Take the Batteries Out of my Mouse
January 22nd, 2010Horn
I get crazier every day.
I’ve been watching my Jazz DVDs all week, and I’ve been encouraging my dad to pick up the trumpet again. And while this was on my mind, I thought about the horn and woodwind players in the documentary. These guys play one note at a time. ONE. No chords. No sustain pedals. No supporting one hand with the other. I keep thinking that has to give them a lot of freedom, compared to a pianist, and it has to make sight-reading easier to pick up.
Maybe I’m wrong. But I am going to take a whack at the cornet.
My dad can give me a lot of help. He knows how to play several horns. He says real men play the trumpet, not the cornet, but Bix Beiderbecke and Louis Armstrong played the cornet, so I want to see what it’s like.
Maybe it will be a stupid idea, but finding out will be cheap. It’s amazing how cheap used horns are. You can get a professional-quality cornet for two hundred bucks, if you don’t care how it looks. The worst professional-quality grand piano on earth will run you ten grand, and that would be a good buy.
One nice thing about a used cornet is that even if I hate it, I can get rid of it without getting dinged.
We’ll see what happens.
January 22nd, 2010 at 7:45 PM
Check out the Holton Maynard Fergison model trumpet which is an upgrade from the basic student model and doesn’t cost as much as the Bach Strat, and the Chinese make some pretty good Fluglehorns like Chuck “Feels so Good” Mangioni plays.
I played trumpet from 7th grade into college at GT and stopped while being distracted pursuing cars and women (and women in cars), then sorta picked it back up again in the past couple of years but my embouchure is gone and it’s, as you say, so loud to practice that I’m still back at the 8th grade level with tonal quality.
If you get a cheap deal it will probably be filthy inside and the valves will be sticky, you can probably lap the valves in yourself to clean things up and buy a good grade valve oil and a cleaning brush kit and get new felts and be good to go.
January 23rd, 2010 at 6:10 AM
You’re right, a single note instrument is much easier to learn to sight read with. I played the saxophone as a child and found it was one of the easiest instruments to learn.
My one regret was that when I tried to teach myself guitar 20 years later, I had no concept of chords and chord theory. I had to learn all that on my own.
Good luck with the horn.
MikeC
January 23rd, 2010 at 9:37 AM
Oh my. ANOTHER bee in your bonnet.
January 23rd, 2010 at 12:38 PM
Good luck, Steve. I am thinking about getting back into blues harp (harmonica). When I started back in 1972, a new Marine Band was $2.50. Now they are over $20!!
January 23rd, 2010 at 1:12 PM
I should have pointed this out: I Ebayed a low-end professional-quality horn for a very low price. Somebody bought it and didn’t use it. Seller claims it’s working fine.
My dad wanted me to use his horn, but I can’t stand the thought of taking something out of someone else’s mouth and getting that intimate with it. The used horn I bought is going to be squeaky-clean before I go near it.
January 23rd, 2010 at 2:26 PM
Steve, Buy your own mouthpiece. While your lips maybe similar to your Dad’s, there maybe some influence from your mother. there is tons of difference in mouthpieces, just find your own.
January 23rd, 2010 at 2:34 PM
Don’t worry. There is no WAY I would use someone else’s mouthpiece.
January 23rd, 2010 at 6:08 PM
Take a look at Schilke mouthpieces – the rounder edge is much easier on the lips. Cornet is conical throughout it’s length – a trumpet is cylindrical until it begins to flare out for the bell. As a result, the cornet tone is more mellow.
January 24th, 2010 at 8:09 AM
I think you are a little over the top worring about germs on a metal mouthpiece because they can be boiled or otherwise cleaned, but on the other hand you are going to learn that the shape and “cup” of the mouthpiece affects the tone and your ability to play in a given range of notes.
Schilke makes some nice options for the beginner and the advanced player. Try a 14a4a and pretend you are Doc Severinsen screeching on “high C”…
January 24th, 2010 at 1:32 PM
I don’t claim it’s rational, but the thought of using somebody else’s mouthpiece makes me barf. If I buy a used one I can soak it in bleach or something, so that’s not so bad.