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:

@rowuk

As always, Robin, I look forward to, and cherish, any input you have on interesting subjects such as scales. They have done, and continue to do, so much to help me play the trumpet, especially now that I am in my mid-80s and finding it tougher to play well each new year.

@trumpetsplus
I really don't think the thread lost its way as you state, Ivan, but we are all are entitled to our opinions, and in fact I liked your first reply. Different points of view make subjects that more interesting. And because your knowledge of music is far superior to mine, I will not debate what is or what isn't a scale.

@richard-iii
I know what you're saying and I have to admit I felt the same as you about the situation. The only thing that kept me as a TM member was the people. They were more civil and much nicer than those at TH. I feel the same about TRUMPET BOARDS. I am always looking to learn something new about playing the horn and there is far too little of that here, but I really like the members and that's why I stay.

For those of us who enjoy a little laugh, we have a board for that.

@barliman2001

I know, and I don't like to be a stick in the mud but I've seen threads fall apart because of too much humor.

If we want to keep members and attract new ones who come here looking for help and suggestions with their playing then we should take a long hard look at what we are doing.

Kehaulani, who I hope is okay because he hasn't been here in sometime, was one who shared my thoughts on this matter. He felt there was too much humor in threads dealing with the technical aspects of playing the trumpet.

I had a feeling that this thread would eventually become a victim of humor. And that is fine, but for players who will one day face the fact that old age and injuries can and will happen, the intent of this thread was to let them know that there are solutions, and maybe scales will be one for them as it is for me.

@dr-go

Thanks for that interesting piece of music based on a minor scale, Doc. I had never heard it before. It is quite nice.

@dr-go
Heck, yes, that was definitely composed on scales going down and up.

I agree with Ivan, to a certain degree, that scales are not music, but there are occasions when scales form part of a song. A good example of this is the bridge in the old jazz standard BLUE ROOM where the run exceeds one full octave. And I have heard many versions of how some players improvise it. I've even tried a few things myself.

Here is a take by Chet :

@trumpetsplus
I play music in all keys, too, Ivan, but I couldn't play them as well as I do if I didn't practice scales regularly. Scales keep my brain nimble and the chops strong and that helps in keeping good coordination of my lips, wind and fingers. That is more important now that I am pushing 85.

Those of you who learned to play the trumpet in the 40s or in my case, the 50s, could not help but be influenced by the great Rafael Mendez. Although Mendez said, more than once, that all you have to do is scales and more scales, it was somewhat tongue in cheek, but flavored by a whole lot of truth. Of course, Mendez taught us a lot more about playing the trumpet ( check out his tutorial videos sometime ), but one thing he never wavered on was the belief that a foundation based on scales was of the utmost importance in mastering the the trumpet.

Although 6 months in a conservatory of music gave me some grounding, it was a professional trumpet player who did it all, from classical music to jazz, who really taught me how to play the trumpet, and he was a great believer in Mendez so you can be sure that scales became an important part of my practice routines.

When I started playing again at age 79, I hadn't touched the horn in over 50 years. Something I quickly learned was that I was learning to play the trumpet all over again. Some things, like the fingerings, came back to me fairly quickly, but being able to play for hours, rather than minutes, took much longer.

So what did I do to get back my youthful ( that's a laugh ) endurance, well you guessed it, I started playing scales daily. First I started doing one octave major scales in all keys. As the chops began to strengthen I began adding a note or two to the octave until I was up to a full two octave run from low C to high C above the staff in all keys.

Along with the major scales I started adding sets of intervals in all major keys.

This became the foundation of re-developing my ability to play the trumpet with a decent endurance. Oh, there were other things, of course, like long tones, lip slurs from below to above the staff, arpeggios, articulation exercises, etc.

But the foundation was scales. I had started playing in March of 2016 and by September I was playing first chair with the local Horizons band.

Now, going on 6 years later, I am playing with one of the province's top brass and reed bands. And because I sometime still think I can play like I did in my teens and my twenties I will do stupid things like over playing when I should know better. This has led to a few injuries that have caused me to stop playing for awhile ( one time for a
month ) but there is still one thing that always gets me back to where I was...

SCALES, SCALES AND MORE SCALES