Best posts made by Kehaulani

. . . and playing those first four measures in multiphonics is a bitch.

Tones are relative to their pitch environment not a "well-tempered", fixed source.

I had a friend who played in the Philadelphia Orchestra. I asked him one day how they played so well in tune with each other. "We don't play in tune together", he said. "We play out of tune together'.

Why is this thread still alive?

When I first got to Germany, I was doing some Christmas shopping and a department store had some rum balls sitting out as samples. I took one. It almost knocked the top of my head off. This can be some serious stuff.

p.s. . . . could you pass a few over here?

Yes, there are naturals. We look at some and say, no wonder they're good, just look at their work ethic. But some were born geniuses to begin with, and that natural ability gives them incentive to tirelessly capitalize on it. Hence, genius first, work ethic next.

There are those who are very good who are pointed out as naturals but they're just hard and smart workers. The existence of one doesn't negate the existence of the other..

And, while we're on the subject, there are those who are born without certain skills and aptitude, no matter how hard they try.

I've worked with too many naturals, as well as been around those who, no matter how hard they try, just cannot get it.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart-Francis Foster Jenkins

If you have "to make some pretty big changes in embouchure and breath as I move down into the lower notes or into the higher ones" you don't need advice on the internet or YouTube, you need to get a teacher.

@Dr-GO said in SEASON'S GREETINGS:

I have some cherries soaking in Smoky Mountain Moonshine that could give serious competition!

Maybe we could mix the rum balls and Everclear cherries together and make one hell of a fruit cake!

Just to give an alternate view, I have worked as a full-time musician all my adult life. Schooling was a definite advantage. Sorry it didn't work out for you but it's hardly universal. If the expected outcome is narrow, it's possible that one's cause and effect can be disappointing. If you are versatile and flexible the outcome of your schooling can be different.

It's not a matter of what you can't do, but what you can do. Outlook on life.
Apply yourself, be creative, be flexible and, very important, be ready.

I learned to not let yourself say no but to let them say no.

Just for the record, I have never used my degrees, as is, as a requirement for work. It helped but it was not a requirement. It is what I learned, how I can use that and what contacts I made.

But the largest thing is that I did my Graduate work for me, not for anyone else. And since it was for me, my rewards were internal and I was wiling to live with whatever standards of living and income came as a result of it. That's just how I'm wired.

Generally spoken, there's too much pontification and peer pressure going around on internet forums. For some, it's a diversion from just getting down and doing the hard work.

I played a Schilke H (similar to Bach 7C but with more comfortable rim), through H.S. and part of college. Then switched to a Purviance 4*D4. Played the Purviance in the service. One of the Air Force's only two bands in the Far East, so it couldn't have been too shabby.

I'm not saying play a "small" mouthpiece. I'm saying ignore all the peer pressure and play what fits.

Would you consider posting threads in reverse chronological order? As it is now, the newest thread goes at the end of a list, resulting in one's going to page three, for example, to read the most current thread.

I can see the eventual situation where one has to scroll over several pages of threads before reaching the end instead of going directly to the latest.

"September" is one of my all-time feel-good songs.

For the musical historians (harrumph) out there, the soundtrack to the Blaxploitation film "Sweet Sweetback's Badasssss Song" was E,W&F before they were E,W&F. Very raw.

For playing duets.

Just as an observation, and not addressing in any other parameters but sound, I think your sound on the 10 3/4 is tinnier

Had my own Game of Thrones this morning.

There's no shame in having a sense of priorities that are you-specific (illegalities or other bad conduct, notwithstanding). But I ask the question, and I appreciate your candor, but I don't think a mouthpiece chase is going to do you much benefit. If you want more significant enhancement of your playing, you need to practice more and do it more smartly.

If I'm not mistaking, the Circle of Breath is not rowuk's but is just another way of describing time honored techniques. No disrespect to rowuk, who's posts I always enjoyed and am grateful for lot of good advice, but what is unique about it to give it a distinct name and attribute the techniques to any one man. What did I miss?

A worthy caution, but the resulting sound is good. If the blow, intonation, etc. is Bach-like then this video, to me, is 1) a tribute to some great playing and, 2) appears to be a good deal, law and morality aside. I totally agree that the rip-off factor is seedy but the video sort f works at cross-purpose.

I've posted this before, but I guess it's gotten lost. Regarding the basics of breath support -

One summer, I was taking a lesson from Bob Fleming who had been a first-call L.A. studio musician and first trumpet for Disney for twenty years. I had spent the previous year in college where Haynie (UNT) was doing a lot of talking about the physical aspects of trumpet playing, using fluoroscopes, x-ray machines, etc. I became a victim of "paralysis by analysis".

So, seeking a brilliant and technical insight into breathing technique, I expressed my confusion and asked Fleming what his approach was.
"Cough", he said. I coughed.
"See?" he said. LOL