Best posts made by Richard III

Sometimes you have to make your own.

The Conn 80A's are great.

@adc said in Favorite Cornet:

Nice. I can't stand to play a new (old) horn until I thoroughly clean and sanitize it.

I can't stand to wait. I play it right out of the box the minute I get it. Then I take it in for cleaning and repairs. I also want to know the before and after of that process.

After:

Well, since this thread popped up, I'll relate a recent occurance.

Last Saturday was the first band practice in over a year. Trad jazz. New band. Never met these people before in person.

For a year I've practiced playing from lead sheets and doing improv. Occasionally use backing tracks. But mostly just improvising on the songs. I start in a different key and practice that too.

I wondered how it would all sound when playing with others. The answer? Wow, pretty darn well. The pandemic has given me the time to work on improv in the safety of my own home.

Now I say, "Give me the solo, man!"

Any theory involved in what I did? No. But also I've spent a year listening to a lot of music in this style. So that gets internalized and comes out.

Would it happen if I listened to another style. Yes. Works that way too. Listen, internalize, play and away we go.

I think it also relates to math ability. Rhythms seem to be a problem for people. It's not the notes, it's the rhythm. People get lost. Also having the beat in the back of your head that allows you to know where in the measure you are is huge. I've been in so many groups where a difficult passage means the player slows down and is immediately lost.

And then there is the reading text issue related thing. When you read text, do you look at all the letters? Of course not. You read the sentence. Same thing in music. You read the phrases. You see the whole line. No?

Or are you thinking of how to produce the sound and playing and can't spare attention to the music?

I think there's something like that going on?

I was in a bar band in high school. This was one of the songs that we really played well. Very popular.

Oh yea, bar band, teenagers playing in bars, it was the early 70's. I'm guessing it wouldn't happen these days. Our lead singer always got lots of female attention. Bar ladies loved that guy. Only a skosh older than him. Heh.

I'll just stick with my Toreador. Have fun with the Conn.

In my world, that means whenever you are doing anything like driving, chores, working out or any activity where listening is possible, immerse yourself in the target music. The next time you pick up the horn, that music will come out. Happens to me all the time.

@georgeb said in Traits that make a great sight reader?:

@dr-go said in Traits that make a great sight reader?:

I believe the hardest part of sight reading is being able to count. What really trips me up the most is reading where NOT to play (the rests) more so than were TO play (the notes). It all comes down to the rhythm, the feel of the song. That is what I find most challenging regarding sight reading.

I would have to agree with Doc on this part of sight reading, especially the rhythm. I don't realize how wrong I sometime get this in new pieces until I am playing with others. Then it all falls into place.

I've always found sight reading easy. But with difficult rhythms, I still use a pencil to mark downbeats in a measure. I've had band mates try this and they were amazed at how much it helped. I'm surprised at how little people mark their music to help themselves.

And then there is the issue that tighter slotting horns are usually also horns with more braces and/or weight added yielding fewer high overtones. Yes, the core remains, but the spectrum of the sound is lessened. Does that bother you? It does me.

Also, not everyone is as perceptive about tuning, so a tighter slotting horn can be a very good thing for those with less ability to tune themselves on the fly. Teaching those folks to use the appropriate slides and alternative fingerings can be invaluable.

For those of us who are primarily jazz players, and players of vintage horns, most of this is not as important. Tone being the number one desire and tuning next. Having a horn a little looser in slots allows for easy tuning on the fly and the freedom of expression. Plus vintage horns with their slightly different architecture results in none of the notes being completely right or completely wrong in tuning, with the understanding that the player will make the appropriate adjustments when needed. I'm so used to this that I never really think about using any slides if rings/hooks are even there.

@Kehaulani-0 said in Jazz, Blues practice:

Learn the six-note Blues Scale and start playing simple blues with these notes. You'll discover that a basic Blues has only three chords and the Blues scale fits over it very easily.

I started with blues in C, F, G, Bb, Eb and Ab. Amazing that it covered most of what I ever came across in real music. My band has a common warm up exercise. Our piano player picks a key and starts playing. It's up to the players to figure out the key, figure out the progression and play appropriately. I think audiences think we are actually starting our gig at that point. It makes me wonder if we could just do that for two hours and have a pretty nice performance.

If you can find one, the Cleveland C vintage cornet mouthpiece is very nice. The shank contour seems to be unique for that era. I have two of the mouthpieces and the only difference is the rim. I also have a H. N. White C mouthpiece and it is slightly different with a smaller bore size.

FYI, I also have Cleveland mouthpieces for trumpet and euphonium/baritone that work very well too.

I also have a King 7M cornet mouthpiece that is simply fantastic. I have it loaned out to a friend. These are much harder to find that the Clevelands.

Good read and a very good site for musicians:

[link text](https://www.musicianswell.com/stories/2019/4/16/michael-atkinson-overuse-and-the-pitfalls-of-going-it-alone[link text](link url))

Sometimes the planets line up just right between you and the cornet. Mine is a H.N. White Clevelander with the original mouthpiece. I have two of them just to make sure if anything ever happens, I can play the spare while I'm getting the primary fixed.

@j-jericho said in Mouthpiece issue:

I always find it odd and annoying when a new member posts a question (in this case, two), gets good responses, and then........... nothing! No acknowledgement, no more posts.......... nothing!

Frequently I ask a question of them before adding anything else. That is to find out if they are still there and paying attention. I also ask myself if the comments I make are to help them, or just to impress everyone with my vast knowledge. If it is the latter, I usually skip posting.

Of course that means the world is denied a huge opportunity to expand their knowledge base and be guided to enlightenment. Ooops. Maybe this was one not to post.

So you are going to sub with an instrument that sounds okay and you have many mouthpieces that you can choose from. And you are not going to spend more money on anything else. And the time is short. What do you want to hear other than pick the best sounding combination and practice?

Ton of free stuff here. Really good information. I would work thought all the material.

[link text](http://www.bbtrumpet.com/home-page/[link text](link url))

I spend most of my time playing french horn. Or as we like to call it, horn. Does that qualify as a bigger horn?

As for why there isn't another thread, possibly because players of other horns don't spend all their time talking about it online?

And then there is another approach. Switch to baritone/euphonium. When I play mine, all of the trumpet problems go away. Range is easy. Endurance is not a problem. The larger mouthpiece makes life no longer a chore. Here's the current goal for this project.

I know most people think switching instruments is heresy. But making beautiful music is making beautiful music.

Second favorite cornet in my collection. King Silvertone Long Cornet from the late 30's. And on advice from its former owner, I added a Holton Heim Model 2 mouthpiece and the planets aligned. Great for traditional jazz.