Best posts made by GeorgeB

I was not contemplating, or even interested, in playing a piccolo, but I did find it quite interesting in reading about those here who do play it, especially Robin and Bertie.

@BigDub said in Artist on BOARD:

@GeorgeB said in Artist on BOARD:

Beautiful, Wayne, simply beautiful...and so peaceful looking.

Thanks, Kehaulani and George.
That one is from Maine, George. Pumpkin Island Light

Yeah, Maine and Nova Scotia share a similar landscape : the ocean, a rocky shoreline, spruce and pine trees...

@IrishTrumpeter
The wah-wah and the growl are great fun but can sound horrible when done wrong. Walton's description of how to do it properly is pretty much how I was taught to do it by a pro player back in the early fifties. The growl, when done alone, can be a really nice touch to a particular piece of music, too.
Sounds like you are having fun. Good for you.

@dr-go
Yes, that is exactly what I must do.

I've been playing larger mouth[pieces for so long that my embouchure is probably a bit confused, and it's probably a memory thing. The more I use the 5X, the sooner it will all come together.

I've always rested pinky on top of the pinky hook and the thumb between the first and second valve casing. I tried resting on the first valve casing only but found that my fingers tended to wander a bit, so I am back with thumb between first and second valve. This still works best for me, so regardless of what the experts say, you have to use what works for you.

Hi, Seth, so nice to see your name here. I have always enjoyed your intelligent posts. Hope things settle down for you soon.

@trumpetlearner
It isn't just too much pressure you have to be careful of, but over use of the lips can lead to a lip injury.

I am 84 and my chops aren't the same ones I played with back in the 50's/60's where playing a 3 hour gig was doable. These days I have to be careful of over playing. I did a 2 hour concert once with a lot of difficult ( range-wise ) material and the next day I was blowing dead air. The muscles around the chops had been damaged and were swollen. It took 3 days of applying ice packs to the chops before I could blow notes again properly.

Be careful, your virgin lips are vulnerable. If you play 5 minutes, rest five minutes. Take your time. What's the rush ? Take a good breath from deep down inside and use the stomach muscles to support the air. Blow soft, like you would if you were blowing out a candle. Play lots of long tones consisting of whole notes and half notes. Make the C in the middle of the staff an objective, but don't push it. Work your way there slowly, note by note.

And pay attention to you posture. Practice breathing with shoulders down and chest out, holding the horn with elbows pointing slightly away from the body

Good luck.
George

This is the new DENIS WICKmouthpiece I am using:

This time last year I was diagnosed with AFIB ( irregular heart beat ) and had to start taking a drug that has since affected my trumpet playing in a negative way, basically my endurance and range. I have always used larger mouthpiece IDs in the vicinity of .640 to .650.
A friend of mine, a semi-pro player gifted me with a duplicate of the mp he uses for his lead playing: the Denis Wick 5X. He felt it would help me. I wasn't too sure. Even though I used a 10.5C Bach for 12 years ( 1953-1965 ), when I tried to use it for my comeback in 2016 it just didn't work. The Bach 5C seemed to work best and later when I changed bands I went to a 3C to give me a stronger sound spread. But the larger cups have always hindered my higher range ( anything over a top space A ). And for the past year, thanks to AFIB, My A's are really, really weak. these days.
Anyway, to make a long story shorter, the Denis Wick has been a great help, especially for my endurance, and my range, too. My A's are much stronger . Eventually I hope to work my way up to the F over high C, which I used to do every morning as part of my expanding scale exercises, but am ( or was ) now lucky to get up to a weak High C.

I always thought Denis Wick was big in Cornet mps but I am discovering he makes damn good trumpet mouthpieces, too.

Our band is playing again, so I am looking forward to our 90 minute practice session tomorrow night to test my the Wick 5X even further... and my endurance.

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.

@Chuck-Rose That was interesting, Chuck. On a nice afternoon I sometimes practice on my back deck, belting out a few ballads. The first time I played outside I got a little applause and that's when I knew I had great neighbors. But I am careful not to overdo it.

@trumpetlearner
The one you show in the listing has what is known as a first valve slide trigger for moving the slide in and out. But a lot of early vintage horns ( my 1952 Selmer Paris, as an example ) didn't have first slide finger saddles or triggers.

@kehaulani said in AR Resonance Mouthpieces:

Ref, Jet Tones, there re the originals, then the Ratzenberger "originals", then the more modern ones.

Going backwards, the modern ones, as stated, are not like the originals. The Ratzenbergers, which are sought after, are actually not true "originals". Ratzenberger was a night club guy who was part owner in Jet Tone. The other guy was the true designer and after he broke up with Ratzenberger, Ratzenberger did a half-assed job with subsequent Jet Tones.

Legend Mouthpieces offer "original;" original Jet Tone replicas (unless you, like the good Dr. get one custom made).

p.s. George, do you use yours for combo playing or just for lead?

Kehaulani, I have never used AR mouthieces. I currently use an ACB TA1 for most of my playing but switch to a shallow cup Denis Wick 5X when playing a lot of higfher range band material. The 5X is way too small (16.00 ) for any kind of jazz or ballad solos, but I love how easy the 5X is on my chops and would love to use it for everything so I have a larger 16.50 Denis Wick 4X on order. We will see how that works.
George

@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.

I've never heard anything bad about Maynard. But we Canadians are known to be well mannered...

@trumpetlearner
That certainly explains a lot. But a word of advice: a good teacher would have you learning to play well on that staff rather than above it. I play first trumpet in one of the top community bands in Nova Scotia and I have never had to play anything higher than a B ( 2 spaces ) above the staff.

One of things I get a lot of compliments on is my warm tone.

In other words, I would concentrate on developing a good playing style on the staff. Unless you intend to be a professional lead or jazz player, wearing your chops out on high notes really isn't necessary... especially at this stage of your learning.

Every morning I spend a little under an hour doing technical stuff and every day I play a 2 octave C scale . I often add D or an E to the high C just for kicks. But that's as high as I go and that will cover anything I have to play in the band. For my afternoon practice ( again, every day ) I play about a dozen or so ballads.

Good luck and be careful. Screaming above the staff can injure your chops.

Just my 2 cents, my friend.

George

My problem was in accepting the fact that playing in my eighties is not the same as playing in my teens and twenties. So I was always striving to be better than I was. And knowing that even though I played first trumpet I was not good enough to play lead because the endurance just wasn't there and that made me try harder and harder.

People close to me often said I was being too hard on myself, that no one is perfect. And two years ago two of my bandmates, also first trumpet players, sat me down and told me I was a better player than I thought I was and should accept the fact that there is nothing wrong with being an adequate player in an award winning band.

I still practice fundamentals in the morning and play tunes in the afternoon, but stopped criticizing my playing. I will always want to play better than I played the day before, but I don't sweat it anymore. Adequate is just fine for this 86 year old player.
George

@Dr-GO said in Maynard was no disciplinarian ?:

@Kehaulani said in Maynard was no disciplinarian ?:

You're not well-mannered. It's called passive-aggressive.

Sometimes, musicians may become incontinent of urine, especially when playing high notes, loudly. I call that pissive-agressive.

That's me, Doc...

@dr-go

Yes, Doc, I realize I am fortunate to have a reasonably good memory at my age. In fact, when I started playing again after 50 years I was surprised at how many of the valve fingerings I remembered. Some eluded me but after a few weeks of playing all the major scales I pretty much had them down pat. I still do those scales on a regular basis, along with chromatic scales just to keep the old brain nimble.

@Kehaulani
Geez, and I always thought Paul Anka was a nice Canadian boy. Seems I was wrong...he is nothing but a Canadian jerk.

Anyway, best holiday wishes to everyone at TB from a nice old Canadian man.