| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
cbtj51
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 24 Nov 2015
Posts: 725
Location: SE US
|
 Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2022 9:34 am Post subject: Cornet! Very late to the party! |
 |
|
I am an old guy comeback trumpet player born in the very early 50s and, I would guess, raised in the very Bb Trumpet focused world of the USA culture of the time. The closest that I ever got to a Brass Band was the Solo Soprano tenure in Drum and Bugle Corps from 13 to 18 years old, summer of '69 being my last competition year! Not a Brass Band at all. Cornets were offered and used by some in my beginner band experience, but not favoured by "real" trumpet player wannabes. By the time I was in High School, if any of my friends even had a cornet, it was gathering dust in a forgotten corner of the closet only to come out for a garage sale when their parents discovered it many years later.
Now as a retiree and widower, I spend a lot of time with my brass fixation and voice exploration that I somehow missed in my past experience. Hence, I have my first ever cornet, a 2000 Bach 184 ML in lacquer that, from the condition of the horn and case was rarely played. The only mouthpiece that I have (other than my piccolo pieces) is a Mt. Vernon Bach Corp. 7 no letter that I have no idea where it came from (found it in my ancient mouthpiece collection from my misspent mouthpiece safari youth). I have only been playing the cornet/mouthpiece for few (3) days, but I put enough time on it to know that a different rim was in my immediate future!
I spent a half hour on a consult with Brett Kendall at Bob Reeves talking through my perceived needs a few days ago, and as usual, got a definite recommendation that, so far has never been misplaced, a Reeves 41B cornet piece that I immediately ordered. I play a Reeves 41B692 paired with my Yamaha RGS Bb very often and like it much, so a no brainer here. When I looked it up on the Updated Trumpet Mouthpiece Comparator post on TH as an afterthought when I hung up, the Bach 7 no letter and the Reeves 41B are almost identical in every way, except for the rim (the only part I wanted to change anyway). The piece should be here early next week (much excitement)! Now on to "discover/create" venues to play it! No Brass Bands anywhere close to here (darn)!
I am hooked on public practice/performance (blessed and realized weekly) as a continual goal though I am not anchored by this horn/mouthpiece combination as an end all by any stretch. I do welcome feedback and suggestions from TH regarding the way forward to a hopefully, long and wonderful cornet experience.
Life is Short, find the Joy in it!
Mike
_________________
'71 LA Benge 5X Bb
'72 LA Benge D/Eb
'76 Bach CL 229/25A C
‘92 Bach 37 Bb
'98 Getzen 895S Flugelhorn
'00 Bach 184 Cornet
'02 Yamaha 8335RGS
'16 Bach NY 7
'16 XO 1700RS Piccolo
Reeves 41 Rimmed Mouthpieces |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Brassnose
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 07 Mar 2016
Posts: 2054
Location: Germany
|
| Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2022 10:01 am Post subject: |
|
|
Nice story. As you can tell from my current signature I am expecting delivery of a somewhat unusual C Frankenhorn in the near future and with inflation and all the current crisis around us, my brass money is unfortunately limited, at least for the foreseeable future.
However, I have been looking into cornets (sort of) recently. Like you, I missed out on any cornet related developments so far (other than starting on an Amati rental cornet in 1980 where I only remember it felt heavy to the kid I was then). So, lots of stuff to find out, I guess.
As for your quest for brass bands, couldn’t you do some trumpet stuff on the cornet just fine? Or find a church to play, even soloistic stuff? Or maybe you’ll find a second budding cornet player to play duets?
_________________
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 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
cbtj51
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 24 Nov 2015
Posts: 725
Location: SE US
|
| Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2022 1:17 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Brassnose wrote: |
...As for your quest for brass bands, couldn’t you do some trumpet stuff on the cornet just fine? Or find a church to play, even soloistic stuff? Or maybe you’ll find a second budding cornet player to play duets? |
Brassnose,
I have read and enjoyed your posts and comments very often! Thank you for the insight! I have done that sort of thing with other trumpet voices. I'm sure that cornet will be a very useful tool once I get acclimated and to your point regarding $$$, I try...TRY to justify the money that I do spend!. The sound on my side of the bell is still unique in my experience. Maybe it is the proximity of the bell to my ear. I will record during my practice session later today to maybe get an idea of what it sounds like on the other side! Videos and recordings have provided revelation to me in the past, good and bad!
Life is Short! Find the Joy in it!
Mike
_________________
'71 LA Benge 5X Bb
'72 LA Benge D/Eb
'76 Bach CL 229/25A C
‘92 Bach 37 Bb
'98 Getzen 895S Flugelhorn
'00 Bach 184 Cornet
'02 Yamaha 8335RGS
'16 Bach NY 7
'16 XO 1700RS Piccolo
Reeves 41 Rimmed Mouthpieces |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Brassnose
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 07 Mar 2016
Posts: 2054
Location: Germany
|
| Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2022 11:15 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Thanks! My argument for a cornet would be my bad eyesight  I really have issues reading the music, especially when playing bass trumpet, and new glasses would be in order. But for the price of new glasses (my new glasses, anyway) I could in fact buy a decent cornet. Decisions, decisions …
_________________
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 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
cbtj51
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 24 Nov 2015
Posts: 725
Location: SE US
|
| Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2022 6:03 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Brassnose wrote: | | Thanks! My argument for a cornet would be my bad eyesight I really have issues reading the music, especially when playing bass trumpet, and new glasses would be in order. But for the price of new glasses (my new glasses, anyway) I could in fact buy a decent cornet. Decisions, decisions … |
I did not realize that I had a similar problem until I started playing again in 2014! I have worn Progressive Lens eyeglasses for the last 3 decades and discovered that while reading down the page of music, the information just got more blurry. That is because of the stationary horn position and focus traveling through the progressive prescription at different points as your eyes follow down.
My oldest son suggested that I get a single vison pair of glasses for my reading prescription. I followed his lead and got several pair made for music stand distance reading. It was an inexpensive solution! I spent less than $40 US per pair at my local Wal Mart Vision Center, so an easier remedy! I keep a pair on my stand in my studio and a pair in each of my gig setups.
I did find out that when wearing these dedicated lens, that the rest of my vision is not so good; i.e., the director is not very clear, but I can still discern his arm movement clearly enough to detect the pace. If I forget to trade back to my regular glasses, all it takes is a few steps back into the "real world" to get a blurry reminder.
"Old age is a shipwreck" attributed to Winston Churchill and often said by President John F Kennedy. So true!!!
Life is Short, find the Joy in it!
Mike
_________________
'71 LA Benge 5X Bb
'72 LA Benge D/Eb
'76 Bach CL 229/25A C
‘92 Bach 37 Bb
'98 Getzen 895S Flugelhorn
'00 Bach 184 Cornet
'02 Yamaha 8335RGS
'16 Bach NY 7
'16 XO 1700RS Piccolo
Reeves 41 Rimmed Mouthpieces |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Andy Cooper
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 15 Nov 2001
Posts: 1833
Location: Terre Haute, IN USA
|
| Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2022 7:56 am Post subject: Re: Cornet! Very late to the party! |
|
|
| cbtj51 wrote: |
... a Reeves 41B cornet piece that I immediately ordered. ... I Now on to "discover/create" venues to play it! No Brass Bands anywhere close to here (darn)...
|
The Reeves B cup should make a nice "sweet" cornet mouthpiece appropriate for American style concert bands and lyric solos. What ever ensemble you end up playing in, take the cornet along with your trumpet. You will figure out when it is the correct instrument to use.
Look around, there is probably a summer community band near you. Also, many universities with music programs will have a "B" band open to community members. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
cbtj51
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 24 Nov 2015
Posts: 725
Location: SE US
|
| Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2022 12:44 pm Post subject: Re: Cornet! Very late to the party! |
|
|
| Andy Cooper wrote: |
Look around, there is probably a summer community band near you. Also, many universities with music programs will have a "B" band open to community members. |
Thank you for your acknowledgement of the B cup piece and application direction Andy!
I've only had my cornet a few days so far and am playing the heck out of it with the Bach piece that I currently have while waiting for my new Reeves piece! Regarding involvement in opportunities, we are thinking alike. I am very, VERY involved in the music community surrounding me, almost to the point of a full time job or so it would seem! I couldn't keep up if I hadn't already been retired from my day gig for awhile.
But here's the rub, I have not seen, nor do I know other players in the area that utilize a cornet if they even own one. I plan on breaking ground with as much boldness as I can muster and have started working on transferring several pieces to cornet that I had planned on playing on C trumpet in my local church in the very near future. Maybe this cornet thing will catch on with my colleagues! Either way, I enjoy playing in public venues and using the instrument voices that I have and the cornet will be no exception!!
Life is Short, find the Joy in it!
Mike
_________________
'71 LA Benge 5X Bb
'72 LA Benge D/Eb
'76 Bach CL 229/25A C
‘92 Bach 37 Bb
'98 Getzen 895S Flugelhorn
'00 Bach 184 Cornet
'02 Yamaha 8335RGS
'16 Bach NY 7
'16 XO 1700RS Piccolo
Reeves 41 Rimmed Mouthpieces |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Andy Cooper
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 15 Nov 2001
Posts: 1833
Location: Terre Haute, IN USA
|
| Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2022 7:02 pm Post subject: Re: Cornet! Very late to the party! |
|
|
| cbtj51 wrote: |
But here's the rub, I have not seen, nor do I know other players in the area that utilize a cornet if they even own one. I plan on breaking ground with as much boldness as I can muster and have started working on transferring several pieces to cornet that I had planned on playing on C trumpet in my local church in the very near future. Maybe this cornet thing will catch on with my colleagues! Either way, I enjoy playing in public venues and using the instrument voices that I have and the cornet will be no exception!!
Life is Short, find the Joy in it!
Mike |
Twenty years ago I showed up at our local community band with a rebuilt Conn 80A style cornet using a Bach 11A mouthpiece. Everyone else had trumpets. I lost the draw and had to play the solo part for Dixieland Jamboree . The next year the lead player had purchased a new Yamaha pro cornet and most of the other players started digging into their closets to find their high school cornets. The lead admitted that I got him interested in cornets.
Lyric solos where the scoring is light lend themselves well to cornet.
Like I said, keep it on the stand - you will figure out when it works out well.
When you are trying to keep up with a pipe organ full blast though - better use the C. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
cbtj51
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 24 Nov 2015
Posts: 725
Location: SE US
|
| Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2022 6:40 am Post subject: Re: Cornet! Very late to the party! |
|
|
| Andy Cooper wrote: |
Twenty years ago I showed up at our local community band with a rebuilt Conn 80A style cornet using a Bach 11A mouthpiece... The lead admitted that I got him interested in cornets.
...Like I said, keep it on the stand - you will figure out when it works out well.
When you are trying to keep up with a pipe organ full blast though - better use the C. |
Andy,
Thank you for the encouragement and direction. I would hope that my cornet example will have as much impact as yours. Keeping the cornet handy just makes sense, especially while I try to figure out the situations where it might work. I play in a Brass Ensemble, Brass Quintet, mentor at 2 Universities, Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra, a statewide Symphony Orchestra, and Show Choir pit band, as well as monthly and sometimes weekly Prelude/Offertory/Postlude solos with organ or piano and sometimes choir at my large traditional oriented home church and often at other churches in the area. In other words, there will not be a shortage of opportunities! Retirement from my day gig has its benefits!
Life is Short, find the Joy in it!
Mike
_________________
'71 LA Benge 5X Bb
'72 LA Benge D/Eb
'76 Bach CL 229/25A C
‘92 Bach 37 Bb
'98 Getzen 895S Flugelhorn
'00 Bach 184 Cornet
'02 Yamaha 8335RGS
'16 Bach NY 7
'16 XO 1700RS Piccolo
Reeves 41 Rimmed Mouthpieces |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Dayton
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 24 Mar 2013
Posts: 2047
Location: USA
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2022 5:27 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Quote: | | I do welcome feedback and suggestions from TH regarding the way forward to a hopefully, long and wonderful cornet experience. |
Congratulations on your new horn! The Bach 184 is a really nice instrument. You have a suitable mouthpiece on the way, which is a good start. That will help you "unlock" the cornet as a (subtly) distinct voice from the trumpet.
The more you practice it, the more familiar you will become with your Bach, and cornets in general. In turn, this will help you bring out the distinctions.
As for how to incorporate the cornet into performances, give thought to its voice, and how it could fit into whatever you are playing. If you are solo, the choice is yours. For small/chamber groups, the cornet can nicely complement another horn in some music. Experiment. For holiday brass quintets/choirs, you may discover that you have colleagues looking for an excuse to break out their cornets as well.
For larger groups, conventional thinking is that the cornet can get "lost" in the band. There is truth to that, but it isn't a universal constant. If you are playing in school auditoriums and smaller venues, it might be just fine. Discuss with your principal/first trumpet, your music director, -- or, depending on the nature of the group, experiment. I have played in orchestras and wind ensembles where a section player used a cornet, and it generally worked out fine, particularly when adding depth to the lower parts.
I use my Getzen 800DLX cornet regularly when I think it is appropriate for the part and venue. Nothing but positive feedback from music directors, colleagues and audiences. In fact, I find the audience is often intrigued by the cornet, and I typically wind up answering questions about it after a performance.[/url] |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
kehaulani
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 23 Mar 2003
Posts: 9033
Location: Hawai`i - Texas
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2022 7:41 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Dayton wrote: | | For larger groups, conventional thinking is that the cornet can get "lost" in the band. There is truth to that, but it isn't a universal constant. If you are playing in school auditoriums and smaller venues, it might be just fine. Discuss with your principal/first trumpet, your music director, -- or, depending on the nature of the group, experiment. I have played in orchestras and wind ensembles where a section player used a cornet, and it generally worked out fine, particularly when adding depth to the lower parts. |
Much pre-60s concert band music was written for a cornet section and a trumpet section. Jumping ahead several decades, I conducted with such orchestration in one of my bands. My wife told me that she could immediately recognize my band.
Consulting with the conductor, if you are playing such music, maybe other trumpet-section players might want to give a cornet/trumpet orchestration a go.
_________________
"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 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
cbtj51
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 24 Nov 2015
Posts: 725
Location: SE US
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2022 11:21 am Post subject: Re: Cornet! Very late to the party! |
|
|
| Andy Cooper wrote: |
The Reeves B cup should make a nice "sweet" cornet mouthpiece appropriate for American style concert bands and lyric solos. What ever ensemble you end up playing in, take the cornet along with your trumpet. You will figure out when it is the correct instrument to use. |
Andy,
I received my new Reeves 41 B Cornet piece last Wednesday afternoon. Your description of the "sweet" sound is on point! Since it is a 41 rimmed piece and I am already playing a 41 B Trumpet piece regularly, moving in has been almost seamless. I have played my new Bach 184 paired with this piece for several hours a day. Though I suspect that I will only grow more fond of this setup as I go, it is easy to say that I am extremely happy with it now!
| Dayton wrote: |
Congratulations on your new horn! The Bach 184 is a really nice instrument. You have a suitable mouthpiece on the way, which is a good start. That will help you "unlock" the cornet as a (subtly) distinct voice from the trumpet...
...The more you practice it, the more familiar you will become with your Bach, and cornets in general. In turn, this will help you bring out the distinctions...
|
Dayton,
Once again, thank you for your encouragement! I am "learning" this cornet/mouthpiece combination moment by moment, putting a lot of time on it, and reluctantly casing it well before I would like only because I have other non-cornet demands! I have already started to recognize the strengths and differences in this horn and will begin capitalizing by packing it along with my Bb/C/Picc setup (I'm gonna need a bigger case) for Wednesday evening Brass Ensemble practice (I am in the principle chair and have encouraged the other players to bring their cornets if they have them). We are working up our Holiday set this week, so a very good time to explore fresh approaches!
For the moment, I am excited about discovery much like a young man involved in a new romance and will do everything I can to keep this feeling fresh!
Life is Short, find the Joy in it!
Mike
_________________
'71 LA Benge 5X Bb
'72 LA Benge D/Eb
'76 Bach CL 229/25A C
‘92 Bach 37 Bb
'98 Getzen 895S Flugelhorn
'00 Bach 184 Cornet
'02 Yamaha 8335RGS
'16 Bach NY 7
'16 XO 1700RS Piccolo
Reeves 41 Rimmed Mouthpieces |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Brassnose
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 07 Mar 2016
Posts: 2054
Location: Germany
|
| Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2022 10:20 pm Post subject: |
|
|
This post is mostly geared at the OP … As you can tell from my updated signature (and despite of what I said about the funds earlier in this thread) I just received my new 1966 Holton Collegiate cornet this week. Price was right, the finance department agreed, and the horn looks like new. A few surface scratches in the lacquer but other than that - absolutely nothing. The valves are as fast as those on my Bach trumpet and everything is clean and neat and comme il faut!
So, as a newbie to cornet after 40+ years off-cornet I am amazed at the advantages I get when reading music. The shorter build is extremely helpful when practicing. I didn’t expect those few cm to make such a difference in practical playing comfort. Those of you with -12 diopters + astigmatism may appreciate a cornet. Yours truly certainly does as of this week
_________________
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 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group
|
