Within the last couple weeks, I came across two horns that I couldn't refuse. The first I found on eBay. Coincidentally, I recognized the name of the seller who is a brass repairman that has a channel on YouTube which I've watched a few times. It looked to be in pretty good physical shape with the original lacquer and at a fair price. The fact that it was also one of my "bucket list" trumpets made the decision for me. What was it? An F.E. Olds & Son R-10 Recording from likely 1954 based on the serial number. After playing it for about an hour when I received it, I can now see exactly why these are so revered. It is a very capable trumpet across almost all genres. I tend toward liking more commercial sounding horns, but this trumpet covers that sort of work as well as jazz and pops/orchestral work, particularly with the right mouthpiece. You know that initial, triumphant B♭ blared out by Maurice Murphy of the London Symphony Orchestra at the beginning of Star Wars...

So, apparently I used to be a blogger that wrote about trumpets, accessories, and music/pedagogy material. Who knew? *cough* OK, OK; so I didn't develop a case of amnesia and spend the last two years rediscovering my former identity. I did, however, get sidetracked by life, going through a work change and two relocations. Meanwhile I had to pause progress on my comeback practice, but by the beginning of 2020 things were getting back to normal. Normal... Anyone remember what the hell "normal" means? Beginning with February 2020, this is going to be one of those points in history that everyone recalls for a long, long time. 2020 will no doubt be remembered as a truly horrible confluence of politics, medicine, science, pseudo-science, capitalism, racial strife, and radicalism. And to think I was excited to leave my personal turmoil of 2019 behind! Well, regardless, my practice has resumed and progress is being made. Enough so that I feel comfortable enough to sell or trade s...

Time flies, doesn't it? This blog has been sorely neglected over the last few months as I have had numerous changes, events, and responsibilities with which to deal. Primary among these was changing employers and jumping through all of the employment hoops that accompany that sort of thing. Related to that, and my career as a contractor, I also underwent a change of contract and work location. Then there was taxes to deal with, including having to file my father's final taxes. Fun. However, my trumpet playing did not fall off a cliff this time, and I have been working with a specific set of Schlossberg's Daily Drills and Technical Studies which has been prescribed over the years to help people rebuild embouchures. Why did I start doing it? Well... As I was progressing in my comeback, I developed a pronounced problem. I suddenly was having trouble playing from G above the staff up to about B. Oddly, everything above that was still there, so I had what is termed a "...

My bacterial respiratory infection started to finally clear up about a week ago but, as is typical when your immune system is compromised, a head cold decided to take up residence on its heels. I had one day of feeling decent and getting some sleep and then it was right back into not being able to breathe for another 4 or 5 days. However, by the time the weekend came around, I felt well enough to head over to Baltimore Brass to see if they had anything of interest in stock. This was my first visit to this particular store and they had roughly 50 or so new and used trumpets on display. In particular, their website indicated they had an Edwards Generation II, a 1963 King Super 20, and an Adams A4L, all of which I was looking forward to trying. I walked in, figured out where the trumpet section was and quickly sized up the display. The first one I tried was the Super 20 and I have to say it made a very favorable impression on me. In fact, I played it the longest of the three. It ...

Just what does a brass player do when he's sick? A few days ago, I could tell that something was up: fatigued, not sleeping well, feeling congested upon waking up, headache. It finally caught up to me last night when I got no sleep while dealing with the persistent feeling of a ten-pound weight sitting on my chest. Unfortunately, I've always been susceptible to respiratory illness, and pneumonia nearly killed me when I was age six. As a trumpet player, this kind of thing is really disheartening. I've been making a lot of progress lately with my rehabilitation after not playing for almost two decades. I'm happy with my tone, although I occasionally have my "airy" days, up to A above the staff. My pedal tones have never been better, so that gives me hope that I can stretch my upper register up to E/F above the staff with power (which was my limit in college). I can reach those notes now, but not with what I feel is a good, full tone. Ascending past the A above...

Other than teaching myself guitar over the last ten years or so, I've been away from music. Music was once a huge part of my life, and the thing I most looked forward to on a daily basis. Gradually, and for a number of reasons, it became less and less so over the years. I seem to require some degree of external stimulus to stay engaged with something, and while I enjoy playing guitar and reached some modestly useful degree of musicianship with it, I've never really felt the way I used to when I played trumpet. This is particularly true when I consider that I also miss playing as part of an ensemble. True, I could form or join some sort of a band, but the voice of the guitar typically stands alone or is at most part of a two person unit in a band. I miss blending with two, three, six, twelve, or three-hundred trumpets. Yes, I was part of a three-hundred trumpet group that performed at halftime of a football game at the University of Kentucky during their "Trumpet Day...

Around the time I discovered red rot in the leadpipe of my favorite and sole (soul?) trumpet, I was giving private lessons to the son of one of my coworkers. My teachers always had their horns at the ready during my private lessons with them, so it was at least somewhat out of obligation that I felt I needed to find a suitable replacement. I was not playing in any local bands (the brass scene where I lived at that time was abysmal), and any other playing was purely for my own amusement and upkeep. Teaching at least kept me somewhat motivated. The place locally that had the best reputation for having just about anything on the market was Chuck Levin's Washington Music Center. My wife of about seven years at the time, formerly a flute player who also just happened to be interested in learning to play trumpet, accompanied me. I'd always heard great things about Levin's, and I was really looking forward to it. Unfortunately, my experience there did not turn out how I had expe...

I will talk more about where I am now once I've spent at least a little time documenting from where I've come. After all, it's difficult to really understand one's progress during a comeback if there is no basis for comparison. To begin, I'll answer the inevitable question that all musicians frequently hear, even when he or she is an absolute beginner: "What [kind/brand/model] of horn do you play?" At the top of my blog is a link to the "My Gear" page which I will keep updated if/when things change. However, things are going to be static for a while as I am fairly happy with my current setup. My first trumpet was a used (probably late 1960s or early '70s era) student model King Cleveland 600 in lacquer which my parents rented and then subsequently purchased. I played it for roughly five years before I seemed to outgrow it. I don't have any particularly fond memories of this trumpet; it was just a "tool" to me. I particularly r...

Way back in the late 1970s, I learned how to play trumpet. Like all people, I had my ups and my downs, but by about 1984 I'd become the 1st chair and lead in my high school's concert, jazz, and marching bands. I suppose I'd reached an average to above-average level of capability for someone my age. I got lucky when it came to band directors as my first two were both trumpet players first, and both had great chops, technique and tone. I learned a lot from them. As a junior in high school, I qualified for the Northern Kentucky High School Select Band after what I thought was a good audition. However, I had won eighth chair in a section of nine. (A week later I'd discovered that the head judge was from the high school with trumpet players that won 1st, 2nd, and 4th chairs. Oh well.) As depressed as I was about it, something very gratifying happened during my time with that ensemble. On about the 4th day of rehearsals we were playing something dark and orchestral-sou...