Joined: 31 Jan 2018 Posts: 345 Location: London, Canada
Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2018 11:57 am Post subject: One Armed Trumpet Players ?
I have a friend and neighbor who has just barely survived a murdercycle accident. He'll be in rehab territory for quite some time. Unfortunately, he lost a left arm in the accident. I've often wondered over the years that if one were to lose an arm, or the use of it, how they could possibly pursue an interest in music ? Curious to know if any of you have any ideas regarding potential instruments that can be played with one limb and whether anyone has conquered the challenge of playing a brass instrument without the benefit of both limbs ???
Joined: 16 Dec 2007 Posts: 7080 Location: Houston, TX.
Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2018 12:03 pm Post subject:
I know at least two guys who played trumpet with one arm. One was my grandfather, he was born with only a right arm, another was a local player who did very well playing with only a right arm.
One thing for sure, you probably can’t use too much mouthpiece pressure with just one arm.
Brad _________________ When asked if he always sounds great:
"I always try, but not always, because the horn is merciless, unpredictable and traitorous." - Arturo Sandoval
Lots of potential ideas. And it trumpet is a particular interest maybe contact TH'er Mike Prestage (apologies for the unsolicited name drop Mike) who actually won a category for enabling equipment with his trumpet stand.
I just asked my wife, who's an Occupational Therapist and specializes in Assistive Technology about your question:
After surviving an accident of this type, usually a patient will undergo a therapy program working with a Physical Therapist and an Occupational Therapist. It would be in this environment that the patient would set this goal, and start developing a therapy plan to get back to playing condition. There are many cases where the loss of an arm can be helped by assistive technology. Here are a couple examples:
I have had two students, one who didn't have a right arm, and the other whose right hand was deformed. Both (obviously) played using their left hand.
The kid with no right arm would sometimes play using only his left hand, and sometimes he used a prosthetic arm & hand that he could hold his horn with.
The other student would wrap her fingers as best she could around the valves with her right hand.
Both played pretty well for high school students. They did not view what they didn't have as any kind of barrier to playing.
Although VERY hard to find, your friend might search for a Shulman System, which is a device worn around the neck & then supports the horn. But again - VERY hard to find.
There is a current commercially-made device made (specifically for instances like your friend) to help musicians hold their horn. I forget what it's called or who makes it BUT...I've sent a text to a guy who would know.
I'll post details after I hear from him. _________________ Tim Wendt
Joined: 20 Jan 2002 Posts: 2161 Location: Kennett Square, Pennsylvania
Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2018 12:32 pm Post subject: Re: One Armed Trumpet Players ?
ghelbig wrote:
Abraxas wrote:
<snip> and whether anyone has conquered the challenge of playing a brass instrument without the benefit of both limbs ???
James Burke seems to have done OK.
My brother (clarinet player) and I used to go to Prospect Park in Brooklyn to listen to the Goldman Band. Jimmy was a frequent soloist. His playing even impressed my brother.
Many years later when I was in college, I had the honor of sharing a stand with Jimmy at a gig, filling out the trumpet section of a community band concert. Boy, was I way out of my league. He was a perfect gentleman, though. Didn't say a disparaging word, or nothing.
Joined: 31 Jan 2018 Posts: 345 Location: London, Canada
Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2018 12:37 pm Post subject:
I'm a licensed machinist and have my own shop. I'm not the sort, however, to reinvent the wheel or spend $500 of labor to make something that is already available at lesser cost and proven to work. He doesn't play trumpet now , but I'm just doing basic research to see if he might have an interest later. I'm hearing good things about some of these plastic trumpets which would solve the weight problem until he might want to transition to the real thing, provided he maintains an interest. I don't know how they deal with the C# / D slide issue or whether there is just an expectation of lipping them into tune ??
Joined: 31 Jan 2018 Posts: 345 Location: London, Canada
Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2018 12:38 pm Post subject:
Brad361 wrote:
I know at least two guys who played trumpet with one arm. One was my grandfather, he was born with only a right arm, another was a local player who did very well playing with only a right arm.
One thing for sure, you probably can’t use too much mouthpiece pressure with just one arm.
Brad
Interesting point. Do you have recollections at how well they played with that limitation ?
Joined: 16 Dec 2007 Posts: 7080 Location: Houston, TX.
Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2018 2:05 pm Post subject:
Abraxas wrote:
Brad361 wrote:
I know at least two guys who played trumpet with one arm. One was my grandfather, he was born with only a right arm, another was a local player who did very well playing with only a right arm.
One thing for sure, you probably can’t use too much mouthpiece pressure with just one arm.
Brad
Interesting point. Do you have recollections at how well they played with that limitation ?
My grandfather, honestly, was pretty much a “hobbyist”, as I remember, although I don’t know whether his disability was much of a factor in his playing.
Honestly, nearly everyone on my mother’s side of my family played trumpet at one time or another, none of them really continued seriously as adults.
The other guy was the father of a local singer who had her own band, I saw him a few times, not bad at all.
Brad _________________ When asked if he always sounds great:
"I always try, but not always, because the horn is merciless, unpredictable and traitorous." - Arturo Sandoval
Lots of potential ideas. And it trumpet is a particular interest maybe contact TH'er Mike Prestage (apologies for the unsolicited name drop Mike) who actually won a category for enabling equipment with his trumpet stand.
Joined: 23 Mar 2003 Posts: 9008 Location: Hawai`i - Texas
Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2018 7:18 pm Post subject:
I didn't see it above but Wingy Manone was a very good New Orleans style trumpet player. He had no left arm and wore a prothesis but I don't know how much weight it could or could not bear.
Even though their system does not seem to offer the same resonant feedback that the Shulman System advertised, it seems to offer enough support for a person who may not have the use of both arms to hold a trumpet. However, I'm unsure how a trumpeter with the use of only one arm can maneuver the instrument into a supported position once the brace is attached.
Hi,
If you are into baroque music, natural trumpet is actually played one-armed...
There are also knee stands used by trombonists and similar devices for baryton sax, maybe they could be adapted for trumpet.
I must have lived under a rock for most of my life, but I did NOT know that Mr. Burke had only one arm! I had an old LP of the Burke-Phillps All-Star Concert Band back years ago that I practically wore out. I can still hear arrangements that group recorded in my head! Unfortunately, it got lost in a move somewhere. Also, my Wingy Manone album. I did know that Wingy lacked a left arm, though.
Back when I started teaching band, about the second year, I think, I was going through the testing procedure to see which instrument would best suit my crop of prospective beginning students. One young man I recommended to play the clarinet. Oops! I did not notice for a few minutes that he lacked fingers on his left hand! Fortunately, one of his young friends in the class pointed this out to me. That took my professional ego down a few notches! Anyway, this young man ended up playing the trumpet for his school band career, and did quite well, BTW.
Subsequent to this gaffe on my part, I made it a priority to have all beginners hold up their arms and hands on the first day, on the advice of an older mentor in the system I was teaching in at the time!
I also have a friend and colleague who is a fine lead trumpet player, with incomplete fingers on his right hand...doesn't seem to have held him back much! He is quite the technician and has chops to match...
Everybody has SOME disability, whether congenital or by catastrophe. The question is, how much are you going to use this as an excuse to NOT succeed? Find something that works...
A cornet or pocket trumpet migh be easier to hold and play one handed. As peeps have said, lots of trumpet players with less digits than most. I've been told this is one of the reasons brass bands became popular in heavy industry areas in Britain in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Joined: 13 Nov 2001 Posts: 9830 Location: Chicago, Illinois
Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2018 7:06 am Post subject:
I think there's going to be more one-armed trumpet players in the future because I think I'm going to start snapping an arm off these folks that join the website and then post five insincere posts in a single day just so they can try to sell stuff in the marketplace.
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