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odubhain82
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Joined: 25 Jan 2019
Posts: 4
Location: Ireland

PostPosted: Tue Jan 29, 2019 6:33 am    Post subject: Too old? Reply with quote

So, I've been meaning to learn the cornet for about the last
18 or so years. Never really stuck at it for more than a couple
of weeks. In fairness, I always lived in small semi-detatche houses
and considered the neighbours. I now live in a house with no
nearby houses so can make all the noise I want.
This is good, as my "playing" is not something anyone else
should have to endure.
Anyway, at this point I'm 40 years old and starting to wonder
if its a bit late in the day for learning an instrument as
physical as a cornet. I do already play guitar, ukelele, mandolin
etc but find the cornet a completely different experience.
Any thoughts/advice?
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iiipopes
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Joined: 29 Jun 2015
Posts: 545

PostPosted: Tue Jan 29, 2019 7:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It is never too late to learn a music instrument! Welcome to brass!

I have been singing and playing music since I was a toddler standing on the chancel steps singing, "Jesus Loves Me." Over the decades I have learned instruments and currently play several in different ensembles, as per my signature.

Last month, our church needed someone to add to the handbell choir. I volunteered. I have never played handbells. The technique is actually very refined and takes a significant amount of hand, wrist, forearm, elbow, and upper arm control and coordination, which we don't get much of playing a horn or holding on to a guitar.

I am loving it! Along with the physicality, the exercise in focus to make sure you are ringing your handbell at exactly the right place and time, and in the same manner as the people on either side of you to produce a seamless phrase in the music is quite a challenge. And each new piece means I play a slightly different combination of bells and have to arrange them for each hand for each piece of music so both hands coordinate without awkwardness.

So, I am really loving learning this new music instrument. And BTW - I am 57 years old.
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Bach cornet modded to be a 181L clone
Couesnon Flugelhorn and C trumpet
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kehaulani
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Joined: 23 Mar 2003
Posts: 8964
Location: Hawai`i - Texas

PostPosted: Tue Jan 29, 2019 7:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

40?! I'm 74. Life is too short. Who do you have anything to prove to? Enjoy the process. Just do it.
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odubhain82
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Joined: 25 Jan 2019
Posts: 4
Location: Ireland

PostPosted: Tue Jan 29, 2019 11:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the replies guys.
I suppose the thing I find hardest about cornet is that its
difficult to get the notes to sound right(or at all) so much of
the time. I can pick up a saxophone or clarinet and play
some recognizable stuff straight away. My non-musical wife
tells me the Sax sounds way better than the cornet
(in my hands) but I'm not that interested in playing woodwind.
Really want to play brass.
At what point will it sound like music?
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iiipopes
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Joined: 29 Jun 2015
Posts: 545

PostPosted: Tue Jan 29, 2019 6:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

odubhain82 wrote:
Thanks for the replies guys.
I suppose the thing I find hardest about cornet is that its
difficult to get the notes to sound right(or at all) so much of
the time. I can pick up a saxophone or clarinet and play
some recognizable stuff straight away. My non-musical wife
tells me the Sax sounds way better than the cornet
(in my hands) but I'm not that interested in playing woodwind.
Really want to play brass.
At what point will it sound like music?

Brass embouchure is not easy. Building embouchure has similar attributes to bodybuilding generally. The muscles must be trained in the proper proportion of strength, endurance and flexibility. Be patient with yourself. Get a good teacher and give it a few months of simple fundamental exercises.
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King Super 20 Trumpet; Sov 921 Cornet
Bach cornet modded to be a 181L clone
Couesnon Flugelhorn and C trumpet
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Brad361
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Joined: 16 Dec 2007
Posts: 7080
Location: Houston, TX.

PostPosted: Wed Jan 30, 2019 7:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

1) You’re ABSOLUTELY not too old to start!

2) Do yourself a big favor and find a private teacher. Your progress will be MUCH quicker and your frustration level will be much lower. Brass instruments are not good choices for self-learning, even though you currently play other instruments. I’ve worked with a fair number of self taught players on guitar, keys, drums, those instruments are probably a bit easier to learn without instruction, but even the guys who play those instruments would usually benefit from some instruction at some point.

Brad
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"I always try, but not always, because the horn is merciless, unpredictable and traitorous." - Arturo Sandoval
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odubhain82
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Joined: 25 Jan 2019
Posts: 4
Location: Ireland

PostPosted: Wed Jan 30, 2019 8:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Appreciate the responses.
Ya, I think lessons are in order.
At the moment I'm just playing the scale of C up
and down 2 octaves over and over trying to get
each note on the first try. And some 3 blind mice.😁
I have a couple of cornets and notice the high C
is a little easier on my Olds Ambassador.
Are they still regarded as a good first horn?
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iiipopes
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Joined: 29 Jun 2015
Posts: 545

PostPosted: Wed Jan 30, 2019 2:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

odubhain82 wrote:
Appreciate the responses.
Ya, I think lessons are in order.
At the moment I'm just playing the scale of C up
and down 2 octaves over and over trying to get
each note on the first try. And some 3 blind mice.😁
I have a couple of cornets and notice the high C
is a little easier on my Olds Ambassador.
Are they still regarded as a good first horn?

YES! And an intermediate horn, and a first pro horn, and...
_________________
King Super 20 Trumpet; Sov 921 Cornet
Bach cornet modded to be a 181L clone
Couesnon Flugelhorn and C trumpet
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Harry Hilgers
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Joined: 16 Jun 2015
Posts: 637

PostPosted: Wed Jan 30, 2019 3:18 pm    Post subject: Re: Too old? Reply with quote

odubhain82 wrote:
........at this point I'm 40 years old and starting to wonder
if its a bit late in the day for learning an instrument as
physical as a cornet?

Too Old????????
Why, young man, I have roadkill in my fridge older than you are

In fact you have an edge on many of us. You have not yet picked up any bad habits.

The moral of all this is to follow the advice of others and GET A TEACHER NOW You can thank all of us later.

odubhain82 wrote:
I do already play guitar, ukulele

So you play a UK Lily. Isn't that a British Flower

At this point it is somewhat irrelevant, whether you start on a Cornet, Fluglehorn or trumpet. For the time being you will work-on fundamental skills (with a teacher).

Cheers,
Harry
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LittleRusty
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Joined: 11 Aug 2004
Posts: 12647
Location: Gardena, Ca

PostPosted: Wed Jan 30, 2019 3:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

odubhain82 wrote:
Appreciate the responses.
Ya, I think lessons are in order.
At the moment I'm just playing the scale of C up
and down 2 octaves over and over trying to get
each note on the first try. And some 3 blind mice.😁
I have a couple of cornets and notice the high C
is a little easier on my Olds Ambassador.
Are they still regarded as a good first horn?

If you can indeed produce the notes of a two octave scale, starting at the middle C on the piano up to the C above the treble clef, you are much further than most beginners. Many struggle with playing all the notes of the octave in the treble clef.

I think there is an echo in this forum.

Find a teacher...Find a teacher...Find a teacher...Find a teacher...
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odubhain82
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Joined: 25 Jan 2019
Posts: 4
Location: Ireland

PostPosted: Wed Jan 30, 2019 3:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the encouragement.
There is a local community brass band in my area
so I'll make enquiries with them about a teacher.
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SMrtn
Veteran Member


Joined: 29 Oct 2014
Posts: 367
Location: Spain

PostPosted: Thu Jan 31, 2019 5:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

kehaulani wrote:
40?! I'm 74. Life is too short. Who do you have anything to prove to? Enjoy the process. Just do it.


I love this. Totally right, just enjoy the process and do it for no one else.

And to the OP - Of course, once you gain confidence, others will enjoy it simply as a consequence.
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Harry Hilgers
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Joined: 16 Jun 2015
Posts: 637

PostPosted: Tue Feb 05, 2019 4:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

LittleRusty wrote:

I think there is an echo in this forum.

Find a teacher...Find a teacher...Find a teacher...Find a teacher...


Could be a quadrupedal canon
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plp
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Joined: 11 Feb 2003
Posts: 7023
Location: South Alabama

PostPosted: Sat Feb 23, 2019 5:45 pm    Post subject: Re: Too old? Reply with quote

Harry Hilgers wrote:
odubhain82 wrote:
........at this point I'm 40 years old and starting to wonder
if its a bit late in the day for learning an instrument as
physical as a cornet?

Too Old????????
Why, young man, I have roadkill in my fridge older than you are

In fact you have an edge on many of us. You have not yet picked up any bad habits.

The moral of all this is to follow the advice of others and GET A TEACHER NOW You can thank all of us later.

odubhain82 wrote:
I do already play guitar, ukulele

So you play a UK Lily. Isn't that a British Flower

At this point it is somewhat irrelevant, whether you start on a Cornet, Fluglehorn or trumpet. For the time being you will work-on fundamental skills (with a teacher).

Cheers,
Harry



Hear, hear. At 40????

I was 43 when I dug the case out of the closet, after 21 years and started again.

Best advice you will get, has already been given. GET LESSONS!!!!!

And I will give you a bit more, you cannot blow an uncertain trumpet, or cornet, or any high brass. Learn the piece, spend the time in the woodshed practicing to get it under your belt, hit it hard, and wish it well.

My thing on the road, living in motels, was, a cardboard box with the pillows on the bed stuffed in it. I had a Silent Brass system, hated it, tried mutes, hated them (although I play 3 different mutes now for a standard gig) all set up unnatural resistance. I would stack stuff on the table, to get the height right, and play into the box. It dulled it down enough I never got complaints, and allowed me to actually play like I wanted to.

You have got to blow the damn thing! Fill the tank with air, get the sound in your head, prepare for the attack, and quit thinking about anything else, just make music.
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Since all other motivesfame, money, power, even honorare thrown out the window the moment I pick up that instrument..... I play because I love doing it, even when the results are disappointing. In short, I do it to do it. Wayne Booth
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Rapier232
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Joined: 16 Aug 2011
Posts: 1320
Location: Twixt the Moor and the Sea, UK

PostPosted: Sat Feb 23, 2019 11:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I started at 40. Bought a trumpet and Tune a Day book 1. Taught myself to play and read music at the same time. BIG MISTAKE. I didn’t know what I didn’t know. If I started again, knowing what I know now. I’d get lessons from the very beginning. Now 28 years later I get by and even get paid to play in pit bands for musical theatre shows. BUT there are huge gaps in my theory knowledge, because I didn’t know what I needed to know. A teacher would have cured that problem.

If being noisy is a problem the new Silent Brass by Yamaha is excellent. I can practice any time I want and my wife can’t hear me in the next room. When I started playing I was banished from the house! I practised in the car, in the garage at the bottom of our garden.

Enjoy it. It’s fun............mostly.
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Alabamacoastie
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Joined: 20 May 2019
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PostPosted: Mon May 20, 2019 4:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Definitely not too old to start...
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Brad361
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Joined: 16 Dec 2007
Posts: 7080
Location: Houston, TX.

PostPosted: Mon May 20, 2019 4:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

odubhain82 wrote:
Thanks for the replies guys.
I suppose the thing I find hardest about cornet is that its
difficult to get the notes to sound right(or at all) so much of
the time. I can pick up a saxophone or clarinet and play
some recognizable stuff straight away. My non-musical wife
tells me the Sax sounds way better than the cornet
(in my hands) but I'm not that interested in playing woodwind.
Really want to play brass.
At what point will it sound like music?


Self deleted.

Brad
_________________
When asked if he always sounds great:
"I always try, but not always, because the horn is merciless, unpredictable and traitorous." - Arturo Sandoval


Last edited by Brad361 on Mon May 20, 2019 6:54 pm; edited 1 time in total
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mdarnton
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Joined: 08 Mar 2019
Posts: 122
Location: Chicago

PostPosted: Mon May 20, 2019 6:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Maybe a little late to this party, but.....
I turned 70 in February. I play a lot of things with strings and buttons or keys, but no wind instruments. I decided it was time to learn something completely different, and so in March I bought a cheap trumpet to test the waters, stumbled along for a month, decided to get serious, and today I had my second lesson. The best thing I did? I got a teacher. Get a teacher! My two lessons have been solid gold, immediately fixing things I couldn't manage to figure out on my own.

Teacher, teacher, teacher!
Also, 40 isn't old!
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blbaumgarn
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Joined: 26 Jul 2017
Posts: 705

PostPosted: Mon May 20, 2019 9:37 pm    Post subject: Too old? Reply with quote

Great question, and the answer is you ain't too old. Listen to Kehaulani, who gives sage advice in the TH. I am 69, started playing at 10 and in recent years had about 22 years off? Something like 22 years. A year ago I bought a used trumpet on Trumpet Herald's marketplace. I have been practicing since and enjoy it to the max. It is frustrating because I remember how I used to play, but it is a fun challenge trying to learning again. I live in S. Dakota for quite a few years now. Former U.S. Senator George Mcgovern from here decided later in life, like 60 years old to learn to play the piano. And he did it. He learned enough to play for recitals his teacher used to have. He did it and said it was one of the most satisfying things he did in his life. He did it despite being a decorated WWII pilot, many term U.S. Senator and the 1972 Democratic nominee for President. You can learn an instrument, you can enjoy music, and you can take part in that community of life. Have fun with it and enjoy!! Brian
_________________
"There are two sides to a trumpeter's personality,
there is one that lives to lay waste to woodwinds and strings, leaving them lie blue and lifeless along a swath of destruction that is a
trumpeter's fury-then there is the dark side!" Irving Bush
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mrhappy
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Joined: 03 Dec 2018
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Location: Port Jackson, NY

PostPosted: Tue May 21, 2019 6:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice inspiring reply there Brian!!
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