A Playable, Wooden Trumpet

When you think you have seen everything, along comes something new. In this case it is a trumpet made entirely of wood. When I say entirely, I mean just that as even the valve springs are fabricated from wood.

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Careers In Music Part 2

Now that we have recovered from the last post pertaining to many different areas in which one can make a living in music, it is time to focus our attention on two of the most common was to support yourself. Establishing and sustaining yourself in these musical areas- Teaching Teaching can take many forms such as a(n)….. • classroom music teacher in an elementary/ middle and high school • a professor at a university • instructor in a music store • free-lance teacher in a school system • online instructor on the internet • teacher in your own studio •…

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So You Want A Career in Music? Part 1

So You Want A Career in Music? Part 1 So do tens-of-thousands of other people. Wanting something does not necessarily make it happen. Even with all the “If you want it badly enough, it will happen” believers propagating all their wonderful and deceptive rantings. In order to focus on a career in music, we must first limit and identify our particular area of interest in order to understand what is necessary to accomplish our goal. What are a few areas a musician can be a part of? 1. Performer Becoming a musician is a lot of hard work and few…

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Selecting the Best Music School- Part 3

What to Expect from Your Teacher When you visit your local physician with an ailment, you expect to leave with a solution to your problem. If you visit your dentist with a tooth ache, you expect to leave his/her office with relief, but too often trumpet students leave a trumpet studio with the idea that they (the student) has been granted a great privilege to be in the company of this almighty guru. Too many students worship their instructor and in a few cases it is justified for helpful teachers are to be revered. When you study an instrument, you…

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Selecting the Best Music School- Part 2

The first part of this post dealt with issues related to terms and your direction in your musical career. This post will focus on an area that I know well and that would be the study of an instrument (in my case the trumpet). No matter what your area of performance, trumpet, sax. piano, bagpipes or voice, the following information will apply to you. What to Look for in a Teacher The selection of your applied teacher is more important than the selection of a school. This may sound odd but when you consider that you will have more personal…

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Selecting the Best Music School- Part 1

Many are currently considering a career in music and wondering which school would be best to attend. This is a very important decision and choosing the best school to attend will affect your life in many ways. After more than fifty years teaching and attending colleges and universities around the country, I feel well qualified to post my opinions on this topic. I have attended great schools and bad. I have taught at great schools and less than great schools and I will share whatever knowledge I have in hopes that this information will be helpful in making your decision.…

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Who Has More Air- Trumpet Players or Trombone Players?

To my knowledge, this question has never been addressed, and some may wonder what difference does it make anyway? As some of you may know already, your host has been performing regularly on trombone. In fact more on trombone than on trumpet this month. As a new member of the low brass family, I have recognized several distinct differences in not only playing styles but also character differences between the two instruments and their players. One striking difference is the fact that trombone players seem to be able to play longer phrases than trumpet players. When trying to make the…

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Guess Who’s Stealing Our Gigs Now?

Once upon a time in a land far away, lived a very talented musician who longed for the opportunity to play his instrument and actually get paid to do so. Oh what visions of grandeur passed through his/her head as he/she dedicated his/her every waking hour to practicing his/her favorite instrument. Years past and slowly his/her ambition became a reality. “This is why I have dedicated me life to my instrument. This is finally the payback I have dreamed of”. Then, while performing with one of the Holiday On Ice show, he/she was asked if he/she ( don’t you get…

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Copy Cat Trumpets

One of our readers brought up an interesting issue which I thought would be helpful to other readers and that was the quality (or lack of) of many imported trumpets on the market. As the unaware shopper begins to search for the perfect instrument for their kids or themselves, the first place many go to find such an instrument would be on ebay……so let’s take a look. Type in ebay.com and in the search box, enter trumpet. The first thing you see is “Mendidi Bb Beginning Trumpet in Gold, Silver, Black, Red, +CaseKit+ Case”. My goodness they might think, “I…

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