Posts made by Rapier232

I suppose I should do a serious one.

I’m Dave. Married for 46 years, two sons. The youngest is now an American! Although in his defence, he said he had his fingers crossed while taking the oath, so it doesn’t really count. And anyway he took an oath to Her Majesty the Queen as an Army Officer and a Queen outranks a President. He moved to Texas at Christmas, have yet to visit there. Covid has stopped our yearly visit. The other son is a Firefighter. I was a cop in London for 30 years, in various roles. Beat cop. Mounted Branch for 4 years. Back to beat and then into Firearms. Was what you call SWAT, as an operator and Instructor for 18years. A policy decision meant you could only specialise for 5 years, so had to move on. I moved to Royalty Protection, where I was a Bodyguard to the Royal Family. Stayed there until my 30 years was served, so retired.

Never had any musical interest, other than being a rock drummer in my teens. In my 30’s I bought a trumpet and Tune a Day book 1. I then taught myself to play and read music. Badly! I gave up several times over the years and eventually went along to a brass band. Turned out my self teaching wasn’t very good. The book said press 1 & 2 and that was an A. Turns out my A was an E, oops. Anyway gradually improved on cornet, eventually moved to tenor horn. After several years I gave up altogether. After retiring and moving to the country my wife insisted I found a hobby of some sort. I joined a local brass band, on tenor horn. Got promoted quite quickly to solo horn. After a few years I decided I didn’t really like brass band music, so left and bought a trumpet. Still have no idea what the scales are called, just look at the key and play accordingly. Played in a concert band and an orchestra, now I get to play in a local theatre in the pit band for musicals and Pantomimes. Still haven’t had a single music lesson. Can’t play without sheet music. Might retire again soon, losing interest with nothing to practice for.

@Tobylou8 said in Is Air Needed To Play The Trumpet:

I've never understood folks that think you can play without air. If one could, there would be no need for breathing exercises. Now I just need to buy an artificial electric drill tongue! Might be inefficient with all the new equipment I have to learn to use.

Well I can play the trumpet and I’ve never needed to do a breathing exercise. ‍️

‘’You are an Englishman, and have subsequently drawn the greatest prize in the lottery of life.’’

Cecil Rhodes

@SSmith1226
I appreciate all of that, but my point still stands. Having been a Cop for 30 years I’ve seen a lot of good ideas go wrong, because they haven’t been thought through properly. I hope his scheme works out, but bad people do bad things to good people every day.

What happens when a kid turns up with a gun, just takes all the trumpets and keeps the gun?

Mike Lovatt, a great British trumpet player, (lots of movies, Avengers End Game, Judy, etc.) tells how he was employed for a day to show an actor the fingering for a song. Mamma Mia wedding scene. Says it didn’t work, the guy had no idea.

Hello. I’m Dave and I’m an alcoholic. Damn , wrong forum.

@Dr-GO

Yes, but do you like it?

@Vulgano-Brother

True dat.

Yes, Happy Independence Day, or as we call it in the UK, Saturday.

In the UK the lockdown is still in place. No one knows if rehearsals and shows will even be back on by Christmas. With no reason to practice I must admit to a lack of motivation. I’m not sure I’m that bothered by it either. I might just sell my stuff and retire. Who knows?

I listen to classical mostly, and occasionally rock and some trumpet, Mike Lovatt, Alison Balsom and Wayne Bergeron's album’s. I also enjoy some big band stuff, but Jazz just bores me.

@djeffers78 said in Its Been an Age Long Requirement But How Many Can Do It?:

Nope. Absolutely cannot!
Can’t even tell you the scale if I look at it. Can’t tell what key a piece is in by looking at the key signature-just have to make a mental note about which notes are affected

Me too.

@Kehaulani

Yes, I bought one a few months ago. No trumpet valve combinations to worry about, just slide positions. Much easier to move my arm.

I have the same problem. I cannot play fast passages. I’ve tried playing then slowly etc. Nothing seems to work, but I think I have an answer. When I’ve played Sister Act in April, I’m going to give up the trumpet and teach myself the trombone. No valves, no more problem.

@Bertie

Maybe it’s just that ‘they’ can’t quantify talent.

@Bertie

Well, for what it’s worth, I was a National Police Firearms Instructor for 20 years. I taught people with absolutely no experience whatsoever from basic level all the way to very advanced close protection and hostage rescue teams. I found some people, including me, were absolute naturals at all shooting disciplines. Others found the skills difficult and some found them impossible and failed to reach the necessary standards required. So I’d disagree, natural talent/ability does exist, and those with it will out perform those without.

@Dr-GO

I’m sorry. I only speak English.

Very nice.

Surely there is also a talent/aptitude element involved?

No matter how much I trained/practiced could I ever beat Usain Bolt in a race? His natural ability would never be challenged by any training regime.

I think it might be the case with instruments. I know young people that can play better than I can even dream of doing. Playing with ease, things I struggle with. And they can’t have practiced more hours than me because they haven’t been alive long enough.

Another problem I see is that Teachers are generally people that are naturally good at their subject, and find it difficult to teach someone who doesn’t have their natural skill. Experience helps certainly, but it’s still tough. At school I was useless at Maths. Still am. No matter how my teachers used to try to explain things to me, using every method they knew, I could never grasp their meaning. The point of that example is that the good young trumpet players I know, tend to have ‘mathematical brains’. I wonder if that lends itself to natural talent/ability aspect of Trumpet playing?