Practicing on the Road

jharris2 · Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2003 11:20 am Post subject:

This will not be a new topic, but it's new to me. I'm one of the newest "comeback" players, just recently picking the horn back up after almost 25 years away.

Now, just as I'm getting started, I found out that I have a number of business trips to take, most 1-2 weeks each, all to places where it is impractical to take a trumpet with me.

Therein lies the dilemma....I want to find a way to practice while gone, but it will be in a hotel room where taking the trumpet is not advisable (at least not without mutes, which makes travel even more difficult, etc. etc.).

Any thoughts on how I can keep working so I don't lose what little I have gained thus far?

Certainly, some of you have had this same problem, and you probably have some very creative answers to share.

Thanks!

John

_Don Herman · Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2003 11:40 am Post subject:

I'd take a mouthpiece and a Joral ShortCut (like a short pipe) or something similar. That way, at least you can keep the buzz going. Realistically, of course, if you want to play a trumpet, you have to have one with you, and maybe a practice mute. Maybe you could get an old Ambassador cornet and pack it in? Cheaper than a pocket trumpet, and lots better sound, for about the same size. It'll be interesting to see what others offer...
HTH - Don
_________________
Don Herman/Monument, CO
"After silence, that which best expresses the inexpressible, is music." - Aldous Huxley

4Him · Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2003 11:48 am Post subject:

John-

First, congrats on your commitment to "come back." Secondly, I can relate to the difficulties of business travel and the trumpet.

Though I am not traveling now as much as I was, there are some things you can do. I have taken music with me when I could not take my horn-- especially charts I needed to know by the time I got back in town. I have also just taken a mouthpiece. By far, though, the only thing that comes close to keeping the chops up while away is taking the horn.

When I take my horn, I take a practice mute. You can get some good ones that really do deaden the sound enough to play in a hotel room. I have also seen posts on TH where guys have talked about finding a place outside to practice-- a park, an industrial park or large parking lot-- places where there are not a lot of people around.

There are also some systems that you can buy that silence the horn like the Yamaha Silent Brass System (check it out at http://www.chasesanborn.com/productrevtext.html). I am sure there are guys on TH that can tell you how this works.

Bottom line, in my opinion, if you are gone for two weeks at a time, you need to find a way to take your horn with you.

Good luck.

Ken

[ This Message was edited by: 4him on 2003-01-21 15:07 ]

edtaylor · Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2003 12:52 pm Post subject:

Don Herman said . . .
"Maybe you could get an old Ambassador cornet and pack it in? Cheaper than a pocket trumpet, and lots better sound, for about the same size."

Rich Willey has a 59 Olds Ambassador on ebay with no reserve.
_________________
Ed Taylor . . . a Messianic gentile

pfrank · Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2003 1:04 pm Post subject:

You say: "places where it is impractical to take a trumpet with me."

Where is that? The front lines? Scuba diving? jeepers! The only place I won't take my trumpet today is outside because it's COLD!

Think of it like this: if you had a kid (or a dog) you simply don't consider leaving them at home unattended. It's a commitment. You find a way and find a way to like it!
A harmon type mute with the stem in is fine to practice with. Good intonation and not much more resistance. I like the cornet idea too.
If you can accept not playing for days at a time, you'll simply maintain a lower level of proficiency. (Mouthpiece practice can't relpace playing.) That's not necessarily a bad thing depending on what you are playing for. Trumpet is SO impractical!

tom turner · Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2003 2:04 pm Post subject:

Hi,

If you are driving alone . . . nothing beats a shepherd's crook, short model cornet!

The horn is sooooo close to your face that its easy to hold up one handed . . . and plenty of room in front of the steering wheel too!

MAN . . . THAT'S DANGEROUS!!!

Maybe . . . maybe not!

I find that when I'm really tired and drifting all over the road that whipping out the ol' short one (that's a CORNET to all you "free thinkers") really wakes me up and ACTUALLY keeps me more alert!

By the time I'm to my destination I've gotten in quite a practice session . . . and my next door neighbors in the hotel don't have to hear me play!

Sincerely,

Tom Turner

Blue Devil · Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2003 2:58 pm Post subject:

John -

I have had to deal with this situation with travel, both for business and for vacation with family/friends. I used to either bring a mouthpiece with, or not bring anything with at all, and just wait until I got back. However, once I started a structured practice routine (Claude Gordon's SA), I didn't want to lose what I had spent all of my effort and time building up.

I asked the very same question on one of these forums on TH (and I had the same reasons as to why I couldn't bring my horn with - hotel rooms, being with family or coworkers on business, etc.), and the response that I got was take the horn with (much as everybody else has been saying). Just like a lot of people have mentioned, there is no good substitute for playing on the horn itself - mouthpiece buzzing won't do it completely, free buzzing won't do it completely, any of the buzz-aids won't do it completely. Another bit of bad news that I got from my earlier posting - no practice mutes! Playing with even the best practice mute provides a totally different resistance than playing open, and has been described as playing a totally different instrument. The advice I got about practice mutes (or any other mute used to practice on) was to avoid them whenever possible, and find a way to practice open.

That's the (slightly) bad news...

The good news is that it's easier to play in a hotel room than you might think. I have yet to get a phone call from the front desk (or anybody else for that matter) while practicing in a hotel room. I also have a friend who is a french horn player, who does a lot of traveling performing, taking auditions, etc., and she said that she has only been asked to stop playing once. She also gave me the idea to play into a stack of pillows to help deaden the sound a little. I also try (don't laugh) to turn up the t.v. and/or the radio a little to help "deflect" attention. Another tip is to try and play (if at all possible) during a time of day when you know most people won't be around - i.e. during the early afternoon etc. Bottom line is, if you're asked to stop playing, you can always stop. I do own a practice mute (Peacemaker), and use it for playing during travel only when I can't find an alternative (later at night in a hotel room, etc.). Friends I have traveled with have told me that they can't hear a thing outside of the room while I was playing into the practice mute (sounds great, but I wouldn't recommend playing on one for an extended period of time - I did that for about a week, and what a change when I had to rehearse open for the first time in a week!).

Another idea - will you be renting a car while you are traveling or are you driving to your destination? How about finding a remote parking lot and practicing in your car? I do this (and so do a number of THers) on a regular basis, even when not traveling - you'd be surprised at how good a practice room your car can be! Just don't try and fit the piano in there...

Hope some of this helps!

Mike

P.S. As far as being "embarassed" to try and practice in front of family and friends or co-workers in a hotel room while traveling, the only thing I can say there is it depends on how serious you are and what your relationship is with your companions. I have been very serious myself about not wanting to "digress" by missing time, and my friends have been very understanding about it. They may think it's a little strange that I'll leave a group and meet up with them later because I'm going back to the hotel room to practice, but they also understand my determination and discipline.

jharris2 · Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2003 3:23 pm Post subject:

jhatpro · Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2003 4:13 pm Post subject:

I've used a cornet, pocket trumpet, and a mouthpiece by itself on the road at various times with good results. On plane trips where I have no checked baggage, I just carry the horn in a camper's stuff stack which I put inside a backpack or other carry-on. If you're careful to wrap the horn in some clothing you won't ding it.

Another thing I try to do on planes and at other times when it's totally impractical to buzz or play is do the old prisoner thing where you imagine you're playing a game of golf only I imagine I'm playing diminished scales or chord changes or whatever. It's amazing how effective that kind of mental pratice can be.

Jim
_________________
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

_bugleboy · Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2003 7:18 pm Post subject:

I've been practicing in cruise ship cabins and hotel rooms for years. The trumpet is ALWAYS one of my carry-ons at the airport. At the hotel room I construct a sound deadening box with three pillows and my trumpet case. Two pillows I fold in half and use masking tape to keep them that way. Then combine the 3 pillows and the trp case.

The next step is to schedule your playing time when no one will be next door to you. It's inconvenient but you can have a full work out without the added resistence and weight of mutes this way. With this kind of a set up I do almost exclusively Caruso calisthenics to get the most possible muscle maintenance into the shortest time frame.

edtaylor · Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2003 8:40 pm Post subject:

I had hoped that an ebay India cornet might be good enough for road practice, but was advised that they are trash. I couldn't email anyone that had purchased one as they are sold as a "private auction" to protect the identity of the buyer. I would guess to protect them from the embarassment of telling people like me the quality(?) of their purchase.
_________________
Ed Taylor . . . a Messianic gentile

jharris2 · Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2003 4:30 am Post subject:

Great ideas!

I noticed there are many pocket trumpets on eBay, too, typically for a very low -- maybe ridiculously low -- price. Does anyone have experience with these? Being that there's a seemingly-endless supply of them, and given the prices being paid, I presume that they are worthless. Is that a fair presumption?

Again, continued thanks!

John

mark936 · Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2003 4:41 am Post subject:

Buy a pocket trumpet in Taiwan.

That's were mine is from. The prices over there probably can't be beat.

pfrank · Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2003 6:25 am Post subject:

The Jupiter pocket trumpet is worth buying (under $400) and playing, but be careful with the Indian and Tiwanese horns: untried, you could get something unplayable. I'm sure there are good ones, but without being able to try one...
But even an Olds cornet is packable in luggage. They are heavier gage brass than most trumpets (harder to dent) and if you put your socks t-shirts around them they take up very little space. A mute will fit into a cornet, but only the better pocket trumpets have a big enough bell for a mute.
Or you could just buy a trumpet at each location and mail them home. Call the local music store from the plane, and have something delivered to your hotel room.

jharris2 · Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2003 6:36 am Post subject:

_bugleboy · Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2003 6:48 am Post subject:

Woodwind and Brasswind sell a pocket trumpet under their name, Brasswind, and it plays as good as you'll ever get from a pocket trumpet. Fat sound. It identifies Taiwan as the country of manufacture.

This horn is identical to the Mirage pocket trumpet that was made in Taiwan a few years ago. The Mirage doesn't seem to be available anymore, but I'm certain woodwind/brasswind bought the rights to the trumpet and put their own name on it (which, in itself, says something for the horn). It's around $350. I use a ww/bw cornet gig bag to carry it in that gives it pretty good protection. The vinyl bags they come in aren't much better than a dust cover.

jhatpro · Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2003 7:17 am Post subject:

I heartily recommend the Jupiter pocket trumpets for road practice and even for the occasional novelty number at a gig. With just a 3.75 inch bell, they can't match a big horn, but they're very well made and play easily.

If you really want a small horn that will match the best of the big ones, go Benge pocket -- but they're $1,500 or so!

Other places I've played on the road:

Parks & plazas
Hotel conference rooms
Airport chapels
The far end of train platforms
Lake/beachfronts
Parking garages

If you play music instead of just hammering away on Clarke and Schossberg, passersby will even enjoy it!

Play on!

Jim
_________________
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

_PhilPicc · Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2003 7:21 am Post subject:

Welcome jharris2,

I bought a pocket trumpet a number of years ago from India. It is now used to hang on my mother-in-laws front door with a wreath at christmas time.

Out side of terrible intonation and valves that were crap, if I had not paid a dime for it I still would have been screwed. Just my opinion.

Again welcome to TH,
Phil
_________________
Philip Satterthwaite

We cannot expect you to be with us all the time, but perhaps you could be good enough to keep in touch now and again."
- Sir Thomas Beecham to a musician during a rehearsal

jhaysom · Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2003 8:18 am Post subject:

I travel a lot and always take my Jupiter pocket trumpet with me. I use a Harmon mute and have never had a problem with complaints about practicing in hotel rooms. I had hoped to use the Yamaha Silent Brass System but found that the regular trumpet mute is too big to stay in the pocket trumpet bell very well and the picollo mute is too small.

The only problem I've had with the Jupiter is that one of the plastic valve guides wouldn't stay in the goove in the valve casing. I fixed it with a hot knife.
_________________
John Haysom
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada
Yamaha 8310ZS trumpet
Yamaha 6310ZS trumpet
Courtois flugel
1941 King Silvertone cornet
1941 King 2B valve trombone
Kanstul 920 piccolo
etc.

pedaltonekid · Heavyweight Member Joined: 15 Nov 2001 Posts: 1711

Figure out a way to take the trumpet with you. I have a Walt Johnson case that I use to haul my trumpet with me everywhere I go. I use a De Nicola practice mute that works very well. I often will make a sound box from pillows that I use in conjunction with the mute. If it is absolutely impossible to take the trumpet a mouthpiece and joral short cut is the lesser of the evils.

At a minimum play through your warmup everyday and get in at least 20 minutes of some exercises, Caruso, Schlossberg, etc.

You can also check with local churches and visit music stores to "test new horns". When I do that I almost always buy some sheet music to assuage my guilt.
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Best Regards, Play Well!!