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Jazz players: Do you practice picc?


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random_abstract
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 5:09 pm    Post subject: Jazz players: Do you practice picc? Reply with quote

Looking for some opinions, as I've been thinking about this a lot:

For players who primarily function as jazz soloists, do you own/practice/gig on a piccolo trumpet (or Eb-D trumpet), and do you find that it is beneficial or detrimental to your sound/approach/concept on the Bb?
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lgt0412
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 5:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nope. Never owned one. Never needed one. The only time I ever play a Picc is when I get one in the shop and test play it after whatever work I have done to it. (Same goes for Eb/D). And just for full disclosure's sake 99.9% of my playing is small group jazz or big band where I am playing the solo book.
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trumpet.trader
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 5:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think of piccolo trumpet as just a tool for the job. I don’t particularly enjoy playing picc but I need it for a handful of jobs each year. Church functions at holidays mostly and sometimes for wedding services.

So I guess don’t have a “sound concept” specifically for my Bb or C or picc etc. they’re just tools for the job I’m playing.

I spent enough years in college and in practice rooms learning how to play picc and Eb/Ds that I understand how they work and how to approach playing them. So I never practice on those instruments unless I need to work on music for an upcoming job where I use them.
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trumpet.trader
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 5:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

But to maybe answer your question more, no I don’t find practicing picc or Eb/Ds detrimental to any other part of my playing. No different than switching to flugelhorn when needed.

Also in general playing different bore size brass instruments and different size mouthpieces never really presented to much of a challenge for me.

I play in a couple top 40 bands with only trumpet and sax for horns, and I bring a trombone for some tunes and switch back and forth with out much of an issue. And none of those instrument switches screws with my sound concept of Bb
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HERMOKIWI
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 5:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm strictly a jazz soloist and I don't play or own anything other than Bb instruments (trumpet, cornet, flugelhorn).
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dershem
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 5:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have been kn own to have my Bb, C, Eb and Picc (and bone and bass bone) here when practicing, even on the Aebersold. They make you get out of your rut and think differently. Picc is also good for making you think about air.
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homecookin
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 6:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

NO !!!
All of my work is on the commercial side of things.
I use B flat trumpet for everything.
Although I do double on valve trombone.
I am not the slightest bit interested in
piccolo trumpet, C trumpet, D trumpet, or
Eb trumpet.
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jazz_trpt
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 12, 2018 7:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I only practice on the instruments I actually use.
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Turkle
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 12, 2018 3:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm a jazz player, although I do play some C trumpet from time to time.

I purchased a piccolo a couple of years ago. I never even learned to play the darn thing. It's just sitting in its case on my trumpet shelf.

I guess I'll just never be a piccolo player! Oh well...
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Tony Scodwell
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 13, 2018 8:41 am    Post subject: Piccolo dangers Reply with quote

I'll relate a very funny story that happened here in a Las Vegas showroom years ago and names involved will not be disclosed.

Why you should practice piccolo if the need arises in a performance to play one.

The show was Anthony Newly and the piece was his composition which featured a piccolo trumpet passage that was quite famous at the time as Newly was getting a lot of attention with the recordings of his compositions by well known artists. Newly was also doing his own performances in Las Vegas with a large orchestra and this particular arrangement came along in the show and as one of the trumpet players actually owned a piccolo, naturally he got the part with the piccolo double. He was a great lead player in his own right and when the time along for the switch to piccolo, somehow his three fingers ended up on the second, third and fourth valves instead of one, two and three. The more he played, the worse it got and when the piece was finished Newly turned around and said, "not even close". This one experience was traumatic for this otherwise great player and is somewhat legend in the Las Vegas music scene.

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Pete
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 13, 2018 8:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I own one as well as a C trumpet. I rarely use them but got great deals on both of them. As mentioned earlier, they are tools. Sometimes piccolo is used in some theater productions that I might do. C trumpet for church gigs when I get them. They basically collect dust until then.

Pete
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Ole
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 13, 2018 9:12 am    Post subject: Piccolo trumpet Reply with quote

Thanks for the great story Tony!
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random_abstract
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 13, 2018 10:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

That is a great story! Thanks for the replies.

I guess my thought in posting this question has more to do with the embouchure adjustment and different approach required to play the high trumpets well - both in the short term and the long term. I know that this is a requisite skill for most classical/orchestral players, but jazz solo work is a much different animal.

Seems that some players have no trouble switching between instruments, others find it detrimental to the sound they've cultivated on their main axe. I think I'd count myself among the latter, but I'm curious about the general wisdom and experience on this subject.
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Riojazz
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 14, 2018 7:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

For church work, I use a Bb/A Schilke pic and sometimes a Yamaha F/G. The good news is that few there would know whether I'm playing them all that well. I don't consider the embouchure to be different; I consider the approach to the music to be different, and from that, the sound changes as needed. Both horns only come out of the cases in the weeks during rehearsals and performance.
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AKAustralia
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 15, 2018 5:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'll practice it sporadically, as a refresher and diversion, and when I know there's a job coming up that requires picc. I mainly work on keeping the air light, breathing a bit higher and shallower, and reacquainting myself with my sound concept.
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TrentAustin
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 15, 2018 7:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Absolutely I shed piccolo almost daily and find the benefits to be quite numerous for my big horn playing.
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Craig Swartz
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 15, 2018 7:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

OP might have asked if pic players regularly shed jazz licks...
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TrentAustin
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 15, 2018 7:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Craig Swartz wrote:
OP might have asked if pic players regularly shed jazz licks...


I love playing bop tunes on my pic!
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Craig Swartz
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 15, 2018 8:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I used to take mine along on our July 4 "boat tour" on my lake in MN, We had a 5-7 piece on a large pontoon that made resort-to-resort stops. We'd play, the resorts would bring food and drinks and we'd have a blow out party at the end. Those were great days. Used correctly, I could make the pic fill in for a clarinet on Dixie tunes. Pretty cool.
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trane1959
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 16, 2018 11:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't practice it until I get called for a gig. I typically try and take these gigs because it is out of my comfort zone and I like to challenge myself. Last October, I was hired to play a Sgt Peppers tribute in a 1200 seat theater. Everybody in the room knows that Penny Lane solo, so it was a lot of pressure, but I practiced over a long period of time and did a good job with it. I will say, I don't do an amazing job at capturing the Baroque style in the same way a Baroque specialist would, but I was good enough for the occasion and I was proud at the work I put in prior to it, which was enough to keep me calm and focused during the pressure filled performance setting. I try and play picc once or twice a year in front of an audience just to prove to myself I can still do it.
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