Hang in there big guy! Better times are coming!
Best posts made by ROWUK
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RE: Still unable to log in under the original barliman2001 tag, and in hospital...
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RE: a new way to learn scales (and a bunch of other stuff in the process)
@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.
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RE: BAC Plaza
https://www.bacmusicshop.com/collection/?sort=featured
In the shop there are some horns with prices.
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RE: Differences between grades of instruments
@oldschooleuph
And as fine of a horn as the Bach 180 Stradivarius is/was (when yours found you), the "build quality" in the 60s/70s/80s was worse than a student Ambassador or certainly a Schilke. Lacquer and silver plate usually developed blemishes within 3 years. For heavy players, the valves were worth refurbishing every 5 or 6 years to get compression back. Precision valve alignments had very noticable effects (sometimes even negative). Perhaps the valve wear could have been minimized with synthetic lubricants - or cleaning more often and repeated application of "Al Cass" per day. Standard for me was oiling when the horn complained or after the weekly bath.Although there were hundreds to thousands of possibilities, Most everyone that I knew went to a store to pick one out of stock. I know of one single trumpeter that actually ordered a customized horn directly from Bach. In my opinion even today, Bach=play before you pay.
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Why are so many threads just getting locked down?
I really do not spend much time here (there are various reasons), but when I do, I sometimes find very annoying things.
Today: Multiple threads were locked down "for obvious reasons" - but no obvious reasons were anywhere to be found. Could it be that the threads are cleansed and then locked down? If they are censured, what does the lock accomplish? If there is no indication as to why, how does the casual user even make sense of what goes and what does not. What is the motivation on locking threads down? Is there a policy governing this?
As I had an administrative function at TrumpetMaster, there was regularly an "urge" to lock down a thread not going anywhere. We (I) only did when the posting got really ugly. The ugly words were replaced with a clear note as to why. Sometimes the member got a vacation. Keeping threads open kept them alive. A bump after a year or two brought forgotten subjects back to life - even if the original poster was long gone.
I would appreciate a real reason when threads are locked down. I never appreciate completely deleting anyones posts - or intentions. Unsuitable language is easy enough to smooth out and publicly document.
I am not expecting or demanding an answer. I would consider a detailed why in the respective threads to be "courteous".
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RE: Bots are getting scary
@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!
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RE: Playing risks in Covid-time
@djeffers78 you will have to be a bit more specific about what you do not understand. There is no debate about Covid being transmitted by contact of droplets and aerosols. There are enough professional studies performed where actual orchestral players and their instruments were tested. A lot of these things have made a careful opening of concert venues possible in Germany.
If for no other reason than the constant reminder that a virus NEVER sleeps makes this bell cover interesting. The study presented in the link is compelling and similar to one conducted with the Bamberg Symphonic a couple of weeks ago.
We should not forget that it is not Covid that causes lockdowns. It is the Covidiots that think that they are immune and just end up getting thousands infected. America is doing an especially poor job of containing because of the "perversion of individual rights". Fact is, if everyone simply practices good hygiene, distancing and wears a mask whenever possible, we could be well on our way to recovery - which has struck the music industry in a devastating way. Everyone has access to facts. The first wave, how various countries handled it - and which countries simply are failing and why.
Selfish attitude is not "propaganda". Infections just do not happen - they are caused. Non-cooperative people are a danger to society in general!
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RE: Differences between grades of instruments
@oldschooleuph Even at the end of Mt. Vernon, the horns simply did not have the build quality of the "competition". That does not necessarily have anything to do with playing "well". Even a "bad" Bach had that magic core and adjusting to the playing characteristics was just something that we did back then.
The perception of the Mt. Vernons today is considerably different although the lacquer and valve issues are the two things normally necessary when refurbishing. Either the Bach lacquer was not so good or the horns were not prepped properly.
There is a swiss artisan Rene Spada that disassembles Bachs and rebuilds them with swiss precision. In my view, they are what Bach should have been all along. The Spada Bachs are simply that much better using only Bach parts. Even if I had a Mt. Vernon, I would have it disassembled, cleaned and put back together with Spadas precision and attitude. There are other artisans. I use one Rainer Jordan who has his shop close to Frankfurt.
I have had 3 Bach trumpets. A 180 B172* (new picked at Giardinellis in New York but rebuilt by Spada), a 180 B25 and a C229H (also bought from Giardinellis). I still have the 229 although in the mean time, it has been completely disassembled and rebuilt without tension as well as getting a tuning bell and a new leadpipe.
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RE: Why are so many threads just getting locked down?
@barliman2001 I guess, I just disagree in principle with locking down non-abusive threads - regardless of age. I see no logic or necessity (your argumentation of cluttering simply does not apply in my view), but I guess I have never really felt "at home" here - at least not enough to start actively posting. I find this behavior of locking down unique to you and not standard at any other forums that I am a member of.
This issue is not enough to make me stop visiting, but it certainly was enough reason to address the issue. As I said, it is just one of the things here that I find unnecessarily "annoying".
Kehaulani, perhaps it does not matter but I felt a need to address what I feel is an admin looking for work instead of a valuable forum feature. I do understand that this was never policy. I know that Elmar is not doing this with malicious intent, but I have the impression that this is not something that anyone ever asked for.
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RE: Bots are getting scary
@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.htmlSo 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! -
RE: Trumpet player Face Injury help needed
Our central nervous system is a very fickle thing. It can remember things that we did decades before and can "store" "rewards" for things that we have done. There are many schools of thought on how to deal with these hard wired reactions. Some recommend seeing a shrink, others start yoga class or Alexander Technique lessons. Others (like myself) find a Feldenkrais or a Cranio Sacral therapist. This method actually deals with helping us get a new inner organisation. The therapy is very gentle and everyone that I know that has taken it seriously has reaped large benefits.
In your case, you did the right thing first: checked for physical damage. Now I would recommend going to https://www.davemonette.com (no, I am not trying to sell a mouthpiece or trumpet - and he will not either). Click around the site and see if anything rings. If yes, then click on "Contact" and write a short description of your situation. Then either call or wait for an answer. You can also google Moshe Feldenkrais if you want to know more about some of the background
I am convinced that this is a very good way to get over this. There are no painful massages or physical rehab punishment. Normally, we notice "improvement" right away but many times, we need more time to get out heads around what is going on. Dave is very in tune with brass players. He is very to the point about the way things work in his world. You can write if you have more questions, I will be on the road this week on a business trip so I will not be monitoring 24/7.
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RE: Alan Rubin's Trumpet
It looks like a standard Bach to me. It has the finger ring, stop rod and double tuning slide brace.
I don't really think about what trumpet any artist plays, I only think about what they accomplished and with Alan, the list is long!
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RE: Olds Ambassador Eb Trumpet
@ssmith1226 The solution for intonation is a combination of things: matching the mouthpiece backbore, leadpipe, mass at specific places and bracing.
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RE: Bots are getting scary
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!
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RE: playing with a full lower de nture
@georgeb I am playing professionally on full upper and lower dentures. It IS possible, but it is different and will require making new habits concerning tongue position, articulation and fine motor embouchure activity.
I got my final implants/dentures last July (2022) and by September(2022) was back to performing. I invested at least 2 hours per day to retrain and still do today. -
RE: Phony players
@barliman2001 It is great to know that you were not homely enough - but someone else was qualified!
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RE: My low notes sound like a gibbering Dalek
@_mark_ Then all that is left is to be patient and remember that thousands of low impact repetitions build good habits. Getting in a hurry is pure poison. I have a glass of water near my practice chair. If things get congested (tonguing, breathing, chops, brain), it is amazing how much a sip of water helps.
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RE: How to "Clock" your mouthpiece
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. -
RE: Traits that make a great sight reader?
There are various traits that make for good site reading.
- large collection of memorized patterns
- ability to negotiate the diagonal (end of one line to the beginning of the next)
- ability to “hear” intervals (different than #1)
- well taken care of chops
- an organised approach before playing a note - key signatures and accidentals, natural feel for phrasing/breathing
- a lot of experience site reading
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RE: Story About S. E. Shires Corperation
Based on an instrument that they built for Joe Alessi. Hmmm. Aren't all trombones (even the el cheapo ones) based on some great
instrument? When I read marketing trash like this, I wonder why they do not build that exact model. With todays material science and still available "old world" manufacturing skills, it is certainly possible!