End of Life Plans

[jhatpro]

I turned 80 last month. I’m good health but also thinking I should have a plan for the eventual disposal of my horns and music.

The horns won’t be such a challenge. I’ll make arrangements for my survivors to get them to someone who can sell them on consignment.

The music is more of a problem. I’m talking about most of the Abersold and Hal Leonard playalongs plus dozens of method and etude books and three-ring notebooks filled with transcriptions and downloads of material about playing mechanics, equipment, improv strategies and more.

I won’t be seeking compensation for this stuff - just a way to keep it out of a landfill and get it into the hands of a trumpet player or teacher.

I’d like to leave behind a list of names and addresses of people who would like to receive a bundle of goodies one day. If you want to be on that list, PM me with your name and mailing address.

You may be hearing from one of my executors someday!
_________________
Jim Hatfield

"The notes are there - find them.” Mingus

2021 Martinus Geelan Custom
2005 Bach 180-72R
1965 Getzen Eterna Severinsen
1946 Conn Victor
1998 Scodwell flugel
1986 Bach 181 cornet
1954 Conn 80A cornet
2002 Getzen bugle

[Richard III]

Sounds like something for a school. Do you have an alma mater that would be a good candidate?
_________________
Richard

Conn 22B Trumpet
York Eminence Model 4028 Cornet
1903 Conn The Wonder Cornet

[ebolton]

[PH]

My friend Ashley Summers is an administrator at the Merit School of Music in Chicago. They serve a wide range of students, including a bunch of disadvantaged kids from the city. I know if you contact her they would LOVE to have those materials for their students to use.
_________________
Bach trumpet artist-clinician
Clinical Professor of Jazz Trumpet, University of Illinois
Professor Emeritus of Jazz Studies, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music
Faculty Jamey Aebersold Jazz Workshops 1976-2019
JazzRetreats.com

[kehaulani]

I also agree with schools, but looking at your topics, I would assume that the majority of your stuff would be better used in a college.

If you have time to sort your stuff, you might find some things would work for the average H.S. student but, I would think a lot of it would be better used at the college level.

Perhaps you could sort into two groupings?
_________________
"If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." Bird

Yamaha 8310Z Bobby Shew trumpet
Benge 3X Trumpet
Benge 3X Cornet
Adams F-1 Flghn

[HaveTrumpetWillTravel]

When people pass, there is often *so much* stuff to deal with. My parents moved out of their home recently and honestly it was not possible to run stuff to 20 different places.

In Chicago, honestly, if a family member posted to freecycling or local facebook, that would probably be the best chance to get it picked up immediately and into circulation. If you're willing to donate now you probably have a better chance of directing it to a place where it would be used.

[jhatpro]

Thanks for all your replies. Just to clarify - I’m not planning to donate anything any time soon. My idea is simply to have a list of names and addresses of players who would like to receive a surprise package of trumpet related materials at some point following my death.

Just PM me your name and address and I’ll add it to the list I plan to leave behind.
_________________
Jim Hatfield

"The notes are there - find them.” Mingus

2021 Martinus Geelan Custom
2005 Bach 180-72R
1965 Getzen Eterna Severinsen
1946 Conn Victor
1998 Scodwell flugel
1986 Bach 181 cornet
1954 Conn 80A cornet
2002 Getzen bugle

[JayKosta]

I suggest looking for organizations that do some sort of community music education.
I've been thinking about similar things for my 'stuff' (musical and other).

I don't want to give things to a group that won't make some sort of effort to get advantage from them! A busy and over-worked teacher might not be willing to devote that effort.

One possible organization I've been thinking of is - Cleveland Music Settlement - https://www.themusicsettlement.org

Another option is finding a local 'young person' who is enthusiastic and capable and willing is use your material - and that way you have the satisfaction of knowing that the person will actually be remembering YOU.
_________________
Most Important Note ? - the next one !
KNOW (see) what the next note is BEFORE you have to play it.
PLAY the next note 'on time' and 'in rhythm'.
Oh ya, watch the conductor - they set what is 'on time'.

[Seymor B Fudd]

This is not the end, it´s not even the beginning of the end,but it is perhaps the end of the beginning.
Well if we could do it all over again; "one more time" or even "one more once". Not going into the Coda, instead dal Segno!
When it comes to the playing I am in fact trying to re invent myself for the umpteenth time (well variations of the already known, refinement).
And me too - 80 by end of December 2022.
As far as I know I´m in perfect health. So my doc tells me.

The title of your post is/might be ominous. But it won´t hurt to be realistic, in spite of being a trumpeter/cornetist. Even if my mother died, with all her wits intact, aged 103 +.

As a matter of fact when a dear friend literally dropped dead all of a sudden just before last summer, a front row buddy of mine since more than 50 years went directly into the Coda because of Covid (one month prior to the vaccine) this alerted us to re write our "last will".
Who´s gonna have this or that, what kind of music at our funerals (I have chosen, amongst other tunes, a CD featuring myself playing the Hayden tp concert, nr 3 as is, in a hilarious arrangement, at the University band concert 1974 - better remembering me than a dull hymn).

And what to do with my horns? Maybe maybe one grandchild might get interersted? If not then I will donate my horns to the Brassband to use or to sell. And the mouthpiece collection, 28 of them? And all that printed music? I have a lot of books devoted to how to play (such as Bunny Berigan´s take; Harry James´; Schlossberg (the one with the green cover); Clarke; Charles Colin; Bai Lin;The BE method; Arban (the complete, in a giant version) and many many others (Pops..). Probably the Brass band. But I doubt that beginners have heard of Harry James...
Time goes by, so does the cultural memory.
One of my favourite tunes with the Brassband is the immortal (ha!) Resurgam by Eric Ball; subtitle: "I will rise again". We´ll see..!

But we are here, still kicking!And playing! And getting better by the day!
_________________
Cornets:
Getzen Custom Series Schilke 143D3/ DW Ultra 1,5 C
Getzen 300 series
Yamaha YCRD2330II
Yamaha YCR6330II
Getzen Eterna Eb
Trumpets:
Yamaha 6335 RC Schilke 14B
King Super 20 Symphony DB (1970)
Selmer Eb/D trumpet (1974)

[jhatpro]

I know the feeling. I’m way better now than I was when I had better hearing, more flexibility, and a lot more wind. I guess it’s because at 80 I have more time to spend with Clarke, Arban, Broiles and friends.
_________________
Jim Hatfield

"The notes are there - find them.” Mingus

2021 Martinus Geelan Custom
2005 Bach 180-72R
1965 Getzen Eterna Severinsen
1946 Conn Victor
1998 Scodwell flugel
1986 Bach 181 cornet
1954 Conn 80A cornet
2002 Getzen bugle

[patdublc]

I'm not planning to go anywhere any time soon, but we don't always get our way so I have discussed this with my wife. If something immediate happened and I were to have no time to discuss, she would pack it all up in a U-Haul and call Trent to deal with everything. At least that way, Trent could make some money out of the deal and insure that valuable horns are handled appropriately.

It's not a great plan, but it is good enough for now.
_________________
Pat Shaner
Play Wedge Mouthpieces by Dr. Dave exclusively.
Experiment with LOTS of horn makes and models.

[spitvalve]

I'm 64 1/2 and have no plans to check out prematurely, but since it's not uncommon for people my age to suddenly drop dead, I suppose I should start putting my will together. The only stuff I have of any monetary value would be my horns, method books, and sheet music, which would go to my trumpet-playing son. He can keep what he wants, sell the rest, and split the proceeds with his four siblings. It might be enough to buy some high-quality ice cream.

My wife, assuming she survives me, gets everything else to distribute among the kids, sell, or throw out as she sees fit.

Oh, and she gets the proceeds from my life insurance policy. I'm worth more dead than alive!
_________________
Bryan Fields
----------------
1991 Bach LR180 ML 37S
1999 Getzen Eterna 700S
1979 Getzen Eterna 895S Flugelhorn
1969 Getzen Capri cornet
Eastlake Benge 4PSP piccolo trumpet
Warburton and Stomvi Flex mouthpieces

[Tony Scodwell]

I recently went through being the sole trustee to my sister's estate. She unfortunately ran out of time before she was able to put all her monetary accounts into her trust. Four are now being probated and my advice is to have an attorney set up your trust now. A will is meaningless unless all bank and stock accounts are in a trust and the named trustee is clearly stated. Avoid probate as probate costs will be 3-5% of the entire estate recovered along with $3,000 to have an attorney handling it. It is necessary to arrange your bank and stock accounts with your name printed on the checks as well as the name of your family trust. This applies to stock accounts as well.

As far as donations of your music and horns, this will amaze you.

My good friend (and former teacher at Berklee) was going over to the school to see some old friends and walked through the alley behind the school on his way. He noticed some guy dumping a lot of music into the trash and stopped to ask what he was throwing away. "Oh, nobody wants to play this old crap" and my friend looked more closely...it was Buddy Rich's entire book of arrangements. A similar story here in Las Vegas is when Si Zentner donated his entire book (mostly Bob Florence charts) to the University of Nevada and it has sat in a closet ever since. Not hip enough I guess. My entire book of some 300 big band charts went to a university where the now former jazz instructor got railroaded into a bogus sexual harassment case and all my charts are sitting idle in the school and he can't enter the school with the lawsuit pending.

As for horns, find a good store or school that you know will utilize what you donate and put that information into your trust as well. Believe me, if it 's not in your trust all bets are off.

Tony Scodwell
www.scodwellusa.com

[jhatpro]

Good advice, Tony. My wife and I have a trust to cover the house, holdings, etc. I only have a few horns left including one of your terrific flugels!

I plan to leave letter with specifics on what to do with horns, cases, mutes, stands, charts, books, binders and playalongs.

The memories I'm taking with me.
_________________
Jim Hatfield

"The notes are there - find them.” Mingus

2021 Martinus Geelan Custom
2005 Bach 180-72R
1965 Getzen Eterna Severinsen
1946 Conn Victor
1998 Scodwell flugel
1986 Bach 181 cornet
1954 Conn 80A cornet
2002 Getzen bugle

[cjl]

The county here recently built a new high school combining three existing schools into one. Three bands became one at the same time.

They combined the music catalogs of all the bands (one of the schools was around 40 years old) and culled out any duplicates and pieces that they did not want.

They were going to toss it all away when someone finally thought to ask the local community band if they might be interested in the music. The director said of course! (The community band owns some music and borrows some as needed.) The community director said, "Why would anyone ever throw away music???" I cannot understand that, either, but I am a hoarder by nature.

-- Joe

[Seymor B Fudd]

Tony S points to something extremely important! You just cannot write your will - in general terms and then that´s it. A clever lawyer must help you specify, to express your wishes in an unequivocal way. Specify specify and do it very specifically

And that cultural memory....."who is Harry James".. "uhh?"
Sometimes I despair - there are youngsters (folks below 50) in the bands but in the majority of big bands around my place in the world, guys like me are in the majority (70 and up).
Après nous le deluge as she said, madame Pompadour, yes flooding seems to become the future, but "where have all the big bands gone".....
We might belong to a dying species....

But the same things happened to us: my parents had a lot of old stuff, some very delicate furniture - did I want it? Nope, yes one fantastic secretary, more than 100 years old but is was way too big for our compact living. But I sold it to an overjoyed woman who almost cried when she saw it.
Let´s face the reality: one man´s gem is the other one´s garbage. A tendency that seems to grow when it comes to generation gaps.
_________________
Cornets:
Getzen Custom Series Schilke 143D3/ DW Ultra 1,5 C
Getzen 300 series
Yamaha YCRD2330II
Yamaha YCR6330II
Getzen Eterna Eb
Trumpets:
Yamaha 6335 RC Schilke 14B
King Super 20 Symphony DB (1970)
Selmer Eb/D trumpet (1974)

[Brassnose]

I don’t think you are quite fair. I am a youngster by your scale and the major reason for not spending more time on bands and music is simply that surviving, paying off mortgages, raising kids, and keeping a secure job is a lot more difficult than in the years before. Even before Covid hit, the economy was down and a lot of factors contribute to the non-recovery of it. I simply have no time to play in various bands and am happy I can soso keep up my playing in the orchestra I play in.

Teaching culture and cultural heritage to kids is a way other issue, not even undergrads these days spell words correctly - never mind they want to be teachers and people in charge of something one day. And I am not even talking knowledge of history, politics, arts, and science, just basics of life. I totally hear you there.
_________________
2019 Martin Schmidt eXcellence
1992 Bach 43GH/43
1989 Kühnl & Hoyer Model 15 flugel
1980/2023 Custom Blessing Scholastic C 😎
1977 Conn 6B
1951 Buescher 400 Lightweight
AR Resonance, Frate, Klier

[Seymor B Fudd]

Yes I was too simplifying and did younger folks in general an injustice. After all, I´v e been there done that myself....Sorry! There is a tendency to fall into the generation gap....
Old man´s lamenting. It wasn´t better back in the day, but it´s worse now.....
Younger band buddies often are stalled by sick kids, sudden job related meetings or what now. Life´s quite unpredictable when having small kids. By bosses that demand that you work not 9-5 but 5-9....

So maybe we the elderly should consider ourselves keepers of a heritage?
The virtually missing links If we by missing also might mean longing for/being downright nostalgic.

But, returning to the OP: where will all the music go??
_________________
Cornets:
Getzen Custom Series Schilke 143D3/ DW Ultra 1,5 C
Getzen 300 series
Yamaha YCRD2330II
Yamaha YCR6330II
Getzen Eterna Eb
Trumpets:
Yamaha 6335 RC Schilke 14B
King Super 20 Symphony DB (1970)
Selmer Eb/D trumpet (1974)

[Brassnose]

No worries, I just felt there was a slight twist I wanted to address. Obviously maintaining what we call developed societies is a challenge on multiple levels …

As for the music: over here, there are public libraries where you can donate the music and then those interested can borrow it from there, like books etc. I think this includes arrangements for entire orchestras or big bands. One thing to watch out for is the copyright - you may not always be allowed to copy the music or perform it w/o proper licenses.

Here is a more professional and specialized example, but our local library has a lot of sheet music as well.

https://www.paul-sacher-stiftung.ch/en/home.html
_________________
2019 Martin Schmidt eXcellence
1992 Bach 43GH/43
1989 Kühnl & Hoyer Model 15 flugel
1980/2023 Custom Blessing Scholastic C 😎
1977 Conn 6B
1951 Buescher 400 Lightweight
AR Resonance, Frate, Klier

[cbtj51]