Posts made by ROWUK

I did not see any new format. In any case, what aggrevates me most is "wasted space" that makes me have to scroll to see even only a couple of lines. Facebook is my biggest loser 2020 in this respect.

Very nice!

Many times tinnitus is caused by a shift of our lower jaw due to pulling teeth. Proper implants or prosthetics can, in this case restore the jaw geometry and at least lessen the impact.

Opening the throat does not make the mouthpiece less stuffy. It makes the "targets" or slotting looser - a big advantage for Bach C trumpets with the high third space C, flat 4th space E and sometimes sharp top of staff G.

I have found that "stuffy" generally means that I can't hear myself well. Even with my current setup that is wonderful in churches and concert halls, when I play outdoors with little reflective surfaces, it feels stuffy. Experiments with the 1 1/2C back in the day, had me push the tuning slide in further (making me slightly sharp) and then relaxing more when playing. After a short while, the more relaxed chops resulted in much more open sound and far less embouchure tension - great for more endurance and a better upper register. In addition, articulation got easier where my face muscles were doing less.

I would suggest experimenting with pushing the tuning slide in so that you are maybe 10 cents sharp, and then "lipping" everything slightly down. For me it was like pulling the cork out after a week or two. 10 cents is not much work to compensate and I found it much easier to hear myself with the "new" tone.

In my world, the 3c is NOT a symphonic mouthpiece, rather something well suited for commercial playing. It has for me a slightly uncomfortable inner rim sharpness. Good flexibility, tone with a fair amount of sizzle.
I played the 1 1/2C for 15 years. Comfortable rim, great articulation, creamy tone equally good with the Bb and C trumpet although mine with the C had the throat drilled out. I ended up switching to a Schilke 18 (15 years)and since 1996 to a Monette 2 series mouthpiece (B2D/C2D). These days, playing the 1.5C makes my tone a lot rougher and upper register flat.

In Germany we have E music and U music. E stands for „Ernst“ or serious and U stands for „Unterhaltung“ or entertainment.
I love a language that supports the fun side of music.

No guilt, all pleasure! Maybe I felt a little guilty when buying a recording of John Cages 4‘33“...

@_Mark_
I would say that the tuner is probably causing more damage to your playing than helping. Turn the tuner off and just relax into the biggest and best "sound" for each note. You will have plenty of time later to work on intonation but if you compromise your sound, it will be almost impossible to fix that later. We do NOT WANT TO FORCE OUR BODY TO DO THINGS THAT WE ARE NOT YET READY FOR! Beginners bending the notes to get them in tune just supports crappy breathing and twisting our face into shape.

Mark, as you may have noticed, any particular fingering can produce multiple notes. That is why 3 valves on the trumpet (with 9 possible combinations) can produce 30 to 40 different notes.
Just taking the open trumpet (no valves pressed) we can play a pedal C (one wavelength in the horn), low C (2 wavelengths), G (3 wavelengths), 3rd space c(4 wavelengths), 4th space e (5 wavelengths), top of staff g (6 wavelengths), high Bb (7 wavelengths) and high c (8 wavelengths).

What is happening to you is that you are playing a „G“ (3 wavelengths) and because your embouchure is staying tense, the note does not go down, rather jumps to the Bb which is the next note possible with the first valve.

Open horn: Pedal C, C, G, c, e, g, Bb, high c
2nd valve: Pedal B, B, F#, b, d#, f#, a, high b
1st valve: Pedal Bb, Bb, F, Bb, d, f, Ab, high Bb
1+2 valve: Pedal A, A, E, a, c#, e, g, high a
2+3 valve: Pedal Ab, Ab, Eb, Ab, c, Eb, high Ab
1+3 valve: Pedal G, G, D, g, b, d, top of staff g
1+2+3 valve: Pedal F#, F#, C#, F#, a#, c#, e, top of staff f#.

Any of the good trumpet method books have tables where they show this list. It is one of the basics of learning a brass instrument. As our lips are the motor „generating“ the sound, we must invest on controlling tension of the embouchure to produce the desired tones at will. A six pack in our face is the worst approach. We must think more like surgeons - fine motor activity. Many repetitions are required (thousands) until we perfect a certain aspect.

Relax your embouchure and you will get the F instead of the Bb.

Moisture! The speed of sound in moist air is different than in dry and in the microcosmos of the trumpet, that is a big deal. Intonation and targets change.
Granted, if one has minimal chops, other issues may mask the effect.
A „moist“ instrument is different than just running water through it first (although that does help some).

This is such a fundamental thing for me that I will not risk playing a gig on a dry trumpet (even although it is only dry for the first 10 minutes or so). When testing trumpets, the first 10 minutes do not count.

@Dr-GO No, I have never needed circular breathing to get me through any particular phrase.
Most of my gigs are not sight reading, so I do have time to „feed my dependence“ on organisation and preparation.

When I do sightread (happens with commercial shows that I play), I still use the pencil when looking at the parts before the rehearsal. Potential missed accidentals get marked as well as „special breathing“ or time change situations. During the usual rehearsal, I fill in the rest of the dots.

This is what I do and teach. It is not a recipe for everyone or other situations. It helps to keep those that book me loyal.

My first action when reviewing a new piece is to determine phrasing and breathing. I enter breath marks, dynamics, slurs and other info (pencil). I ALWAYS prepare this way and practice with everything that I have decided. Only this way does it become habit for me and it relieves my mind during performance of some unnecessary decision making.
There are occasions when I enter notes to take a "small breath". I need this when I have little time further down to exhale before I fill up. The Bach Christmas Oratorio bass aria #8 "Grosser Herr" is an example of this situation. One could also try to muscle through, I just have had better luck through optimization.

@barliman2002 said in Still unable to log in under the original barliman2001 tag, and in hospital...:

Surgery was partly successful, but the eye still needs lots of time to recover. I am not allowed to play trumpet or drive myself or have sex...

Well, there are cornets, public and pubic transportation...

Hang in there big guy! Better times are coming!

@Dr-GO We must be careful with ANY machines or athletic programs for muscle development. Playing the trumpet IS physical, but is fine motor activity. Building a 6 pack is mostly contraproductive as we learn to use ever more force in conjunction with our body. We need thousands of „lowest“ impact reps to develop the patterns for playing to keep tension down and still get enough development. The prepared body is something earned in this special way. I avoid all advanced development with the Circle of Breath. It is potentially detrimental as most of us do not understand the connections between body and mind that are also developed in very small steps.

This low impact „requirement“ is actually something for life in general. Really good yoga, Feldenkrais, Alexander Technique teachers only work this way. Our bad body habits are also built a little more slouch every day. Fixing them is not by force, rather gently.

That all being said, there are many fine players that work out intensively. We have to know that they did not build their playing habits this way. Once we are at a high level of playing, our bodies are very resilient. This fact has resulted in many „brute force“ embouchure and playing methods over time. They have not withstood the test of time!

Thank you for digging this out. I had as much fun putting it originally together as many had after using it for a while.

@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.

That now worked for me too!

I can log in with my MacMini, but no longer with my iPad. I have changed the password, reinstalled Safari, rebooted - it simply does not work. I have found no google info on similar issues.

I get the log in screen, enter user ROWUK and password, it just sits there.

I suspect some hidden credential that does not allow multiple devices. Probably a setting for the admin somewhere.

Just say no!

I successfully use LaTromba T2 (new bottle), Ultra Pure, Hetmans (various thicknesses) and Monster (various thicknesses). LaTromba T2 is the cheapest (in Europe). I buy it by the case.

They are all "equal" on my horns if applied properly. They are much faster than my fingers, last for at least a week of heavy playing. I have no sticking or other artifacts.

Horns that I use these oils on:
Bach 229CL
Selmer Radial 2°
Monette Raja C
Getzen Eterna 4 valve flugel
Cheap chinese pocket trumpet
All of my rotary trumpets

I also use these oils to keep my natural trumpet slides and bows from oxidizing together.

Clean horn first, wait until it is bone dry, apply oil sparingly. Never mix oils and greaes on the same horn.
It is not rocket science and I have no preference - maybe I am simply not good enough to notice? Maybe I simply do not have a "need" to have a preference?