Best posts made by tmd

I'll be working in the ER all day tomorrow. I might take a chance, leave my horn in car, and if the ER slows down around 3pm, go out and play taps.

Mike

@Dale-Proctor said in The New Reality:

I was recently asked to participate in a pops/patriotic brass band concert as part of a Monday night concert series in a local park on July 6. No rehearsal, band members seated 6’+ apart. Should be interesting if it actually happens.

Similar situation here. I have 2 gigs so far scheduled for July 5th and 12th. Both are outdoors. It's easy for us to "socially distance", since my band is pretty small. First gig will be a piano/bass duo, with me on piano. The other will be trumpet/guitar/bass trio, with me on trumpet. I also run an open jazz jam, which may resume at the end of July, but more likely will resume in August.

Mike

@Dr-GO said in Frustrated:

To me Rowuk was the role model of moderators. Tough love is the best!

Tough love, and always willing to help.

Mike

@Dr-GO said in Never let the bass player pick the tunes:

@Dr-Mark said in Never let the bass player pick the tunes:

@Dr-GO
What! I have to transpose the Bb in measure 6 to a C?
I need a capo.

Yes sir. I ALWAYS play from the piano score! Overall it's easier for the entire ensemble when multiple people call out tunes from multiple sources.

"Real men" read from the C book.

Mike

@Trumpetsplus said in Professional musicians on this board question:

Just because someone is an absolute expert player does not mean they will have an unchallengeable opinion about a practice routine for player X or equipment for player Y. Such a sticky might present that they do.

Agreed. Getting paid to play and speaking with authority don't always go hand-in-hand.

But it's interesting to see what others have done. Thanks to the OP for starting this thread. I also think it might be nice to have video section, where just for fun, we can post videos of our performances (paid or otherwise), or videos of what we've been learning.

To answer the OP, I'm a music school dropout, who changed college majors before graduating. I have never been a professional musician, in that I have never fully supported myself financially by playing the trumpet. I view myself as a "weekend warrior", in that I gig outside of my regular day job. I run a small jazz trio, with about 4 paid gigs a month. Most of my gigs are at restaurants, outdoor fairs, nursing homes, and private parties.

Mike

@Dr-GO said in WHY IS THIS BALLAD ....:

Mike, I would disagree. Nothing says love like "The Look of Love"

No fair using Diane Krall. But to clarify, I said "You Don't Know" is one of the better angry love songs.

Here's an excerpt of my band playing the song, with me on Chromatic Harmonica.

@Dr-GO said in Did something change?:

... we have a lot of characters here... and I will admit to being one of them!

It's the characters that give this site character.

Mike

If our wives haven't caught on by now, they never will.

On a related point, we got some good news today.

Mike

“It takes a pretty good drummer to be better than no drummer at all.”
Chet Baker

I almost never use a drummer ... for this very reason. But I do know one "pretty good drummer", that I use when the gig calls for one.

Mike

How many is too many? I'm guessing more than 16.

Mike

Kehaulani reached out to me on a different forum and asked me to post this message on his behalf. I've not been part of this thread, and am not commenting on it personally. I'm just posting this message for him.

Mike

"Mike has graciously agreed to post this message for me. I was involuntarily logged out of every one of my sites. Logging back in to TrumpetBoards has been especially problematic. Everything I have done over a three-day period has been to no avail. My solution is really to just forget it and withdraw from the site.

But before I do, there is a current thread that my withdrawal is pertinent to answering its question as well as the reason I'm just going ahead and withdrawing.

For the most part this Forum is more of a social club than a real exchange of musical knowledge. That's O.K. And for those who use it for that, I hope they enjoy the camaraderie. Very few members have any real musical depth or experience to pass along. This is also O.K. This is not judgmental, just an observation.

It's been pointed out that there is an increase of people signing up. I would counter that many of these don't return, either.

I need as many answers as I can get. This Forum seldom does it. I can get the same and more from Trumpet Herald. Yes, it has some jack-asses. I can be one. And IMO, there is WAY too much “paralysis-by-analyses”, micro-nit picking, threads that can't stick to the subject and, sometimes, just plain old misinformation.

But it has a much larger contributor base than this Forum and once you've become accustomed to its “contributors” can be of considerable help. The kind of help I need is seldom to be found here.

So, I hope this answers the Thread question from my POV and, in doing so, also explains why I'm not going to be an active member. It's not negative.

I thank Mike very much for posting this and appreciate it very much.
Aloha nui loa, Kehaulani"

@ROWUK said in WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BECOME AN EXPERT?:

To become an expert, you need exceptional talent first - talent to keep your eye on the ball, talent to hear differences, talent to understand the differences and above all talent to know what we don't know.

I know that 2000-10000 purposeful repetitions gives us a "professional" level of repeatability for a specific task. I am not sure that we can assign hours however.

Bingo!!

No amount of practicing, be it ten thousand or ten million hours, can make up for a lack of talent. Practicing is useful for acquiring and refining skills, but not for creating talent.

Of course, you need to practice to refine your talent. But I'm not a big fan of the 10,000 hour rule, because it assumes you can create talent, where talent does not exist.

Mike

New addition to the herd, arriving next week. A Bach 184 Cornet from the late 1980s.

Mike

@flugelgirl said in Thoughts about mouthpiece placement:

I am a total believer in putting it on your face and not thinking about it - let it work where it’s naturally meant to work.

Good advice. Worth repeating. Unless you're putting the mouthpiece in your ear, then it probably doesn't matter. More seriously, for most people, unless you're doing something extreme, put it where it seems to want ago, and forget about it.

One good reason for this is that we really don't know how we use our embouchure muscles when we play. These muscles are very small, and their actions are subtle and often imperceptible. So things like upstream/downstream, one-third/two-thirds, etc., are really indirect measures of embouchure use. And while these terms may have a role, they are limited in what they convey.

Mike

@Dr-GO said in Reasons to collect trumpets?:

Why do golfers have 9 irons and 3 woods in their bags? "

Still playing golf, Gary? BTW, was this you? The poor guy ended up at my hospital. So if it's you, I'm happy to stop by and bring you a towel or something.

Man Hurt in Golf Cart Crash at Maryland Nudist Resort ...
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Man-Hurt-in-Golf-Cart-Crash-at-Maryland-Nudist-Resort-563970311.html

Some of my horns have a practical role. But for the most part, I collect horns, because I can.

My current collection. I mostly use my Bach 43 Trumpet and Olds L-12 Flugel. And I occasionally use my Bach C, Getzen Field Trumpet, and CarolBrass Pocket Trumpet.

• Bach 1974 Stradivariuis lightweight 43 Bb Trumpet
• Bach 1980 Stradivariuis 239 CML Trumpet
• Bach 1965 Stradivarius 37 Bb Trumpet
• Bach 1947 Stradivariuis NY 67 Bb Cornet
• Olds 1957 Ambassador Bb Trumpet
• Olds 1957 Ambassador Bb Cornet
• Olds 1969 L-12 Flugelhorn
• Carol CPT-300LR Pocket Trumpet
• Getzen 1974 Eterna 896 Flugelhorn
• Getzen Eterna 940 Piccolo Trumpet
• Getzen M2003ES Bb/G Field Trumpet
• Besson BE1020 Cornet
• King H.N. White 1969 Eb/F Alto Horn

Mike

@moshe said in "Star Trek Next Generation":

Captain Jean-Luc Picard had a French name but a British accent,
and 500 years in the future there still was no cure for baldness?

Morris / moshe

And no cure for Kirk's nearsightedness (he's allergic to Retinox 5).

BTW, when I saw the title was Star Trek NG, I expected a musical question, like "What song did Riker play on the trombone in Ten-Forward?" ... I Remember You.

Mike

There's a thread on TH right now on the top trumpet books. This is always an interesting discussion, and tends to include Arbans, Clarke, Colins, Schlossberg, and others. I'd like to instead ask for your top 5 jazz trumpet books. Here's my list of the top 5 (plus 1).

1. Jamey Aebersold, Jazz Handbook - Much of this is included in Vols 1, 2, and 3 of the Play-Along Series

2. Jerry Coker, How To Practice Jazz - A nice overview on how to set up a daily routine

3. Jerry Coker, Patterns For Jazz - The standard book on jazz patterns

4. Dan Haerle, Scales for Jazz Improvisation - A good resource on most of the scales out there

5. Ken Slone, 28 Modern Jazz Trumpet Solos, Books 1 and 2 - Or any other of the transcriptions books out there

6. Jerry Coker, Jazz Keyboard for Pianists and Non-Pianists - If you want to develop some piano skills

Mike

@ROWUK said in Most bang for your buck!:

What is "value"? Do we compare purchase price to what you can recover after 5 or 10 years?

I have always learned that we buy cheap tools twice.

I've enjoyed my CarolBrass Pocket Trumpet for many years. And I've had no problems with a house brand trombone I got from WWBW. Depending on your goals, a less-expensive horn may be very appropriate.

However, Rowuk raises a good point. The OP talks about buying one of these horns for the price of a used Bach. But note that over the years, that used Bach will hold its value. That less-expensive horn likely will not.

And as mentioned by others, that used Bach (or Yamaha, etc.) comes with a well-supplied network for support and parts, while these less-expensive horns may not.

Mike

@dale-proctor said in

Well, we both have a 43 Strad and an Olds L-12, so why not get a Bach 184?…lol

Great minds think alike.

Mike

@Kehaulani said in Getzen Club:

This is kind of an aside, but the above comment of including Eterna Piccolo reminded me that back in the 60s when Getzen put out a periodical newspaper - remember those days?.

there was an American playing in an Eastern European orchestra, who would regularly report on his use of higher-pitched trumpets. These Getzens were evidently good enough to play in a major European orchestra.

I'm on my second Getzen Eterna Piccolo Trumpet. I sold the first one after college, since I wasn't playing much trumpet anymore at that time. I bought the second one when I started playing again 10 years ago. Got it used, in like-new condition, for a great price. I couldn't pass it up.

It's a nice horn, although I am not a piccolo player by any means.

Mike