Posts made by Trumpetsplus

@Dale-Proctor They also work well on the Jaeger trumpets which are the only trumpets now made with braces between the balusters. That is, the valve casings are one-piece. I know no other brand with one-piece valve casings

@Dale-Proctor I still must admit that I don't understand what the Resonance Enhancers are actually doing. But, whatever it is, they do it on all the designs I have tried it on. So, presumably they are addressing a design (deficiency) common to all trumpets????

@Kehaulani All of us are sensitive enough to notice. I have had rank beginners noticing incremental changes in design.

A recent note from a concerned parent:

Please forgive my naive questions, what about xxxx for trumpets, I read people trying different xxxx for their trumpets. You have any thoughts on this?

My reply:

Thank you for your question, better to have admitted naivety than have an empty checkbook! Yes there are many different options available for trumpets;, lead pipes, bells, special valves, water keys. These are normally offered as an option when new - like cars having automatic or manual gearboxes. But as in the car comparison, it is a very big deal to change an existing setup, it is not just the different component, it is how it fits and affects the whole instrument.

A lot of people think a lot of things about brass instruments; brainwashing and self-delusion is rampant! Think of these examples:

I want a stronger water key spring so I need one with more coils.

Wrong! A fewer number of coils make a spring stronger; a straight piece of wire (no coils) is stronger than one with one coil.

My trumpet has too much resistance, there must be a blockage.

Probably wrong. If the trumpet is hard to play there is likely some leakage exactly where the sound wave wants to have high pressure (pressure antinode). The pressure wants to escape, therefore the player has to work harder to maintain the resonance. In this case I would check for leaky water key or joints, or worn valves.

Remember; there is no computer model that will predict what will happen if you change xxxx.

Data is empirical = knowledge comes from experimentation.

“I think” does not equal “It is”.

As a player/instrument designer and builder/teacher/writer my specialty is to talk about these things, to bring peace to playing situations and to encourage a better relationship between player and instrument. This is best done in person and it is why we have such a comfortable setting here - my workshop/factory and the large music room. It is also why we started the not for profit foundation “The Recreational Musician” dba “Trumpet4Fun”.

Arm yourself with reputable equipment and concentrate on playing music.

If you are into Mozart Horn Concertos you might me interested in this (a page out of my upcoming book 300+ Melodies) 

There are some unbelievable musical performances available online these days. It is so inspiring to listen to them. But never underestimate the positive power of your own playing, no matter at what level. There is great therapeutic benefit in playing (rather than just listening to) music, especially if you are "giving" your music to some significant other - mother, sibling, spouse, child or care worker. My message to you all is "Please Play"!

A community orchestra I play in holds a Salon each Sunday evening. Tonight I will be talking about the development of, and playing a short excerpt that I learned with Nassim Maalouf, my quarter tone trumpet.

Also I have been posting daily tunes for people to play with the idea of sending their music to some other, be it parent, child, or any significant other. Today's was the 47th piece. Anyone wanting to join in can either email me to get on the list or check the daily posting on the Trumpet4Fun facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/Trumpet4Fun/

Bit cheap. Summerhays know what they are doing. I would not be surprised if it doesn't need a valve refit to play decently.

Comment from a customer:
Ivan
This is a gem, I love every aspect of it.
Scientific without being boring. This is something I wish I had as a youth starting to play.

Further to what I wrote above, we are making a Beta version of the "300+ Melodies from 750+ Years" available as a free download especially for those hurt financially by our current crisis.

Here is the link to the music book:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ozjjpe1jkfqxsjc/300%2B Melodies Beta.pdf?dl=0&fbclid=IwAR1AdRM9Uy04UwDD4-v_IA9KZPCzD3BdFH6kGoxD8n1Q19KoIIfa71cQtYE

Of course those who are still earning are encouraged to make a donation to trumpet 4 fun (it is a not for profit public charity) by following this link

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=hAdrUX7QK9XZCKHYYAx_2IUrSCroxLhjfhbpdawB4vSRZ8mxsHInhVL39YYtgP0eOdWBK0&country.x=US&locale.x=US

@SSmith1226 Thank you for your kind words.

No plans at the moment to bring out an eBook version of "My Friend the Trumpet". Some of that material is in this new eBook.

I am currently revising and expanding "750 Years of Music for Trumpet" into "300+ Melodies from 750+ Years". This new collection, whilst produced for trumpet, will also target all treble clef instruments - flute, clarinet, saxophone, horn, violin etc. Being an old fogey, I tend to prefer hard copy, but find myself reading the computer screen when playing my daily suggestions. So not sure yet whether to do an e version of this - the file is huge!

By the way, if anyone wants to join my daily suggestions, I post a new melody each day to be played at 10:00AM or 7:00PM whilst holding someone dear to you in your thoughts.

This notification is posted daily on the Trumpet4Fun Face book page https://www.facebook.com/Trumpet4Fun/ or contact me to be included in the email notifications.

I can guarantee that, whatever your playing level, there is at least one novel idea or approach in this book for you.

Check out this new $2.60 eBook (same price as a cup of coffee!)

for
Recreational trumpet players and their teachers
or
Band Directors without a brass background
or
Beginners and their parents

http://www.jaegerbrass.com/products/publications.html

A short blog I posted might be helpful
http://www.jaegerbrass.com/Blo/Entries/2020/3/play-the-notes---not-the-rests.html

One of the drawbacks of written musical notation is that the rests are often more visually predominant than the notes. One note might be followed by many rest symbols before the next note appears. Players often attach such importance to or are so overwhelmed by the rests that they play the following note(s) out of time.

My suggestion to overcome this is to imagine each note to be full length up to the next one. This will keep all the notes within their correct rhythmic framework. Once this is comfortable, shorten the notes to comply with their particular note values and play the passage in the correct rhythm. The rests will take care of themselves, they are only there to fill in the gaps

.

@flugelgirl said in Instrument Maintenance:

French hornists and other rotary players are incapable of disassembling their instruments and have no idea what a rotor looks like or how it actually functions. .

I have rotary valves in stock (for my quarter tone and ascending valve instruments) and I show my rotary valve customers what these valves look like in order to explain how to lubricate them. I also explain why to use different oils for different parts (the faster the surface speed the thinner the oil). I dissuade owners from disassembly mainly due to the care required to seat the back bearing.

I am sorry that your beautifully finished Strad has been damaged.

In the absence of details any response is hypothetical. Yes, on the face of it the instrument should not have picked up any scratches. But, not knowing the details of the mechanical issues, we do not know what the appropriate remedy would have entailed. Therefore we cannot know what measures needed to be employed to remedy them. Consider the person going in for hip replacement surgery and being upset by the cosmetic disfigurement of surgical stitches.

The scratches are an unintended result of whatever incident caused the mechanical issues. If the mechanical issues are a result of a pre-lacquering situation, they should have been picked up by the refinishers. If the mechanical issues are from a post-lacquering incident then the scratches are a consequence of that event.

Lot of input from a new member. I would like to see the answer to Barliman's question about contacting Phaeton. The situation feels strange, even fishy. As Flugelgirl says, you get your local tech (or yourself) to change out valve stems.

Here is the next installment of Brass for Dummies, or Brass for Parents.
http://www.jaegerbrass.com/Blo/Entries/2020/1/explaining-brass-instruments---3-more-notes.html

A trumpet needs some resistance. One with zero resistance would be like that playground trick when someone leans on you but you pull away.

Here is chapter 2.
http://www.jaegerbrass.com/Blo/Entries/2019/12/explaining-brass-instruments---2-the-notes.html