45 years later, I finally understand

[thecoast]

Welcome to what I hope will be a short post.

The first time I picked up a trumpet, it was my cousin's and I was about 13 and living in Puerto Rico. I didn't have my own trumpet till I was 15. I don't remember what brand it was. And at that time, a trumpet was a trumpet. And you either could play or you couldn't.

The next trumpet I got was a Getzen Caravelle. I think it was new and I was 17, and I bought it with my own work money in New Jersey. The reason for the new trumpet was that my first horn had been stolen--by my Dad's landlord's son! And I started playing on a #2 Parduba Double Cup at some time during those early years at the encouragement of the mom-and-pop store owner. I think it was called Platania's, and Mr. Platania was a nice guy and a trumpet player.

During my later teens, I got a hold of a Benge brochure. I was wowed then. And today I realize that ads can have an intoxicating effect on one's imagination especially when it was financially impossible for me to own what I thought was the most beautiful horn I had ever seen till then. And I really hadn't seen many.

Years later, as an adult in California, I began buying bargain Chinese horns and a beat up Olds Ambassador cornet, and learned a lot about what trumpets, cornets, and flugelhorns should not sound like.

I finally got a "pro" horn from Giardinelli that is just stamped with their brand, but is actually an Amati made in the Czech Republic. Beautiful, heavy, nice sound, decent valves. Got a flugelhorn from Amati. Had a nice sound, too.

When I read stuff on TH where people were throwing around descriptive trumpet terms that were then either meaningless to me (compression, centered tone) or I felt were vague (response, flexibility), or when I was exposed to the number of gadgets and gear, it was pretty dizzying.

With time, like within the last couple of years, I got a near mint Olds Ambassador cornet, an Olds flugabone, a relatively nice Chinese flugelhorn (Condor), and a couple of Stradicopyus horns in Bb and C. I thought I was set, but I felt that something was missing, and I didn't know what; and couldn't describe it.

45 years after getting my first trumpet, I finally found out what some of those "vague" terms meant. More or less.

I very recently bought a Yamaha 6320S. Pro horn according to TH's Yamaha loyalists. At that age (between 20 and 40 years old?), it has some signs of life experience. And so do I. But what a...new?...wonderful?...eye-opening?...all of the above and some? experience.

I also got a Bach Omega in trade plus cash for the Stradicopyus Bb. No doubt I got the better end of the deal (in spite of...OK, that's another story). Playing with my new young friend, the Bach blends much better not surprisingly with either his Guarnerius or his Strad 37.

On both instruments, the reduced effort with which I play now is just such a cool experience. The effort to push out a C6 results instead in getting F6. Clearly. G6 is on the way. So I actually have to re-learn how to manage my effort. I kept overshooting F5 or G5. That was NEVER a problem before.

45 years. That's a long time to wait for a transformative musical experience.

And now I want to sell my Olds cornet, my Giardinelli Bb trumpet, and my Bach-off C trumpet because playing them now is like going back to riding a horse after driving a Bugatti Veyron on the autobahn (I've not done the latter). Just ain't the same thing. I'm even tempted to sell my flugabone, but I'll wait that out a bit.

If you always had an intermediate to pro Bach, Schilke, Yamaha, orcetera (just made that up) horns as a high school student, then you can only imagine what I'm going through now...especially if you've ridden a horse after driving a Bugatti Veyron on the autobahn.

Thanks for sharing in my belated joy. Even if it took me 45 years before finally experiencing it.

[Brassnose]

Nice story. Sometimes things take longer and move on at a point in time where you wouldn’t expect any new thing to happen. I have played my Strad for 30 years now and never really felt the need to change until I discovered all those nice trumpets on the internet (OK, well, and once I moved close to a top trumpet shop where I fell in love with their horns, but that is MY other story).

Back in the old days everyone played Bachs; there was not much else to be had where I lived except Getzen, Jupiter, or the first Yamaha intermediate horns. I remember being profoundly confused when one of my big band buddies showed up with a new horn and big eyes: „It’s a Calicchio!“ … its a WHAT? He must have paid top money as he bought it new and no one in the band seemed to appreciate it - he even ordered the horn from the US to Europe and no one seemed to care

Fast forward to about 2014 when I started playing again after a 12 year hiatus and discovered Monette mouthpieces through my teacher. Played them for a few years, moved on and finally settled on AR Resonance. As my teacher is also quite the gearhead, we also talk horns quite a bit and he occasionally hints at the fact that there are better horns out there than my Bach. There certainly are, but I have played it for so long that I don’t feel the need to change, really.

Learning how to play is key and a good instrument will support you there. I will never be a pro, but I have made tremendous progress since a significant embouchure change in 2014/15 and said mouthpiece change to AR. So sometimes progress comes from an unexpected angle. Just keep going.
_________________
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]

[Brassnose]

Ha, I guess a lot of us go there. I do have to admit that, although I keep playing my trusty old Bach, a complete overhaul with a new 43 leadpipe did quite some good to the horn. So my online time was not completely wasted

Plus also, my Schmidt is certainly the best horn I played in my life and I am really happy I bought it despite not REALLY needing it (we all need more trumpets, don’t we?). Use it for orchestra, will use it for trumpet/organ coming up soon, and in principle, I could also use it for soul, big band, and funk stuff. The only issue there is the mutes and the admittely broader sound and lower projection. So that’s when the Bach comes back out.

I DID however, spend some time on finding a proper set of mouthpieces after I returned because I went through a quite significant embouchure change and also got some of my old habits and problems really fixed (ongoing work, but pretty successful on my timescale). That did indeed necessitate a new mouthpiece and I ended up with AR Resonance plus a few stray pieces that will be sorted out in due time.

I am not much of a keeper, so some will likely end up in the marketplace at some point. Those in the signature are the keepers, but I may have a C trumpet incoming, so before selling anything I’d like to check how things work out with the C.
_________________
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