Best posts made by SSmith1226

Some nice trumpet work and outstanding dancing:

Bringing the discussion back to discussion of Trumpet Pedagogy, here are answers to questions posed to www. Chat.Openai.com.
Each of these were generated a few seconds after submission.

StevenP
In the style of Chaucer explain the Claude Gordon principle of trumpet playing

In days of old, when knights were bold
And trumpets loud did sound,
A man named Claude, with skill and care,
A trumpet method found.

He taught the art of breath control,
And proper lip vibration,
To play with power, yet with grace,
A true inspiration.

His principle, known far and wide,
Is still taught to this day,
For those who seek to master trumpets
In Chaucer's time or today.

So if thou doth desire to play
A trumpet fair and true,
Remember Claude and his teachings,
And success shall come to you.

StevenP
In a biblical style explain the principles of the Adam school of trumpet pedagogy

And it came to pass, in the days of Adam, a man of great wisdom and skill, that he didst set forth the principles of trumpet playing. And he didst teach the children of music the ways of breath control and proper lip vibration. And he didst say, "Let your sound be like the thunder of the Lord, but with the softness of the morning dew."

And the people didst listen and didst practice, and they didst become mighty players of the trumpet. And their sound didst fill the land, and all who heard didst marvel at the beauty and power.

And Adam didst also teach them the importance of discipline and dedication, saying, "As ye tend to the garden of the Lord, so too must ye tend to your instrument, for it is a gift from the Lord."

And the people didst take these principles to heart, and they didst become true masters of the trumpet. And their music didst bring joy to the hearts of all who heard.

And it is written, "Blessed are the players of the trumpet, for they shall bring forth sweet melodies unto the Lord."

StevenP
In the style of William Shakespeare discuss the similarities and differences of the trumpet pedagogy of Claude Gordon, William Adam, Vincent Cichowicx, and Maynard Furgoson.

With Claude Gordon, William Adam, Vincent Cichowicz, and Maynard Ferguson, four trumpet players of great renown,
Whose pedagogy didst shape the art of trumpet playing, both similarities and differences can be found.

Claude Gordon didst teach breath control,
As did Adam, with discipline and dedication.
Cichowicz didst focus on sound and phrasing,
While Maynard Ferguson's approach was one of improvisation.

All four didst share a love for the trumpet
And a desire to teach others the way.
But in their methods, subtle differences didst emerge,
As each had their own unique way to play.

Gordon's approach was strict and traditional,
Adam's was one of discipline and care,
Cichowicz's was more modern and experimental,
While Ferguson's was wild and rare.

In conclusion, each trumpet pedagogue
Had a unique approach to teaching the art,
But all shared a love for the trumpet
And a desire to impart their heart.

StevenP
In the style of jean shepherd, discuss the trumpet strengths and weaknesses of Maurice Andre and Arturo Sandoval and discuss their similarities and differences

Ah, Maurice Andre and Arturo Sandoval, two of the most legendary trumpet players of our time. Let me tell ya, these guys are the real deal, each with their own unique style and approach to the instrument.

Maurice Andre, now he's a real master of the trumpet, a virtuoso in the truest sense of the word. The guy's technique is second to none, and he can hit notes that most folks would think were impossible. But, ya know, sometimes I think that all that technique can get in the way of the music. It's like he's so focused on hitting the right notes that he forgets to let the emotion come through.

Arturo Sandoval, on the other hand, he's all about the emotion. When that man plays, you can feel it in your bones. He's got a real fire in his playing, and it's impossible not to get caught up in it. But, and this is just my personal opinion, I don't think he's quite as polished as Andre. He's a little rough around the edges, if you know what I mean.

But, here's the thing, both Andre and Sandoval are so incredibly talented, and they both have had such a huge impact on the world of music. They've both traveled the world, playing for audiences in every corner of the globe, and they've both left a lasting legacy.

In terms of similarities, I'd say that both of them have a real passion for music and a real dedication to their craft. They're both incredibly hardworking and driven.

In terms of differences, as I mentioned earlier, Andre is a master of technique while Sandoval is all about the emotion. Andre is a classically trained trumpet player while Sandoval is a jazz trumpet player. They come from different countries and different cultural background.

All in all, both Maurice Andre and Arturo Sandoval are truly exceptional trumpet players, each with their own unique strengths and weaknesses. And, in a way, that's what makes them both so special. Each one has something different to offer, and they've both left an indelible mark on the world of music.

Here is an article I found in the New York Times. Things could have been worse. I could have been a French Horn Player. Any comments from those of you who have played both? Are you better off being a Trumpet Player doubling on French Horn or a French Horn player doubling on Trumpet?

The French Horn, That Wild Card of the Orchestra
By ALLAN KOZINN
August 12, 2008
Orchestral instruments don’t come more treacherous than the French horn, either for the musicians who play it, or, when the going gets rough, for the listeners who find themselves within earshot. Sometimes you wonder how the instrument found its way from the hunting lodge to the orchestra.

At the Mostly Mozart Festival in recent weeks, the intractable early version of the horn has made its way into the Rose Theater as a series of period-instrument bands from Germany, England and Italy performed music ranging from Italian Baroque choral works to Mozart opera. When these groups were at their best, a listener whose fondness for period instruments dates to the 1960s could reflect on how far the performance standard has risen since.

In those days period ensembles that sounded vigorous on disc often proved anemic in concert, and the instruments’ antique technology was regularly blamed for mediocre performances. Nowadays, the performances are more typically extroverted and expressive, and although period instruments, by definition, have not been modernized to make them easier to play, listeners are no longer asked to consider their difficulty when a performance goes awry.

Except, that is, when the horn notes crack and slither. The horn remains the wild card in period-instrument orchestras, and in modern ones too. And if you find yourself cringing when horn players falter badly — as I did on Aug. 5, when Concerto Italiano played three Vivaldi concertos with prominent horn parts — caveats about the instrument’s intransigence come quickly to mind.

It’s worth understanding the challenges hornists face. In its 17th- and 18th-century form, the horn is basically just a long, flared pipe wound into two or three coils, with a mouthpiece on the end. What it lacks, compared with today’s horn, is the valve mechanism: the complex tubing and finger keys at the center of a modern horn that let hornists play chromatically and in different keys.

Without recourse to valves, hornists are most at home in the relatively few notes in the overtone series that come naturally to a bit of coiled metal: mainly, the notes you hear in hunting and military calls. As the music grows more complex, the technical demands escalate. One resource hornists have is hand-stopping: by putting a hand inside the instrument’s bell, they can flatten the pitch to produce chromatic notes.

When everything goes right, hornists can work miracles. You need only have heard James Sommerville, the Boston Symphony’s principal hornist, play Elliott Carter’s Horn Concerto at Tanglewood a few weeks ago to know how chromatic (and lyrical) a horn line can be. But you can see the potential for pitch problems. And a bit of condensation from a player’s breath adhering to the inside of a coil can lead to cracked notes, or “clams.”

As is often the case, when Concerto Italiano’s hornists were good, they were great. Their sound had a fascinatingly gritty texture, much closer to the horn’s hunting-party origins than to the mellow, warm sound of a modern instrument. But when they were off — oh, dear, what a mess!

Strangely, some believe that period horn playing is meant to sound thus. When I was in music school, I had a job in a record store and would sometimes stay after hours to listen to new releases. One was a period-instrument recording of Handel’s “Water Music” on which the horns were consistently flat. When I crinkled my nose, the store’s manager said, dismissively:

“Oh, you don’t understand. It’s only because of showoffs like Don Smithers” — a brilliant Baroque trumpeter who was also my music history teacher at the time — “that people think these instruments can be played in tune. But they aren’t meant to be.”

I didn’t buy that argument then, and having heard many superb Baroque hornists, I find it less tenable now.

For some reason — maybe it’s a little-documented, mouth-drying effect of global warming — the last season was particularly rough for hornists. In a concert of Brahms and Schumann works at the 92nd Street Y in December, the usually reliable David Jolley became ensnared in every tangle a hornist can encounter (or create), including serious balance issues in ensemble pieces. And visiting orchestras seemed more prone than usual to horn flaws.

But surely the most catastrophic horn performance of the season — of many seasons, for that matter — was at the New York Philharmonic in March, when Alan Gilbert, conducting his first concert with the orchestra since having been appointed its next music director, opened his program with Haydn’s Symphony No. 48, a work with two prominent and perilous horn parts.

The Philharmonic has long been action central for horn troubles; its principal player, Philip Myers, is wildly inconsistent, and the rest of the section is also accident-prone. Much of the time Mr. Myers’s playing is squarely on pitch, shapely and warm, and when it is, it’s everything you want in a French horn line. But he cracks, misses or slides into pitches often enough that when the Philharmonic plays a work with a prominent horn line, you brace yourself and wonder if he’ll make it.

The Haydn symphony was a real clambake.

Mentioning hornists’ failings in reviews invariably brings plenty of e-mail messages, often from people who did not hear the performances but feel moved to defend a player’s reputation. Perhaps not surprisingly, most of these correspondents have variations on the word horn (“corno” or “horncall,” for example) in their e-mail addresses, and they usually identify themselves as hornists, as if their addresses didn’t make that clear.

In the case of the Haydn, some offered amazing conspiracy theories. The most interesting was that Mr. Gilbert had programmed the work knowing that it would be botched, so that he would later have reason to replace Mr. Myers. (Mr. Gilbert doesn’t seem that Machiavellian.) Another blamed the orchestra’s management for allowing Mr. Gilbert to program it.

Still others offered technical excuses: that the work requires a variety of horn that Mr. Myers doesn’t play, for instance. (That an orchestra’s programming is announced months in advance — ample time to deal with such technical problems or lobby to have the work replaced — seems not to have troubled anyone.)

Of about a dozen e-mail messages, all but one correspondent found someone other than the players to blame for the performance. A few blamed me: I am supposedly a raging cornophobe with some deep-seated resentment of horns and hornists.

To the contrary. I played the horn briefly as a teenager, somewhere between the violin and the trombone (which had a nicer bite), and I gave up brass instruments only when I realized that continuing would mean spending weekends marching around at football games in a dopey band uniform. It was the late 1960s; that kind of thing just wasn’t done.

Nearly a decade later, as a composition student, I revisited the instrument and what it could (ideally) do when I wrote an unaccompanied horn piece and a quartet for horn, violin, bassoon and percussion (what was I thinking?) for a hornist friend.

I like the horn, honest. And I know how difficult it is to get a good, centered, well-tuned sound out of it.

But here’s the thing about musical performance: It’s all difficult. It’s meant to be. Composers write, and have always written, music that pushes the limits of technique. And if you’re onstage in a professional capacity, you’re expected to be able to negotiate it. That’s the least audiences expect, and it’s a precondition for what they buy tickets for: to be moved by an interpretation; to savor its nuances and to hear something revelatory, whether the work is new or familiar.

If, instead, they end up wincing at mistuned notes and reminding themselves how tough the instruments are, they’ve been pushed out of the zone. And at that point, no amount of rationalization will make the performance anything but a sow’s ear.

@GeorgeB said in The New Reality:

@SSmith1226

Aw, man, I think I just fell in love with a dog ...

@Kehaulani said in The New Reality
I can't hear Bolero without thinking of Bo Derick.

Given the choice, I’ll vote for Bo Derek, but the dog in this video is a close second!

@j-jericho said in Bots are getting scary:

@ssmith1226 Does ChatGPT provide references/footnotes with its summaries? When I want generic information, Wikipedia provides it, but usually when I do an internet search, I want to be able to screen the sources, as some have more veracity than others.

If you ask it, it will provide sources. The below is an example. Remember, Wikipedia is not necessarily accurate either.
StevenP
Discuss all manifestations of Neurosarcoidosis including central, spinal, peripheral, and autonomic nervous system manifestations. Provide footnotes citing sources

Neurosarcoidosis is a manifestation of sarcoidosis that affects the nervous system and can present in various forms.

Central nervous system (CNS) manifestations include meningitis, cranial nerve involvement, and brain lesions. CNS symptoms can range from headache, confusion, and memory loss to seizures and behavioral changes.
Spinal cord involvement can lead to a range of symptoms including pain, paresthesia, and lower extremity weakness or paralysis.
Peripheral nervous system (PNS) involvement can result in peripheral neuropathy, causing sensory symptoms like numbness, tingling, and burning, as well as motor symptoms such as muscle weakness and wasting.
Autonomic nervous system involvement can lead to symptoms such as orthostatic hypotension, cardiovascular disturbances, and bladder or bowel dysfunction.
It is important to note that the manifestation of neurosarcoidosis can vary greatly among individuals and can present as a single or multiple system involvement.

Sources:

Harbo HF, Kyvik KO. Sarcoidosis: a complex genetic and environmental disease. Genes & Immunity. 2003;4(2):63-70.
Alho AM, van der Meide PH, Visser LH. Neurological manifestations of sarcoidosis. Sarcoidosis vasculitis and diffuse lung diseases. 2006;23(2):85-90.
Alsulami Z, Castro-Gago M, Calero-Linares C, et al. Clinical manifestations and therapeutic options in neurosarcoidosis: a comprehensive review. Journal of the neurological sciences. 2017;375:85-93.

The type of Orchestra I would love to play in:

@SSmith1226 said in The New Reality:

Wait until you get to your 70’s. It becomes a Travelogue of Mexican Beach Resort.

On the other hand, what happens in Mexico stays in Mexico.

@marty-hahn said in New to this board:t.

I’m not great but can get by and play in tune but I am happy to be back sort of. I’m hoping to get good enough to play with a community band. It’s going to take more work but I’m okay with that.
Looking forward to learning from everyone here.

Marty,
One way to get “good enough to play with a community band” is to play with one. Specifically, if there is a New Horizons Band near your community, join it. They accept individuals at all levels of experience from the very beginner, to the comeback players, to the more experienced players. I joined one of these bands after a 44 year layoff and worked my way from last seat third trumpet up to first trumpet. I have now been playing seven years and play in multiple community bands, big bands, and have played in orchestras as well. This process began with the New Horizons Band. Below is a link of the locations of the three active New Horizons Organizations in Washington.
Even if one of these is not convenient to your location, with your musical knowledge, you could
join a local community band, start at the bottom, and play what you can. With practice and experience, your skills will improve and you will advance.
The best of luck to you on your journey, and as promised, here is the link:

https://newhorizonsmusic.org/content.php?page=Find_a_Group

The owner of a drug store walked into his store one day, only to notice a man leaning heavily against a wall.

The owner went over to his staff member behind the counter and asked them, “What’s wrong with that guy over there by the wall?”

The staff member replied, “Oh him – he came in here this morning to get something for his cough. I couldn’t find any cough syrup, so I gave him an entire bottle of laxative instead.”

The owner shouted, “You fool! What were you thinking? You can’t treat a cough with laxatives!”

The staff member said, “Of course I can. Look at him, he’s not coughed once since I gave it to him – he’s too scared!”

Leonard Cohen’s Halleluja performed by “United Trumpeters Peruvian”.

The United States Naval Band from home:

I just stumbled across the following advice. It looked so wise, yet so simple, that I felt the need to share it. It is titled, “Five Ways For A Man To Be Completely Happy”. By reversing the sexes I’m sure that this applies equally as well to the female members of this forum.

Five Ways For A Man To Be Completely Happy

1. Be with a woman who who makes you laugh.
2. Be with a woman who gives you her time.
3. Be with a Woman who takes care of you.
4. Be with a woman who really loves you.
5. Finally, make sure that these four woman don’t know each other.

For those interested in Trumpet History, the following is the story of John Blanke, one of the more famous trumpeters of the Court of Henry VIII.

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/apr/20/story-of-henry-viiis-black-trumpeter-to-be-told-at-walker-art-gallery-in-liverpool

@Niner said in A little humour:

This joke stream...and judging by what happened at the old lamented site......will become probably the most posted string on this new board. And like the old site, a lot of guys make up jokes rather than steal them from someplace else. Some...without my pointing them out.... are really awful. This cries out for an adjustment to the "reputation" arrow that always points up. Really bad jokes should run the risk of getting a reputation vote that goes down.

The problem with critiquing humor is that we all have different interpretations of what examples and styles of humor are funny and what styles and content aren't. What is funny to me may very well not be funny to you and vice versa. I think that a good example of this is that the same core group of names will upvote my posts when they consider them worthy ( makes them laugh) but certainly not all my humorous posts are upvoted, indicating, at least to me, that the joke bombed. Fortunately I don’t make my living as a comedian.
To carry this a step further, some of the most successful marriages are between partners who have similar sense of humors and some of the least successful marriages are involving partners with sense of humors not similar.
To complicate this further, there are numerous categories one can classify jokes in. The following article lists 20 of these categories:
https://www.dailywritingtips.com/20-types-and-forms-of-humor/
I don’t think that any one who posts humor, whether a repeat of an old joke, an original joke, a cartoon etc. is trying to post what they consider a bad or purposely offensive joke. If you don’t like it, simply don’t vote for it. If it is offensive, either post a comment in response, or pm the original poster to let them know why it bothered you. For example, if I posted a joke that I thought was acceptable and received pm’s informing me otherwise, it would likely modify what I post, or not post, in the future. This would be far more effective than downvoting. If there is a joke posted that that doesn’t mesh with the way I am wired to consider to consider it funny, I won’t upvote it, but often other people will find it very humorous and will upvote it.
The bottom line is that you can’t make all the people happy all the time.

Trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth describes herself as a "Trumpet soloist, travelling musician, happy knitter, Lego enthusiast and coffee snob."
ABC (Australia Broadcast Company-Radio) did a one hour piece on her in their “Legends” series. You can listen to it at the below link. Included in it are many of her outstanding performances and interesting biographical background.

https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/legends/legends-tine-thing-helseth/103766482

@Kehaulani said in Jazz is still alive in New Orleans for the passing crowd:

You never know what you'll get in N.O. Once, I was at the Jazz Fair going between two venues and there were scattered "second choice" bands on just cheap platforms or kiosks between the major acts.

As we approached one such band - they were playing a burning version of the Flintstones theme - I told the girl who was with me, "Hear these guys? I've got no idea who they are, but they're absolutely world class. The music world is so unpredictable you may never hear from them . . . but world class."

After they were finished, we were talking to them and they invited us to a 02:00 jam session. They were Branford and Wynton Marsalis.

I lived in New Orleans from 1974 - 1979. In around 1976 I went to an old bar/restaurant, located near Burgundy and Esplanade, where there were a band entertaining made up of young teenagers who were playing well beyond their years (as well as mine). This included a great young trumpet and sax player.
The performance was very memorable to me. I remember that some of the band were brothers. My suspicion was, once the Marsalis family became known, that this is who we saw.
Also in New Orleans at that time was Dr. Frank Minyard, the trumpet playing Ob/Gyn turned Coroner who would play in funeral processions, Mardi Gras Parades, etc. I was going through my medical training at that time so I always looked up to him.

@barliman2001 said in Christmas stand-in...:

Just got a call from a choir conductor... he needs me as second trumpet in Mozart's Piccolomini Mass on Christmas Day...
modern, well-heated church, playing in the organ loft (civvies permitted)... so all the plans of spending Christmas Day with my mother-in-law went overboard - no turkey for me!

Tough choice!
Mother-in-law

                             vs

                                   Gig

@Kehaulani
It’s interesting that you bring this up. The 800 pound gorilla is now in the room. Trumpet Board started in response to the untimely death of Trumpet Master. Trumpet Master, like Trumpet Herald, had many members who were consummate professionals or semiprofessionals. It also had many members like myself who are comeback players and hobbyists that enjoy playing but never will play at a professional level, but enjoyed the camaraderie that Trumpet Master offered. Trumpet Master was a much friendlier atmosphere then Trumpet Herald and much less contentious. Trumpet Master had a lounge section where less serious issues and non-trumpet issues could be discussed among people who had similar interests. This included humor and many other subjects. This was not available on trumpet Herald.
I think with the collapse of Trumpet Master those of us that felt too intimidated to post on Trumpet Herald migrated to Trumpet Boards for participation when the opportunity arose. If the opportunity didn’t arise many of us would still be on Trumpet Herald, as I am now, but would primarily be lurking and not participating in the discussions. Frankly, there is little that I as a three and three-quarter year come back player could add to any discussion on the serious nature about trumpet playing. I think that they were many other people like myself that also lurk on Trumpet Herald. So the question is why is there so much more discussion on Trumpet Herald about serious trumpet matters then there is on Trumpet Boards? The answer I think is based on the numbers of registrants and participants. To my understanding, Trumpet Herald has literally tens of thousands of registrants. It is common to see the same names over and over participating in the discussions. If only 1% of every 20,000 registrants regularly participated in the serious discussions there would be 200 names you would see on a regular basis and a few other rare participants scattered in with them. I would contend that this is what you see, the same core group of discussants over snd over again.
Consider that Trumpet Boards is only six months old, not decades old. We have 208 members. Of those 208, 88 (42.3%) have never posted. Another 53 (27%) have posted 1-10 times, 28 (13%) posted 11-20 times, 5 (2.4%) posted 31-40 times, snd 9 (4.3%) posted 41-50times. 26 (12.5%) of us have posted 51-575 times If you look at these figures, including the 88 members who haven't posted, 182 (86.5%)of the 208 members have been inactive or minimally active. That means that for the most part 26 of us, most of whom are hobbyists with similar interests have been having nice relatively non contentious conversations in the lounge. There are a few professional players and technicians among the group and they have been very generous with their time and knowledge. The majority of the time they agree, thus limiting discussion and debate. However, until our young group grows, which it will eventually will, the posts will be dominated by the vast majority of us who like to hang out with people of similar interests, but are not knowledgeable enough to discuss the technicalities of trumpet playing at a high level. Growth will come with time and the distribution of discussion topics will change, but it will probably take a few years to do so. Can we effectively speed this process up? I don’t think so. What could we do to possibly speed this up? We could send invitations to respected teachers at the University level, their students, well respected professionals and private teachers to join, but I doubt that many will have the time or desire to participate. Perhaps however, it would be worth a try.
For what it is worth, that is my two cents.