The Conservative Cave
Interests => Hobbies => Topic started by: Thor on November 15, 2010, 11:36:19 PM
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I ditched my job at the VFW. Got tired of the same old bullshit. Anyways, my goal is to be able to play "Cantique De Noel" by Christmas Eve on my trombone. There are a couple of notes that are pretty high up there for a tenor trombone, so I'll have to work at it. And, as Eupher has stated before, it's been a LONG while since I've picked it up, so it's almost like starting all over again.
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I ditched my job at the VFW. Got tired of the same old bullshit. Anyways, my goal is to be able to play "Cantique De Noel" by Christmas Eve on my trombone. There are a couple of notes that are pretty high up there for a tenor trombone, so I'll have to work at it. And, as Eupher has stated before, it's been a LONG while since I've picked it up, so it's almost like starting all over again.
That sounds like a very worthwhile pursuit!
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Cool!
Slow and easy, bud. You ain't so young anymore. A great way to screw up chops is to leap right into things too fast, too hard, and too long.
If I may suggest a few things:
1. Long tones, very softly - no more than mf - boring as hell, but that's where you build strength initially.
2. A few minutes of mouthpiece buzzing. Don't stop up the end of the 'piece, either. Just play little songs like "Mary Had a Little Lamb" by ear. Buzzing focuses the tone and gets things right most ricky-tick.
3. Arpeggios and working the overtone series - only up to high F for a few days - don't push it.
4. Then and only then work on your legato and solo playing.
You'd be doing well to put in 30 minutes a day, or as long as your back holds out. It'll probably be physically demanding at first.
Need a sitrep every day!
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The bigger thing is that we're at that time of the year where we have the heat on , at least overnight. My lips tend to dry out & split during this time of year. Need to figure out how to prevent that.
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[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHVpJGXZ21o[/youtube]
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The bigger thing is that we're at that time of the year where we have the heat on , at least overnight. My lips tend to dry out & split during this time of year. Need to figure out how to prevent that.
Burt's Bees (exact name I forget) works well. Any kind of Chapstick works pretty well too. I use it every day starting in the fall through winter. Without it, my chops would be hamburger.
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I've got some material that I can scan and email to you, but not till tomorrow. Until then, just focus on getting air through the horn and some of those medium-range long tones. It'll sound like shit, but just be persistent. It'll come back.
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Burt's Bees (exact name I forget) works well. Any kind of Chapstick works pretty well too. I use it every day starting in the fall through winter. Without it, my chops would be hamburger.
Burt's Bees will work because Inga carries that at her store. Never had a lot of luck with Chapstick.
I'm going to call the local music store and see if they have an Arban's.
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Burt's Bees will work because Inga carries that at her store. Never had a lot of luck with Chapstick.
I'm going to call the local music store and see if they have an Arban's.
There's a new revision of Arban's out, edited by Brian Bowman (of North Texas State) and Joe Alessi, principal trombone with the NY Phil. It's kinda spendy, but it fixes all the errors (and there were tons) in the old edition. Also, the older versions of Arban's were a PITA because they're softbound. The new version is spiral bound, which makes it much easier to deal with on the music stand.
Uh...you DO have a music stand, dontcha? And a metronome?
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There's a new revision of Arban's out, edited by Brian Bowman (of North Texas State) and Joe Alessi, principal trombone with the NY Phil. It's kinda spendy, but it fixes all the errors (and there were tons) in the old edition. Also, the older versions of Arban's were a PITA because they're softbound. The new version is spiral bound, which makes it much easier to deal with on the music stand.
Uh...you DO have a music stand, dontcha? And a metronome?
I just noticed the new book.
And, No, no stand or metronome. Not any more. LOL, I bought my first (and only) metronome with S&H green stamps!! :o
I can probably find a stand at the local Goodwill or Salvation Army store. I'm pretty sure that I can find an online download for a metronome program.
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I just noticed the new book.
And, No, no stand or metronome. Not any more. LOL, I bought my first (and only) metronome with S&H green stamps!! :o
I can probably find a stand at the local Goodwill or Salvation Army store. I'm pretty sure that I can find an online download for a metronome program.
http://download.cnet.com/Weird-Metronome/3000-2133_4-10073673.html
Weird Metronome is a metronome program that uses the computer's MIDI hardware (sound card) to play its sound. This program is very configurable. You can define any length measure up to 1,000 beats with any beat emphasis you choose. More than fifty percussion instruments are available, and up to nine can be used at a time in a given measure definition. You can save and load your settings under as many presets as you like. All this and more in a tiny little download of only 18K.
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This site will work fine for a metronome program: http://www.metronomeonline.com/
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yeah, okay, but I like the portable type that run on battery power. :tongue:
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yeah, okay, but I like the portable type that run on battery power. :tongue:
Well...... that's out of the question right now. Hell, I'll be lucky to pay my bills. Besides, my old metronome was a wind up one. Similar to this one:
(http://www.guitar-skill-builder.com/images/old-fashion-metronome.jpg)
Yeah, I know that you're going to say something about "Old school", so before you do....... :tongue:
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This thread blows.
:yahoo: :rotf:
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This thread blows.
:yahoo: :rotf:
And don't you forget it, Baba Louie..... :-)
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Nothing like having to scroll down half a page just to see a couple of smileys.... (just sayin')
and of course, this thread "blows". What would one expect from a couple of "blowhards"?? :tongue:
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Nothing like having to scroll down half a page just to see a couple of smileys.... (just sayin')
and of course, this thread "blows". What would one expect from a couple of "blowhards"?? :tongue:
:thatsright:
Oy vey!
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:thatsright:
Oy vey!
What's your problem, young lady ??
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What's your problem, young lady ??
Nothing... O-)
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Nothing like having to scroll down half a page just to see a couple of smileys.... (just sayin')
and of course, this thread "blows". What would one expect from a couple of "blowhards"?? :tongue:
Well, I guess it's better than sucks. :-)
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I want to publicly thank Eupher ( Mr. Scrooge wanna-be) for helping me to get re-started in this endeavour.... :-) :hi5: :texas:
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I want to publicly thank Eupher ( Mr. Scrooge wanna-be) for helping me to get re-started in this endeavour.... :-) :hi5: :texas:
We can NEVER have enough hot air being blown around here. :-)
Next stop, TVDOC. He's been known to do the extendaphone bit, back in the day.
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We can NEVER have enough hot air being blown around here. :-)
Next stop, TVDOC. He's been known to do the extendaphone bit, back in the day.
Back in my era, euphemistically referred to as a "slush pump".......
If that's gonna happen, I'm gonna have to start hanging around pawn shops, as my mother sold my horn when I was in undergrad school........I don't want to disclose how many decades ago that was.
Several months ago, I did find a bottle of Conn slide oil, that my wife was using for her sewing machine.......it has to date from the Eisenhower administration.
doc
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Back in my era, euphemistically referred to as a "slush pump".......
If that's gonna happen, I'm gonna have to start hanging around pawn shops, as my mother sold my horn when I was in undergrad school........I don't want to disclose how many decades ago that was.
Several months ago, I did find a bottle of Conn slide oil, that my wife was using for her sewing machine.......it has to date from the Eisenhower administration.
doc
There's always eBay, DOC....... ;) I saw a couple of trombones from this one seller for under $100. One had some lacquer damage. They weren't concert quality, but....
they'd do quite nicely for picking it up again. I wonder what Mrs. DOC would think?? :evillaugh:
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Buying instruments on Ebay is a very, very iffy proposition.
A few years ago I bought a bass trombone that was full of red rot. Horn looked fine from the outside, but was rotting away on the inside. I was able to send it back and get my money back, but even for a horn for just getting back in the saddle, there are other options which are a lot safer.
Like my cousin Vinny, for example. He owns a pawn shop on the south end of town. :rotf:
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Buying instruments on Ebay is a very, very iffy proposition.
A few years ago I bought a bass trombone that was full of red rot. Horn looked fine from the outside, but was rotting away on the inside. I was able to send it back and get my money back, but even for a horn for just getting back in the saddle, there are other options which are a lot safer.
Like my cousin Vinny, for example. He owns a pawn shop on the south end of town. :rotf:
There ARE several NEW horns on eBay, which is probably what I would opt for. :hammer: :hammer: :hammer: Our pawn shops are dead in the center of town..... and I don't have a cousin that works at one.... :(
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Speaking of, Eupher.......
What do you think of this??
http://cgi.ebay.com/Giardinelli-SYM-AL-trombone-mouthpiece-24K-Gold-NEW-/140389143948?pt=Brass_Instruments&hash=item20afd8558c
I'm not familiar with that brand.
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Speaking of, Eupher.......
What do you think of this??
http://cgi.ebay.com/Giardinelli-SYM-AL-trombone-mouthpiece-24K-Gold-NEW-/140389143948?pt=Brass_Instruments&hash=item20afd8558c
I'm not familiar with that brand.
Giardinelli is a pretty well-known mouthpiece manufacturer that was one of the first that offered lots of options - different rim thicknesses, cup depths, backbore sizes, throat dimensions. Mostly meant for trumpet players, they've gone over to low brass. I bought three of 'em on Woodwind Brasswind (www.wwbw.com) a couple years ago for about $3 each - a real steal. I played one with my bass trombone for awhile till I got my Schilke 58 (a big bastard).
Plating the mouthpiece with gold yields a 'piece that is very, very comfortable on the chops. I play a gold Steven Mead SM3.5 (manufactured by Denis Wick in England), but so far haven't gold-plated my Schilke for bass 'bone or my tuba mouthpiece either. I like gold, but it's spendy.