the mp guy, at Austin Custom Brass and he suggested I try the ACB3CS. It matched the .650" ID of the Wedge and said I should find the comfort of the ACB to be as good as the Wedge.
Well, I've been using the ACB3CS for a few days now and couldn't be happier. The struggle to get back in shape after that pinched nerve injury has taken a turn for the better thanks to the change in mouthpieces.
I never thought that I'd find another mp as good or even possibly better than the Wedge, but I really think I have. It's early, I know, but good things are happening, so we will see.
This was posted at that other site by Jens Lindermann :
A salute to the Covid 19 health care workers by 32 trumpet stars :
I am 83 and playing first trumpet with one the best local bands and everything that report says is dead on. I played trumpet in the early 50s and 60s but stopped for career and family reasons. Fifty years later, after three terrible years grieving over my wife's death, I started playing again ( almost 4 years ago now ) and playing music became my salvation mentally, and in many ways, physically.
I wasn't sure where to put this, but to a small degree it is historic...a least a part of my history.
When I played during the 50s I was a subscriber to Up Beat Magazine and still have an ear-torn copy of the February 9th, 1955 issue, and thought Martin fans would get a kick out of this Martin ad:
@kehaulani
Although I wouldn't go so far as to call Ray Anthony a musical prostitute, rather I would label him more of a musical entertainer who did a good job of keeping the big band sound alive during a period when the younger generation's taste was leaning toward hard core rock and roll.
I know he sounds like Harry James but he wasn't the only one copying Harry's style.
I own a lot of his records and enjoy listening to them often.
Through most of the 40s up to 1952 Harry played a variety of Selmer Paris balanced models ( I believe the last one given him was a 25A Gold Plated model ). But according to Chuck Par-Due's book HARRY JAMES Trumpet Icon Cathryn White, a daughter of the owner, convinced Harry to visit their plant and try their new models. This he did and switched to King in 1952. So he was likely playing the Selmer A25 Gold Plated model for the Movie, Young Man With A Horn.
Thanks for that video on Pauly. I was was really saddened when I learned of his death at age 98.
It was players like Doc Severinsen and Pauly Cohen still playing trumpet into their 90s that were my inspiration to make a comeback at the age of 79 back in 2016. Even as things are getting tougher for me at 84, due to a lot of health issues and medications, those guys kept me in there and will continue to do so.
Pauly had a fantastic sound and an amazing ability to make that horn talk. As a lead trumpeter, he was one of a kind.
I own a Custom Manchester Brass Bb made for Austin Custom Brass. I've owned it for close to 4 years. A great band horn with good intonation and fast valves. It was made in Taiwan by the same manufacturer that also made Carol Brass trumpets.
My ears aren't that good that I can tell if I am out of tune when playing with the band so I don't even think about it. The lead player in the trumpet section will sometimes point to one of us and motion for us to pull out the tuning slide a bit.
@fels
I had surgery for basel cell near the tip of my left ear. That ear looks like Spock's from Star Trek. But I guess I caught it early enough because no problems since the surgery five years ago.
Growing old isn't for sissies.
Wow, getting to see and play all those great horns of the past...Madam, you have a dream of a job.
George
Hey, Stuart, hell we can be taken to task but who cares. We are entitled to our opinion, and they theirs.
So, you are 83. You're only a baby. I'm 84...
