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JGulyas
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 24 Apr 2002
Posts: 726
Location: Roanoke, VA
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 Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 7:40 am Post subject: Coming Back |
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Hi All,
My name's John, and I'm a comeback player.
I was a pro player years ago, and spent 14 years on active duty in the US Navy music program. When I left the Navy in 2010, I had destroyed my embouchure from a marathon performance, had no range, no endurance, and an anemic sound. I was so destroyed by it that I put down the horn in 2007 and became an audio engineer.
I ended up becoming a pro audio engineer as well, earned a degree in Audio Production from Middle Tennessee State University, owned a recording studio in Nashville, TN, and left my horn in the closet collecting dust.
I used to have all the pro horns and stuff; Bb, Malone C, Eb/D, Picc, Flugel (all Yamahas except the Picc which was a P5-4), Monette mouthpieces out the wazoo, mutes galore, etc. Ended up selling them all out of depression. I was getting ready to sell my Bb a couple weeks ago (63355GHSII) and my wife said, "why don't you *do* something with it??" I said, "I am, I'm going to try and sell it!"
After a brief spat, I said fine, will it make you happy if I try and play in the local community band? She said yes, so I started trying to play again. It was pathetic... couldn't hardly make a sound, lips were toast after about 8 minutes... shoo!!
So now I've decided to try and stick with it, so I took my horn to the local shop to have it cleaned and polished. While I was in there I saw they had a few horns on the wall, one of which was a little Chinese C trumpet that I picked up. I could still remember the opening to Pictures, so I gave it a go. Sounded pretty anemic, of course, but it was fun to play it. And that got me thinking...
Had I never gotten so burnt out on concert band crap, and kept playing in orchestras, then maybe I would never have put the horn down. Now I've gotten the urge to play again, and am considering buying that little Chinese C just for gits and shiggles. I've even thought about videoing my brief practice sessions to see if I can see progress, and eventually may contact the local community orchestra to see if I can play in that.
Will it happen? Who knows. I guess I'll just have to find out.
_________________
All the Best,
John
US Navy Bandsman 1996-2010 (Trumpet; Audio Engineer)
Mpc - Kanstul/Monette B6, Hammond Design custom "JG"
Bb - Yamaha 6335HGSII
C - Eastman ETR530
Picc - NoName Chinese |
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swthiel
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 02 Apr 2005
Posts: 3967
Location: Cincinnati, OH
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| Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 10:35 am Post subject: |
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I remember you! I'm glad you're starting a comeback!
_________________
Steve Thiel |
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JGulyas
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 24 Apr 2002
Posts: 726
Location: Roanoke, VA
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| Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 10:43 am Post subject: |
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Hi Steve!
I remember you, too!
I just went back and found the last post I made before I put it away... It was 2007.
| swthiel wrote: | | I remember you! I'm glad you're starting a comeback! |
_________________
All the Best,
John
US Navy Bandsman 1996-2010 (Trumpet; Audio Engineer)
Mpc - Kanstul/Monette B6, Hammond Design custom "JG"
Bb - Yamaha 6335HGSII
C - Eastman ETR530
Picc - NoName Chinese |
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Dayton
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 24 Mar 2013
Posts: 2036
Location: USA
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| Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 11:04 am Post subject: |
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| Welcome back to trumpet playing! It will take time to build your chops back up. Don't get impatient. Good luck, and have fun! |
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billm67
Regular Member
Joined: 13 Jun 2014
Posts: 16
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| Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2020 5:43 am Post subject: |
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| Just have fun and enjoy the music. Find music you like and work on playing. I played all through high school and quit when I go out of school. I have played guitar in lots of venues since...but for the last two years...just have been burned out on guitar (lots of reasons I won't get into here). But I still love music. My son is in college and is playing in the marching and concert bands. He asked me to take him to a local club that has big band/jazz once a month. He said to me that "he can't imagine not playing music". I bought a used beat up Getzen off Craigslist and started last August. I am starting in a town band next week. The point of all of this is that I have learned that I love playing music (whether I do it well or not). Find music/venues that bring you joy and have fun. For me anything that puts excessive pressure on me is not fun, takes away the joy of playing music for me...so I try to stay away from those situations. But like my son...I can't imagine not playing music either. |
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JGulyas
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 24 Apr 2002
Posts: 726
Location: Roanoke, VA
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| Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2020 6:07 am Post subject: |
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| billm67 wrote: | | ...takes away the joy of playing music for me...so I try to stay away from those situations. |
This is an understatement, for sure! This was probably one of the reasons I put the horn away to begin with, because it wasn't fun anymore. Unfortunately, I couldn't just stay away from it, because it was my job.
Playing the same crap day in and day out... keep in mind I was in a military band, so marches were the life blood of my job... and I HATE marches... One of the reasons I switched to audio engineering was so I could get away from those damn marches!
Disclaimer: I am in no way saying the military killed my love of playing trumpet, because many times I had the opportunity to play in the local orchestra, but for whatever reason, I didn't take advantage of that.
I will however blame the military for destroying my embouchure. Maybe it was bound to happen at some point because of a faulty face, I don't know, but on one concert, I was playing principal in the wind ensemble, 3rd/Lead in the jazz ensemble, principal/solo in the brass quintet, and part of a horn line in a TOP-type band.
This was a straight 2.5 hour blow-fest, and I did everything I was supposed to do to keep my face in shape... proper warm-up and proper warm-down... the next day I could hardly make a sound on the horn, and when I could, it was nasty. For months I had this issue, and it caused me to lose my job as leader of the brass quintet, was no longer principal in the wind ensemble, taken out of the jazz ensemble, and was relegated to playing 3rd trumpet parts in the ceremonial band... playing nothing but marches... day after day of 3rd trumpet parts in marches...
_________________
All the Best,
John
US Navy Bandsman 1996-2010 (Trumpet; Audio Engineer)
Mpc - Kanstul/Monette B6, Hammond Design custom "JG"
Bb - Yamaha 6335HGSII
C - Eastman ETR530
Picc - NoName Chinese |
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cgaiii
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 26 Jun 2017
Posts: 1545
Location: Virginia USA
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| Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2020 1:11 pm Post subject: |
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Welcome back to trumpet playing. The joy you put into the work will be joy you get out of the instrument. Agree with everyone who says have fun and do not be too hard on yourself.
_________________
Bb: Schilke X3L AS SP, Yamaha YTR-6335S
C: Schilke CXL, Kanstul 1510-2
Picc: Kanstul 920
Bb Bugle: Kanstul
Bb Pocket: Manchester Brass
Flugel: Taylor Standard
Bass Trumpet: BAC Custom
Natural Tr: Custom Haas replica by Nikolai Mänttäri Morales |
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JGulyas
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 24 Apr 2002
Posts: 726
Location: Roanoke, VA
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| Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2020 12:53 pm Post subject: Video |
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Ok.. So I got out my GoPro and took some videos of my rinky-dink practice session. I started at 10:00 Saturday morning and was spent by 10:45. 
Don't pay much mind to the audio quality of these... it sucks... I'm using iMovie, and boosted the audio level because it was too low initially, but sounded fine. After YouTube finished with the conversion it sounds completely rank; hyper-compressed, etc.
I'm using a Mac Mini from 2010 and it's not powerful enough for video editing, and I didn't feel like switching partitions on it to get to Pro Tools to edit the audio, then switch again to edit the video. Basically, I just need a new computer!
Anyway, here are the links...
https://youtu.be/8eBZr_1TBoA
https://youtu.be/KJ4Vf29oQa8
https://youtu.be/lQUYDmRBTTY
https://youtu.be/Ho_LN-hL1Os
https://youtu.be/1A8RrM0sEqs
https://youtu.be/Cdl4ymF70zc
_________________
All the Best,
John
US Navy Bandsman 1996-2010 (Trumpet; Audio Engineer)
Mpc - Kanstul/Monette B6, Hammond Design custom "JG"
Bb - Yamaha 6335HGSII
C - Eastman ETR530
Picc - NoName Chinese |
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swthiel
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 02 Apr 2005
Posts: 3967
Location: Cincinnati, OH
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| Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2020 2:52 pm Post subject: |
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Just listened to a couple of the videos you posted.
I am jealous of your starting point! Don't forget to pace yourself at first.
_________________
Steve Thiel |
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JGulyas
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 24 Apr 2002
Posts: 726
Location: Roanoke, VA
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| Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2020 4:50 pm Post subject: |
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| swthiel wrote: | Just listened to a couple of the videos you posted.
I am jealous of your starting point! Don't forget to pace yourself at first. |
Hah, thanks, Steve!
Pacing myself is probably going to be the most difficult part, because I'm always going to be thinking about how I *used* to be able to play...
_________________
All the Best,
John
US Navy Bandsman 1996-2010 (Trumpet; Audio Engineer)
Mpc - Kanstul/Monette B6, Hammond Design custom "JG"
Bb - Yamaha 6335HGSII
C - Eastman ETR530
Picc - NoName Chinese |
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JGulyas
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 24 Apr 2002
Posts: 726
Location: Roanoke, VA
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| Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2020 5:26 pm Post subject: |
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Hopefully this won't hurt...
https://youtu.be/-esQBDamvds
Followed this with a nice, sensible warm-down; soft, low, and slow!
_________________
All the Best,
John
US Navy Bandsman 1996-2010 (Trumpet; Audio Engineer)
Mpc - Kanstul/Monette B6, Hammond Design custom "JG"
Bb - Yamaha 6335HGSII
C - Eastman ETR530
Picc - NoName Chinese |
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swthiel
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 02 Apr 2005
Posts: 3967
Location: Cincinnati, OH
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| Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2020 8:28 pm Post subject: |
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| JGulyas wrote: | | Pacing myself is probably going to be the most difficult part, because I'm always going to be thinking about how I *used* to be able to play... |
That was my experience, as well.
Full disclosure: as I've shared here before, my memory of how good I was was probably, let's say, not consistent my actual skill (i put the horn down in college, when I was an engineering student).
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Steve Thiel |
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