@Robrtx said in Happy Birthday Bix !!!!:

116 years young........

At the risk of going way off topic, we adopted a rescue dog (white German Shepherd) back in October. The shelter names didn't fit, and I wanted a short and distinct name so he'd know when I'm talking to him. Plus, he's "really cool" so we named him Bix. And we needed a birth date to license him, so we picked March 10th.

Not only does he not mind my playing, he seems to love it (must have a tin ear and no real taste in music). He lies next to me when I'm playing, and even pesters me if I haven't started practicing at the normal time.

@Newell-Post said in RIP Trumpet "Master":

...flugelgirl too. Need more ladies. Too much testosterone on trumpet sites sometimes....

Flugelgirl has joined us. Welcome!! Please join the Qualified Repair Techs group as well.

This message is from a Marine Corps Colonel in Afghanistan. I think he'd be ok with Whitney and Gaga's renditions. Fingers crossed for the Super Bowl.

"So with all the kindness I can muster, I give this one piece of advice to the next pop star who is asked to sing the national anthem at a sporting event: save the vocal gymnastics and the physical gyrations for your concerts.

Just sing this song the way you were taught to sing it in kindergarten - straight up, no styling "Sing it with the constant awareness that there are soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines watching you from bases and outposts all over the world. Don't make them cringe with your self-centered ego gratification.

Sing it as if you are standing before a row of 96-year-old WWII vets wearing their Purple Hearts, Silver Stars and flag pins on their cardigans and you want them to be proud of you for honoring them and the country they love - not because you want them to think you are a superstar musician. They could see that from your costume, makeup and your entourage.

Sing 'The Star Spangled Banner' with the courtesy and humility that tells the audience that it is about America, not you.

And please not everything needs to be spunked up! We’re getting a little weary of that.

Francis Scott Key does not need any help."

@Kehaulani said in What Is Your Favorite Version of the National Anthem?:

As an aside, many of the interpretations I hear at major sporting events make me want to puke.

Like this version?

@tjcombo

From Wikipedia: In 1955 Gleason gambled on making it (The Honeymooners) a separate series entirely. These are the "Classic 39" episodes, which finished 19th in the ratings for their only season. They were filmed with a new DuMont process, Electronicam; like kinescopes, it preserved a live performance on film but with higher quality, comparable to a motion picture. That turned out to be Gleason's most prescient move. A decade later, he aired the half-hour Honeymooners in syndicated reruns that began to build a loyal and growing audience, making the show a television icon.

Frame from the end of this episode.

@dupac said in Why not another thread about bigger horns ?:

I know a lot of people on this board also play alto/tenor horn, euphonium, and so on...
So do I (Yamaha alto):

Guilty as charged. Wessex BR140 Baritone. I'm even worse on it than on the small horns, but it's a lot of fun.

“Some days you get up and put the horn to your chops and it sounds pretty good and you win. Some days you try and nothing works and the horn wins. This goes on and on and then you die and the horn wins.” — Dizzy Gillespie

@trumpetlearner

And the LEAST common method is probably the one I use on my Connstellation. Two zip/cable ties added to adjacent pipes so that the "knobs" hit. It doesn't interfere with playing, and rotating one tie to move the knob enables slide removal for cleaning or draining.

@jamiejazz

I suspect we'll be hearing from Dr Go on this topic.

Hmmm... now that I think of it, "Dr Go" fits the topic in a way.

I think you guys are just proving OldSchool's point. I used to teach pilots about electromagnetic theory. A typical fighter radar's frequency band depends on whom you're talking to:

ITU - Super High Frequency (SHF)
EU/NATO/US ECM - I band
IEEE/Radar builder - X band

Three different names for the same thing. To make it worse, ITU and IEEE can't even agree on the definition of UHF.

So I told pilots they should ask for numbers instead of names.

Without memorizing all the frequencies, it would seem the next best approach would be:

@Dr-GO
Merriam Webster's #1 definition of "semi" is "precisely half of." So I don't think you're anywhere near semi-retired. But it sounds like you're having fun.

The silence here has been deafening. Big Dub -- show us a painting. Dr Go -- what's up in Dayton? I miss you guys.

@Kehaulani-0 said in Matt Brockman scam artist:

"Does anyone know someone with the Army Band? This reflects very poorly on the Band . . . ".
How does this reflect poorly on the Band as a whole?

A knowledgeable post from the oTHer trumpet site:

trptboy3
Veteran Member

Joined: 31 Jan 2009
Posts: 135
Location: Washington, DC
PostPosted: Sat Mar 02, 2024 9:24 am Post subject: Reply with quote
Clearing up the Army bandsman confusion. Matt Brockman is not, nor has ever been, a member of The United States Army Band "Pershings Own". He has never been a member of any of the DC Army premiere bands. The fact that he even eludes to that destroys any and all credibility. He's deliberately fooling people into thinking he has credibility and a certain level professional experience and success that he simply has not achieved. He's a scam artist.

His actual background was as a member of AN army band in the army band program. I know he was at one time stationed with the band in Savannah, Georgia, but I have no idea if he's still in.

To be clear, there are some fantastic musicians and people in those bands around the country, and the world. I have the utmost respect for what they do and how they choose to serve their country. Matt simply isn't one of them and is the antithesis of the Army values, as well as those required to simply be a good human. If anyone is looking for quality trumpet instruction at a fair price, I implore you to look elsewhere.

Matt Gaunitz
Trumpeter - US Army Band "Pershings Own"
Former Bugler - US Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps

@Dale-Proctor
I'd guess it would be ok on the main tuning slide -- about like Hetman #7, but more colorful.

Perhaps a mix with valve oil for #1 and #3 slides.

@Dr-GO
I had a co-worker who went through college on a band scholarship. He said their entire trumpet section used STP as a slide lubricant.

@55Yr-Comback
I hope that video answered the questions that you actually asked. But wait--there's more.

In Charlie's demo, he has his jaw set so that his upper and lower teeth are aligned. He also has the mouthpiece centered vertically (50-50) on his lips. That's a good place to start, but it might not work for you.

Some folks play with overbite or (less likely) underbite. Some play 50-50, while others use higher mouthpiece placement or lower placement. Some even offset horizontally. A lot has to do with your oral and dental structure. There's really no right or wrong if it works for you so, unless you have an instructor, you just have to experiment.

Sometime in the future, you may find this website interesting:
https://wilktone.com/?page_id=5619
From that site:

*Where no obvious reason seems to exist for the adoption of any particular method, it is in order to ask “Why?”.

And if the “experts” provide you too readily with an answer, bear in mind that they may not, in fact, have any clearer understanding of how successfully to perform the task than you do yourself.*

@55Yr-Comback said in Proper Embouchure?:

@administrator Thanks! But two questions though.

1st one....After the MMM, do you firm your corners, bring them slightly in toward center firm against you teeth, & then have your lips firm against your teeth & are your lips just slightly touching? And when I say this, I don't mean rigid or in a stiff manner. In other words, if you measured "firm" for doing that on a 1 to 10 scale, it would be at a 3 the most.

2nd question is... after you've placed the mpc, do you put your tongue through your lips to open your lips slightly, or do you let your air stream open them.

Understand I'm not trying to be technical or mechanical. I just want to know if by doing this, it results in an embouchure that's not loose & sloppy. THANKS!!

Caveat: I'm not an instructor or even a very good player, so take this for what it's worth. I was going to opine that you're overthinking it, but then I started overthinking
it, too.

I'll offer up a video by Charlie Porter. After setting the mouthpiece on his closed lips, he consciously pulls them apart just a bit. I didn't think I did that, but it turns out that
I do (unconsciously).

IMHO, if the lips are truly touching without airflow, then adding airflow could allow the creation of a buzz on just the mouthpiece (or visualizer, in the video). If that buzz already exists with the mouthpiece in the horn before the horn itself starts to respond, you get the dirty articulation that Charlie describes. If you've formed a good embouchure on the mouthpiece alone, it should not buzz when you add airflow. But keep blowing while sliding the mouthpiece into the horn and you should get a
nice tone.

Charlie pokes his tongue out to wet his lips, but I don't think that will keep the lips open if the aperture is closed to start with.

@Dr-GO said in Proper Embouchure?:

Neither. I form an embouchure by firming my upper lips with the facial muscles attaching to the zygomatic arch of the orbits of my eyes. Why? More muscle fibers attach hear distributing force more in more directions, with more insertion sites increasing the efficiency of muscle action while increasing embouchure endurance with more effective distribution of work load.

Methinks perhaps the good Doctor's description may be (although precisely accurate) offered somewhat lingua-in-bucca.

@55Yr-Comback
Option 1 for me. Option 2 makes a sound like a duck being tortured.

Some folks like to lip buzz (sans mouthpiece) to get their blood flowing (I'm incapable). Some folks like to buzz the mouthpiece as an embouchure exercise. Some put the mouthpiece into the leadpipe (only) or into a Warburton "buzzard" or similar device (https://warburton-usa.com/products/the-buzzard).

But only Option 1 is playing the trumpet and is, IMHO, the way to go for making music. You'll probably hear some alternative views here, but they won't try to chop your head off for asking like they do on the oTHer forum.

There's a YouTube video out there somewhere in which we demonstrate that Option 1 (without a trumpet attached) produces nada, but slide the mouthpiece into a trumpet while continuing to blow and PRESTO- music happens.

@Alex-Otis
I'm not an expert, but it sure resembles the Conn 22b New York Symphony circa 1920s. Here's a link to the Conn Loyalist, and a sample picture from trumpet-history.com:

https://cderksen.home.xs4all.nl/Conn22B1924image.html