Best posts made by ROWUK

Still useful to learn about what trumpet sound Brahms, Wagner, (Richard) Strauss, Bruckner and Mahler had in their heads when composing their monumental works.

Carol Dawn Reinhardt
Susan Slaughter
Ingrid Jensen
Gunhild Carling

Forget all the blonde beauties. Not my cup of tea.

@Brian-Moon
is a joke thread really the place for another Evolutionist vs Creationist discourse? I think the topic deserves its own thread - with the chance that it will get shut down when (not if) it gets louder. It is almost religion - regardless of what side of the issue one is on. We did have this issue at TrumpetMaster too...

As far as the NY Times "consistently" lying, that is certainly open to interpretation if reporting someone elses findings is lying or reporting. Or if it is the reader that injects other arguments...

I have no knowledge of jellyfish, so I asked Dr. Google what science there is. There is a wealth of research and plenty of non ambiguous "proof". It was an interesting 30 minutes!

The reference to Utah specifies the Cambrian era (in fact 500 million years ago):
Van Iten, Heyo; Marques, Antonio C.; Leme, Juliana de Moraes; Pacheco, Mirian L. A. Forancelli; Simões, Marcello Guimaraes (2014). Smith, Andrew (ed.). "Origin and early diversification of the phylum Cnidaria Verrill: major developments in the analysis of the taxon's Proterozoic-Cambrian history". Palaeontology. 57 (4): 677–690. doi:10.1111/pala.12116.

A more precise date using modern radiometric dating yield a date of 541 ± 0.3 million years ago.
Gradstein, F.M.; Ogg, J.G.; Smith, A.G.; et al. (2004). A Geologic Time Scale 2004. Cambridge University Press.

None of the science that I mentioned delves into any divine creation or "evolution" of the jellyfish from lower forms. It does show a unique trait that makes a specific type more or less immortal. Here is a non-scientific site that is certainly entertaining: https://immortal-jellyfish.com

Let's make this thread funny again...

The notion that tightly slotting horns are easier to play in tune is a myth in my world. We do not play "well tempered" we play relative to the other notes. This is called "just tuning". We need the horn to respond evenly because we need to bend the pitch to stay in tune in relation to others.

The notion of how a horn "slots" has more to do with how well we hear ourselves. In an overly reverberant bathroom or staircase, an instrument will appear to slot better than that same instrument when played outdoors on a cold day. If we insert earplugs (in our ears), the horn will slot noticably worse than if we just got our ears cleaned.

Sure, we want instruments that can securely be played in tune. I believe that the physics of resonance place limits on what works. I also would not agree that heavy instruments necessarily have less overtones. My heaviest trumpet is the one that is most easy to play and projects the best. It is the most brilliant too.

In many cases, we can improve instruments that are difficult to play. This can be accomplished by moving braces, cleaning the grunge out, aligning the valves and to a certain extent improving the mouthpiece shank/receiver connection. Sometimes a smaller mouthpiece can make our sound get to our ears more easily. I have had several students wanting to get a "darker sound" that ended up just being mushy. Recording their sound with various instruments can prove to them that they were following a "less worthy" goal.

Heavier valve caps on instruments not designed for them can make resonance more stable but as a rule have a cost in sound and intonation.

There is also a notion that some instruments project in a way making them easier to hear. This can help match the expectations in our heads to what the trumpet actually sounds like. When we match instruments to our sound concept, they are easier to play.

@Jolter said in Tone Centering for Trumpet (Centering & Tuning) Part III:

Thanks for posting this thread! I found the link very informative and it helped me with how to think about (and visualize) slotting. The discussion has been slightly less educational but only slightly so.

One thing that bugs me about the article is that if you come at it from a scientific (or in my case, engineering) perspective, that figure is extremely confusing at first. Only after a while did I understand what it was supposed to illustrate: how the Y axis means pitch, yet the orange surface area indicates the amount of overtones. To an engineer, those two values do not belong in the same diagram...

@Trumpetsplus said in Tone Centering for Trumpet (Centering & Tuning) Part III:

Not a fan of recreational (part-time) trumpet players indulging in deliberately avoiding the resonance of their instrument. I have a colleague who bends notes so often in his public warmup that he is unable to start any note in tune. Blog on this coming up in the next week or so.

I think I saw an interview (old stuff, 80's) with Håkan Hardenberger where he describes doing severe pitch bends (downward) as part of his practice routine. I don't recall if it was part of the warmup or not, but I think it was supposed to help with embouchure development somehow. I've only seen one or two people doing it, in person, but there seems to be some sort of "method" to it.

Yes, there is some method to it - for people that practice as much as Håkan does. The problem is that we are supposed to train fine motor capability at any level. Moving on to advanced concepts without the foundation builds a contraproductive six pack with our face muscles!

320kbps MP3. Respectable sound for a free download! I wonder if the original recording has better sound?

Thanks Dale for the link!

@JWM The only way to know if it is you is to have someone way better than you play the horn.
I would say the chances are 99.999% that it is you. There are essentially NEVER any notes missing unless there is a leak and then it is not "a" high notes that get s lost, rather usually in the lower octave.

@Kehaulani said in a new way to learn scales (and a bunch of other stuff in the process):

"A new way?" Where's rowuk.

Rowuk has been in the wings (probably something wished for by many at TrumpetMaster back in the day), just watching where this stuff goes. As we can clearly see, history repeats itself.

Scales, modes and triads are a great way to build patterns - although not new, most of us will admit that we do not practice them enough. Certainly worthy of a post in pedagogy.

@sessionaire Just contact Dave Monette. Just talk to him. Maybe you do not even need a doctor. Maybe he even knows someone in your area that could take a completely different view of the issue. https://www.davemonette.com

Jennifer Montone - solo horn with the Philadelphia Orchestra was in a car accident and damage to the hips immobilized her embouchure - no, not spine damage. Your root problem may have nothing to do with these serious symptoms. You may also want to watch this carefully:

@Trumpetb This is my last comment to you:
The subject in this thread is very specific. Your (too) many words seem more like damage control than a better analysis.
I have said everything applicable and will not engage with you in completely unrelated issues.
You can try to bend my words, my meaning whatever, this is not my problem. It is obvious that you know better. What motivation you have to continue is of no interest to me. In my world, people that choose to ignore are "ignorant", meaning conciously choosing to ignore supporting facts. In earlier years, I in fact had a crusade against mouthpiece safaris that have ruined more players than ever helped. Just observing the used mouthpiece market it becomes apparent where the empty promises of range, endurance and sound are. I "saved" several students from this obsession.

It is VERY EASY to tell if an issue is the player or the equipment. The OPs description is perfectly adequate for my analysis and qualified suggestion. There are telltale signs indicating if there is something about a mouthpiece that is not optimal. None in this thread for the OP and none for you based on what you report about your own playing.

The most damaging advice for the question presented in this thread in my opinion is, "just try it". We have an acclimation period and as I said, that can be months. When playing around with our habits, certain controls MUST be met to have a qualified result.

Do not expect any further comments to your posting. It already has gone far beyond anything that I would normally even bother with.

@trumpetb Artificial has "nothing" to do with the human state. What we learn is real. Please do not refer to AI as a "human" experience or trait.
The problem with AI is that there is no judgement. We have seen for instance, what happens to automated trading on the stock exchange floors. We also see that our credit ratings are based on the streets that we live on (not always our own credit worthiness).
What we also see is the strong tendency to believe a machine before a person. Manufacturing has been revolutionised by putting people out of work. There is more coming. Unfortunately, societies largest problem all over the world is having enough work for the populace.

Thomas Sowell has a very applicable quote:
"It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong."

It should be very clear to you that machines will never have to pay any price.

Those pushing AI forward do not have any goals of making life better for everyone - the goal is to make life better for those that can afford to play the game. We may not be able to stop it, but we certainly must vote for politicians that have OUR well being at heart instead to the populist scum from both sides of the aisle. How easily manipulated we and those ruling can be was very recently demonstrated for the whole world to see. An entire congress held hostage for several days by 19 populists. No common denominator. No effort for compromise. 19 terrorists held 400 congressmen hostage until their agenda got pushed through. With AI, it can be the same issue as AI can calculate how little is necessary to take future elections hostage. Our laws and control instances are not even close to ready.

Just imagine the AI run across twitter tweets affecting our ability to get a Tesla and what our individual configuration would be limited to. Add Alexa, Siri to the mix. Maybe we will not even be employable based on what was heard online. There is plenty to be concerned about!

Happy Easter 2024 to all of you! Here is hoping to get to know more of you personally!

@barliman2001 It is great to know that you were not homely enough - but someone else was qualified!

@ssmith1226 said in Bots are getting scary:

An interesting article today on AI and ChatGPt- “Europe Sounds The Alarm On ChatGPT”
An excerpt:
“…. that ChatGPT, just one of thousands of AI platforms currently in use, can assist criminals with phishing, malware creation and even terrorist acts.
If a potential criminal knows nothing about a particular crime area, ChatGPT can speed up the research process significantly by offering key information that can then be further explored in subsequent steps,” the Europol report stated. “As such, ChatGPT can be used to learn about a vast number of potential crime areas with no prior knowledge, ranging from how to break into a home to terrorism, cybercrime and child sexual abuse.”

The full article link is here:
https://news.yahoo.com/europe-sounds-the-alarm-on-chatgpt-090013543.html

So guys, post pictures of or messages from vacation AFTER you get back home - not during the act.
Nothing worse than returning home to an empty studio!

I would heartily disagree that "warts" are bad. Why can we not accept that we are human, fallible but capable of development? A recording of a live concert by a school band, symphony orchestra or church choir is a time document - showing various realities and triggering honest memories. That is far more "valuable" than pimped material where we would like to portray ourselves as superheros.
As far as the bar for putting stuff on YouTube, we are simply feeding the beast. Like with social Media in general, "weak content" prevails, not because of lack of talent, rather because of lack of humility. I have no trouble rubbing that in peoples noses years later. A CD passed around to friends and family would have been enough but wanting to be a movie star clouded our common sense.
It becomes even more problematic when we try to help the misguided by critiquing the posts. Then the excuses start and those in a position to help are attacked for misunderstanding the purpose behind publishing.
Nope, I say our recordings are what they are and bad decisions are no different. If our first posted recordings are weak but we show incredible growth, we are good model roles. If our performances stay weak but we continue to post, we learn something about that person. Also not a bad thing. Black and white lists are available for most forms of social media.
The choice has ALWAYS been ours but the results involve others whether we like it or not.

There are various traits that make for good site reading.

1. large collection of memorized patterns
2. ability to negotiate the diagonal (end of one line to the beginning of the next)
3. ability to “hear” intervals (different than #1)
4. well taken care of chops
5. an organised approach before playing a note - key signatures and accidentals, natural feel for phrasing/breathing
6. a lot of experience site reading

This post is not intended to be political in any way, but if we recognize that internet AI bots use all available material found on the internet, how qualified could any response be to a question concerning President Biden, Donald Trump or both in the same Query? What about a response to asking a question if we should buy a Monette, GR, Warburton or Schilke mouthpiece? With all of the good and bad, quite a bit of intelligence is required to understand what it true or probably true and sometimes the best answer is I don't know. Bots are not programmed for "I don't know"!

In many queries I get very "delusional" answers from ChatGPT. Where it really shines is helping to formulate text. I think that we have a HUGE challenge before us!

There are wind town bands all over Germany, most with no chance to earn money. There is also a fair amount of freelance work, but a lot of that is being covered by professional musicians with music jobs. Getting a break means having the right teacher and playing well enough for them to want to take you instead of another pro that could also offer them gigs in return.

With any vintage instrument it is a question of the true condition, how hard it was played previously and if it gets past these mechanical checks, if we can get the sound that we need.

Granted, there are people that get the warm fuzzies every time the word vintage falls. There it does NOT matter what a reality check is worth.

I would say that about half of the vintage instruments that I have ever played were not worth my time or effort. Pitch, intonation, valves and tone were simply not up to snuff. I have a lot of old instruments but they are ALL PLAYERS.

I do not consider the coprion bells to be special in any way except to the marketing departments. There are simply too many truly sensational instruments based on "standard techniques".

I think that there are multiple benefits.
Inserting a mouthpiece in a specific way increases the chances that similar insertion pressure will be used. I experimented with this quite a bit. The trumpet plays much differently if inserted lightly or firmly (and everywhere in between).
Our perception of things change when we develop a ritual. We “feel good” about having developed that process. It becomes part of our reality - and safety net. I do not consider this to be a myth. We know how much of our playing is inspiration and how much is perspiration. We all enjoy reaching a point where the musical portion becomes greater than the mechanical.
Modern mouthpieces do not have centricity issues, the mass is also uniform, the finish consistent. Even with many years of use, this does not necessarily change. That being said, minor damage to the shank or dirt in the receiver can cause large changes in playability! I have often wondered why more players do not have better protection with a “better designed” mouthpiece case and tools to keep the shank and receiver clean, round and true.