This weekend I have a brass quintet rehearsal, sadly we will be missing our second trumpet, so it will be a quartet for the day. Which just isn't as much fun. I do plan to try out the new flugelhorn though. I want to hear how it blends in a brass section. I have to adjust to its not as aggressive playing style, like cornet. I have been playing on my trumpet for so long, I'm not used to a horn that works best when you back off. For those wondering (none, I know) my roster of horns now is:
B flat Stomvi Elite (their old elite, which is now called the Master), large bore
B flat Ryton (Bach Strad knock off, medium bore)
A/B flat Amati 4 valve piccolo (Czech piece of junk, waste of money, sounds like its plastic and probably is, all I know is that its neither a long bell or short bell picc) I have never performed on this horn, thankfully
B flat Besson 700 Cornet (I love this horn, its so much fun to play, such a velvelt tone and free blowing. Besson only made a few hundred as a prototype to demonstrate at a show, Baltimore Brass got ahold of them, sold them for $400 each. Was a steal)
C Bach Stradivarius, reversed lead pipe, large bore, 29 gold/brass double walled bell. This horn is really great. I'm not in love with it, but I haven't played another bach, or C trumpet in fact, that felt as good as it does to blow on this thing in orchestra.
B Flat JZ Flugelhorn, the recent acquisition
B flat Flugelhorn, unknown brand, but autographed by Maynard Ferguson. It plays like crap, I should turn it into a lamp
B flat Bundy student model, its held together by wire ties. Real classy
Vintage 1960's Besson Euphonium (Made at the London factory)with 4th, noncompensating valvue. Satin silver finish, its gorgeous and in amazing shape, not bad for free...
So Thats the line up. I have recently lent out the Ryton to a coworker who is in high school and is thinking of upgrading. I told him this is an inexpensive way to obtain a professional quality horn and see how it feels, if he thinks its for him. I also offered him lessons. He seems more willing to learn than my current student. He hasn't figure dout you have to have good tone, the correct rhythm and pitch, all at the same time. It is so infuriating that he hasn't gotten any of those skills down to being natural.
I am currently going through an embouchure change. I have realized I curl my lips in when I play, especially when I get tired, which reduced the the vibrating area, killing sound and making me even more tired. I was able to get the adjustment to playing on more of the inside of my lip comfortable enough to use for the orchestra re-audition. I really had a bigger sound with this adjustment. It has resulted in the gap for air to pass through to be a little bigger, which should allow me to get more air out, improving range (I hope). I still ned to do a lot of work on it, but my work schedule isn't cooperating. Even though I am an insomniac, staying up til 2-3 every night, I live in a rowhome, so no practicing normally after 9.
I am wanting to arrange a song for me to use my flugel with the quintet, to get a little bit more unique sound for the group. So it would be a Flugel solo with a quartet accompaniment. It will be time to listen to the radio and the CD collections, and some mp3's for a song to write out. Some more late nights staring at Sibelius lie ahead. I think the quintet book is almost overflowing with my homebrew arrangements.
I still have "Nothin' But a Good Time" blasting in my head. Peace friend(s)
Friday, August 31, 2007
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Opening Remarks...
Hello. First of all, thanks for traveling to my little hole on the net for the discussion of my journey through life as a musician with insomnia. I'm 27 and from Baltimore, Maryland. I plan to keep this blog free of political discussion of any views. This is not a forum for it. This blog will be for you to track my growth as a musician and I feel this time is right to start the journal.
I am a trumpet player and with that, a perfectionist, which means I think I suck. Others disagree but its not up for discussion. I was just able to hold on to the principal chair of the local community symphony after a conductor change. I am a member of a brass quintet called the Usual Suspects. They consider me their resident arranger because on those nights of not sleeping, I sit staring at scores in Sibelius. My friend and I also have just finished recording an album (I do not play trumpet on the album, I am the main lyricist and vocalist) that we have applied for copyright on, so we can then order our first copies to send to companies and give to friends, and sell to our few local fans. I work for Baltimore County Public Library. I am on a committee called "Non-print Evaluation". Its fancy for I help pick out CDs for the library system to carry. They placed me in charge of jazz and new age. I also play a lot of community theater productions. I think this has set the tone of me.
I felt this was a good time to start this blog because of some major musical things happening in my life. I have now, within two weeks attended my first two large scale rock concerts. I saw Dreamtheater on August 14. I am a fan of theres. Their technical skill and compositional skills are a great attraction to me. This was my first metal concert and it blew me away. I went without earplugs, and gladly paid for the physical "pain". I could feel my hair vibrating, it was glorious. Their setlist was quite remarkable, but I'm bad with song names, just, lets say, lots of Petrucci guitar solos, and some fantastic keyboard solos by Jordan Rudess, and solid playing by Mike Portnoy and John Myung. I am not a fan of Labries' singing. He was solid at the concert though, and I must say, it was life changing for me.
Yesterday, August 29 was a big day. Early in afternoon I scored a win with buying a flugelhorn. Its a nice solid sounding horn with a great response and a nice full tone, and has great intonation. It was a real steal at $400. I know...$400 for a great horn. The thing is, the chinese and Japanese have done a clever thing and started releasing horns made exactly like the big name companies of Bach, Courtois, LeBlanc, Buffett, and Stomvi, and producing them to such accuracy that the parts are interchangable. They are also selling them for 1/3 of the price. I already own a regular B flat by a company called Ryton, that plays just like a Bach Strad 37, that I paid $350 for. My friends can't tell the difference. This flugel is made by JZ. I never heard of them, but this horn feels and sounds like the Courtois flugel I had been dreaming to buy for years, which had recently gone off the market in the US. That is why I say this was a score.
Later that day, I met with some of my lovely coworkers and went to the Ratt/Poison concert at Pier Six Pavilion. After a couple beers at the Hard Rock and Hooters, we rocked out to some of the best glam rock from the 80's. Hell yes. It was nothing but a good time! I was not a huge fan of either band, and I'm still not, but you can't ignore the general awesomeness of a group of people getting together for a party with some fun ass music blasting. Its an amazing feeling. I have always been kind of uptight about my music tastes and it has just been recently that I have let the guard down so to speak.
I will post more. Peace to you all
I am a trumpet player and with that, a perfectionist, which means I think I suck. Others disagree but its not up for discussion. I was just able to hold on to the principal chair of the local community symphony after a conductor change. I am a member of a brass quintet called the Usual Suspects. They consider me their resident arranger because on those nights of not sleeping, I sit staring at scores in Sibelius. My friend and I also have just finished recording an album (I do not play trumpet on the album, I am the main lyricist and vocalist) that we have applied for copyright on, so we can then order our first copies to send to companies and give to friends, and sell to our few local fans. I work for Baltimore County Public Library. I am on a committee called "Non-print Evaluation". Its fancy for I help pick out CDs for the library system to carry. They placed me in charge of jazz and new age. I also play a lot of community theater productions. I think this has set the tone of me.
I felt this was a good time to start this blog because of some major musical things happening in my life. I have now, within two weeks attended my first two large scale rock concerts. I saw Dreamtheater on August 14. I am a fan of theres. Their technical skill and compositional skills are a great attraction to me. This was my first metal concert and it blew me away. I went without earplugs, and gladly paid for the physical "pain". I could feel my hair vibrating, it was glorious. Their setlist was quite remarkable, but I'm bad with song names, just, lets say, lots of Petrucci guitar solos, and some fantastic keyboard solos by Jordan Rudess, and solid playing by Mike Portnoy and John Myung. I am not a fan of Labries' singing. He was solid at the concert though, and I must say, it was life changing for me.
Yesterday, August 29 was a big day. Early in afternoon I scored a win with buying a flugelhorn. Its a nice solid sounding horn with a great response and a nice full tone, and has great intonation. It was a real steal at $400. I know...$400 for a great horn. The thing is, the chinese and Japanese have done a clever thing and started releasing horns made exactly like the big name companies of Bach, Courtois, LeBlanc, Buffett, and Stomvi, and producing them to such accuracy that the parts are interchangable. They are also selling them for 1/3 of the price. I already own a regular B flat by a company called Ryton, that plays just like a Bach Strad 37, that I paid $350 for. My friends can't tell the difference. This flugel is made by JZ. I never heard of them, but this horn feels and sounds like the Courtois flugel I had been dreaming to buy for years, which had recently gone off the market in the US. That is why I say this was a score.
Later that day, I met with some of my lovely coworkers and went to the Ratt/Poison concert at Pier Six Pavilion. After a couple beers at the Hard Rock and Hooters, we rocked out to some of the best glam rock from the 80's. Hell yes. It was nothing but a good time! I was not a huge fan of either band, and I'm still not, but you can't ignore the general awesomeness of a group of people getting together for a party with some fun ass music blasting. Its an amazing feeling. I have always been kind of uptight about my music tastes and it has just been recently that I have let the guard down so to speak.
I will post more. Peace to you all
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