Took my new Getzen 390 out busking

1jazzyalex · Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2017 5:41 pm Post subject:

Grits, the point I was trying to make was, that I studied electronics, a supposed winner of a field, and the industry's left me high and dry. And it's not just me. Electronics techs are a dying, and very underpaid, breed. There's better money to be made as a HS dropout working in a warehouse.

New computer science majors are lucky to get $15 an hour where I am ("Silicon Valley") and yes, with some experience, they'll make more, but it's a hard, hard field, the actual work you have to put into it, learning and keeping up, I feel is very comparable to being a concert pianist. And once you're 40 you're washed up.

I honestly think that the job market has become so chaotic, and so bad, that you might as well do whatever the hell you want, because you're going to get the same ****ty pay no matter what moving target you aim at out of high school. Whether you make decent money at all is effectively random.

I like music and frankly don't see the point of playing it alone in my room. So why not share? It's so much fun! I was playing a jazz riff called "St. Thomas" that I learned off of the Ken Burns "Jazz" series, and a guy *sang* along. I didn't know it was a song, with lyrics. I just thought it was a jazz riff. I've met people who know and like the same obscure bands I do. Yeah I meet drunks and weirdos too, but overall it's far, far preferable to sitting alone in my room.

It's great that money's no problem for you now; maybe you could, if you wanted to take donations, donate your "hat" to a charity? That way you have the "game" of playing for donations, but since you don't need 'em, they go on to some good cause.

Busking for me is working out great. I'm making about what I would driving for Uber, but without needing a car.

Be back later, gonna go out and spend some of that busking money.
_________________
Yamaha 8335LA with Blessing 3C, 5C, Schilke 11A4A

Grits Burgh · Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2017 5:57 pm Post subject:

1jazzyalex · Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2017 7:49 pm Post subject:

Grits, I think we're.... on the same sheet of music

If I get some work done I have to do, I'm planning on going out again on Wednesday.
_________________
Yamaha 8335LA with Blessing 3C, 5C, Schilke 11A4A

1jazzyalex · Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2017 2:52 am Post subject:

I planned to go out today, but the light rail trains were jammed due to some big soccer match at Levi Stadium going on, and I found an inflatable kayak, seemingly little to unused, being thrown out by a local business so I opted to pass up on busking and took the kayak back and put it on Craig's List.

I got to my "official" address, my employer's house, where I spend a couple of days a week, and the cornet, and the Selmer oil that a member on here said they'd send me (I paid the postage) are both here and the cornet plays great! Nice mouthpiece with it too. Now I need to get a plunger

_________________
Yamaha 8335LA with Blessing 3C, 5C, Schilke 11A4A

Richard III · Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2017 6:31 am Post subject:

Look around and you might find a mute style object. I say this because with one of my Ebay buys came a very dented metal plunger mute, AKA Harmon plunger mute. I looked at this thing and thought just about anything will work as a mute. The nice thing about the metal plunger is the sound stays more lively than the rubber ones. I switch back and forth depending on the song. I've used hats too. So look around. Just about anything works.
_________________
Richard

King 1130 Flugabone
King 12C mouthpiece

1jazzyalex · Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2017 1:32 pm Post subject:

Hm! Interesting idea on the metal plunger mute idea. There are a lot of metal bowls of various sizes in places like Home Goods and Ross.

It'd be fun to experiment with the regular rubber plunger but then metal things too.
_________________
Yamaha 8335LA with Blessing 3C, 5C, Schilke 11A4A

1jazzyalex · Posted: Fri Jul 28, 2017 10:09 pm Post subject:

OK I played tonight, in front of Starbucks on Santa Clara and San Pedro, and then in front of Johnny Rockets (Leroy wasn't there) and the total was $10.02. The time was 6:00 to 8:30. I think it was kind of slow for everyone, not only the couple of musicians downtown (basically Rabbit Trumpet Guy and me) but the bums, dope dealers, beggars, pedi-cab hustlers, etc. It's not like people in San Jose have a lot of money; they don't. And it's just before a payday so there are a lot of people eating Kraft mac and cheese tonight.

I had a gal ask me if I take requests, and she wanted to hear "'Isn't She Lovely' by ... that guy... who IS that guy??" and she boogied over to the light rail station before I had a chance to tell her it's by Stevie Wonder, and it turned out to not be so hard to play, really. Kind of fun and nice sounding. After playing it a bit, I realized it's at least one of Leroy's "signature" tunes, that he likes to play. I wonder if that why the gal asked for that one?
_________________
Yamaha 8335LA with Blessing 3C, 5C, Schilke 11A4A

Grits Burgh · Posted: Sat Jul 29, 2017 5:17 am Post subject:

On plungers, I got a blue 4" diameter one off Amazon.com about a year ago, but I don't see it listed anymore. It looks nice and sounds good. However, I have read that deeper ones sound better so I have been on the lookout for a deeper one.

5" or less in diameter is good for the trumpet. I have a larger one. It works okay, but not as well in my opinion. The smaller one is easier to manipulate.

I like the metal idea. I hadn't thought about that. A cheap, deep, metal bowl - hmmm, I'll have to give that a go. The only thing about metal is the potential to scratch the finish your trumpet bell (one more reason to buy a cheap, beater cornet). I saw Shaye Cohn use something like this; I think it was a metal funnel if I remember correctly.

By the way. I can afford to eat anything that I want and i eat Kraft Mac & Cheese. I love it.

Warm regards,
Grits
_________________
Bach Stradivarius 37 (1971)
Schilke HC 1
Getzen 3810 C Cornet
King Master Bb Cornet (1945)
B&S 3145 Challenger I Series Flugelhorn
Life is short; buy every horn you want and die happy.

Richard III · Posted: Sat Jul 29, 2017 6:07 am Post subject:

1jazzyalex · Posted: Sat Jul 29, 2017 2:24 pm Post subject:

Grits - I was actually poor when I was a teen and I could not even think of eating mac and cheese for ... decades really. I was appalled to see mac and cheese even offered in a restaurant. I finally made my peace with the stuff, in that the kind in restaurants tends to be much better than the Kraft in the box kind; good cheese, even the noodles are better.

But what I meant is, San Jose is a city with a thin veneer of rich and techies and so on, tech being 5% of our economy, and a very large body of very poor people that's officially not to be talked about. I'd say 90% of our population lives paycheck to paycheck. A lot of people who look housed, are not. The obviously homeless are the 10% of the iceberg you see above the surface of the water.

About dinging the rim of the trumpet or cornet with a metal bowl, my idea is to put some kind of rubber around the edge, maybe some "trim" from a car parts shop or something.
_________________
Yamaha 8335LA with Blessing 3C, 5C, Schilke 11A4A

Grits Burgh · Posted: Sat Jul 29, 2017 2:57 pm Post subject:

1jazzyalex,

I got what you meant. Earning a living is hard and not just in San Jose. The town next to where I live is in a county that used to be one of the poorest in the country. I am amazed at the ingenuity and hard work of the people around here who do what it takes to feed their family. I really admire them.

My comment about Kraft Mac & Cheese was not meant as a social commentary. It just happens that I have a real fondness for it. It is a running joke in the family that all it takes is Kraft Mac & Cheese to make me happy. But then, I am omnivorous. I eat anything.

On your mute project, when you get it put together, post a picture and a review. I have a plunger but I am always looking for something better.

Warm regards,
Grits
_________________
Bach Stradivarius 37 (1971)
Schilke HC 1
Getzen 3810 C Cornet
King Master Bb Cornet (1945)
B&S 3145 Challenger I Series Flugelhorn
Life is short; buy every horn you want and die happy.

1jazzyalex · Posted: Sat Jul 29, 2017 3:06 pm Post subject:

I have very limited time, and very limited money, to engage in projects, but the trumpet mute project is something I can do.

I like to say I'll leave the house without my clothes before I'll leave without my Swiss Army Knife, but another object that has become inseparable is a little keychain tape measure I got recently at OSH. It's a "Stanley PowerLock 39-130" and it's great. Imagine being able to carry a yardstick in your pocket (it actually goes out to 40 inches). So, knowing the bell diameter of the cornet, I can look at any bowl I see in any store, and know if it's a good candidate to become a mute. I can buy a few cabinet knobs, and "trim" from OSH or someplace like that.

(I mention OSH because it started in the 1930s as an orchardists' co-op and I go to the one that's the original one. I always, *always* go with the oldest technology and places I can; give me a shiny new post office or the one built in 1890 or so like the one downtown, and I'll go to the old one every time I have a choice.)
_________________
Yamaha 8335LA with Blessing 3C, 5C, Schilke 11A4A

1jazzyalex · Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2017 12:36 am Post subject:

I got to Mountain View at about a quarter to 7 tonight, and played until just before 9. It was a pretty fun night. I seem to do best, or at least be happiest, when I treat it as a lesson and tonight I wanted to work on being more relaxed, less pressure, work on that coordination of muscles that's needed to play higher without becoming tense as hell. I think I made some progress.

I don't know if it's the Getzen that can do this while my Yamaha could not, or it's something I've just discovered I can do, but I can do this thing where, say, when I play "When The Saints Go Marching In" I can make the trumpet sound a bit like it's being played on the trombone and the player is using the slide to get a bit of that "wow" effect on the finale note. I'm waiting for someone to comment on it and then I can say my trumpet spent a lot of time stored with a lot of trombones.

I had a guy (and his wife) come up and ask me, "How much money would it take for you to stop playing and go home?". I was in the process of saying "Twenty bucks would do" (thinking I'd just go to a coffee shop for a bit and then come back out hehe) and his wife said "He's just joking" and he said my playing was good and put a $2 bill in the tip box.

So it was 2 hours of playing and the result was $27.28.

I looked in Easy Foods for metal bowls, but the ones they had were too small; 4.5 inches instead of 5. But tomorrow I plan to go to 99 Ranch and they tend to have lots of metal bowls so I might find one or more that are worth trying.
_________________
Yamaha 8335LA with Blessing 3C, 5C, Schilke 11A4A

Grits Burgh · Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2017 10:10 am Post subject:

1jazzyalex,

4.5 inches should work just fine. My plunger is 4.5 inches and I don't think that enlarging it by a half inch would improve it at all.

Personally, I wouldn't want something bigger around than the circumference of the bell of my trumpet, but I'll bet some folks have something larger than their bell and they are happy with it. Different strokes for different folks...

By the way, I'm still experimenting with plungers. I have one that is larger around than the bell of my trumpet. I had to drill a hole in the middle of it so that it wouldn't choke out the sound if the mute accidentally closed off the bell. However, with my smaller plunger (4.5"), I haven't yet felt the need to drill a hole in it. Maybe because it is slightly smaller than the bell, I haven't had a trouble with choking.

Josh Shapk has the same plunger I do - though he sounds better on his:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ3v_0wgyL0.

Warm regards,
Grits
_________________
Bach Stradivarius 37 (1971)
Schilke HC 1
Getzen 3810 C Cornet
King Master Bb Cornet (1945)
B&S 3145 Challenger I Series Flugelhorn
Life is short; buy every horn you want and die happy.

1jazzyalex · Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2017 2:57 pm Post subject:

Grits - Hm! I guess I've been going off of some old movie or video where someone was using a plunger mute and it was the same diameter as the bell. The 4.5" bowls at Easy Foods are double-walled, probably to keep one's rice warm or something and would be difficult to work with.

I'm planning to take off on the bike to 99 Ranch and Lowe's too, so I should come home with some goodies. I'll write about 'em much later, though, because the plan is to make a post office/99 Ranch/Lowe's run quickly then get back here and right out again to Mountain View.
_________________
Yamaha 8335LA with Blessing 3C, 5C, Schilke 11A4A

1jazzyalex · Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2017 10:26 pm Post subject:

OK I got a baby-blue funnel from 99 Ranch and they even put one of those cool 99 Ranch stickers on it - I'm keeping that on. And I got an interesting "Frigidaire" bowl at Ross to experiment with too. I didn't go to Lowe's because paying my cell phone bill took something like half an hour and I was running late as it was.

That guy gets a *real* good sound with that plunger!

I didn't get to Mountain View until just a bit before 8, and played until 9:30. I made $10 exactly.

So this weekend I've made about $47 and interestingly that's about what I have in my pockets now and I don't have to take any out of the bank.
_________________
Yamaha 8335LA with Blessing 3C, 5C, Schilke 11A4A

1jazzyalex · Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2017 1:30 am Post subject:

Very nice short video on use of the plunger here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVrB5CfDZE4

I'm going to be pretty busy the next few days but I'm really rarin' to get over to Lowe's and get a plain-Jane plunger.

But I have my plastic bowl and plastic funnel to play with too, and I still want to experiment with metal bowls. All these things are nice and cheap

My Friday-Saturday-Sunday busking "week" is done; busking in the middle of the week is just not gonna happen - I have too much else I have to do. But, next week, I'm really considering taking the cornet out, altho' not with a plunger, I have to spend some time teaching my right hand to do the valves and carry the weight of the horn.
_________________
Yamaha 8335LA with Blessing 3C, 5C, Schilke 11A4A

Tcdaniel · Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2022 8:37 pm Post subject: Busking for $

Don’t know what y’all are doing wrong.
I rarely make less than $20/hr
Avg is 30/hr. Have done a few 40s, 50s up to 100.
Set list, location, time, peds/shoppers, all adds up.
Just my old ‘65 cornet.. Never backing tracks. Very rarely muted.
Note. I found a very small tin spittoon works great and you can wa wa easily since it fits between your index and middle fingers.
_________________
‘65 Conn Dir Cornet
‘63 Coprion Dir Cornet
‘74 Dir Cornet
Vocabell Cornet
Wm Frank Cornet
Pan Am Tr
Jenkins Special Herald Tr

WxJeff · Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2022 6:06 am Post subject:

Greetings, TC.

Since your profile indicates you live in NW Georgia, I am curious as to where you busk. Downtown Chattanooga, perhaps? Lots of foot traffic and tourists.

Wonder how the new Buc-ee's on I-75 in Calhoun would work out?

Tcdaniel · Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2022 6:47 am Post subject: Buskering