my name: trumpet-jesus, my hashtag (for some god forsaken reason): #violin
why are the gods so cruel
@trumpet-jesus / trumpet-jesus.tumblr.com
why are the gods so cruel
Hello! Long story short, I have a bit of an odd question. What kind of routine care and maintenance should I preform to keep my trumpet in tip top condition (aside from grease slides/oils valves)? How often? Thank you for your time, and have an excellent day!
Its not an odd question at all! Sometimes frequency can depend on the instrument but usually I oil my valves once a day, grease slides once or twice a week, and give it a bath once every three months (snake and all) and polish twice a year. Its not always spaced out this nicely, as I typically clean my entire horn before concerts, recitals, and juries and I always polish before trips but it usually works out to those timings.
One thing that a lot of people don’t add is to clean their mouthpiece with a proper mouthpiece brush and spray (*** i personally recommend min-t-mist as it works extremely well and is used by many mouthpiece companies, universities, bands, shops, you name it*** but rubbing alcohol works well too) then rinse it completely. I do this AT LEAST ONCE a day before I start playing but if there is a several hour gap in between playing I clean it again. Not cleaning your mouthpiece is like reusing a spoon every day that you don’t even wash off and sticking it in some carpet or something. gross.
Nothing else really needs to be done maintenance-wise as anything else that needs to be replaced or cleaned is by a case-by-case basis. The cork with the water key should be replaced when it leaks/falls off/thins out, the pads under the valves should be replaced if they get really wet and get compressed, and sometimes the springs for the water keys get bent out/rusted and need to be replaced. I’ve only needed to replace the cork and the spring for my water key on my Bb horn once, and I have owned it for over 6 years now. The other horns I use I haven’t owned it for that long (I’ve only owned my C for a little over a year) or are owned by my school / professor (picc, flugel, Eb) and I don’t need to worry about repairs.
I also personally recommend swishing your mouth with JUST water before you play, so that any particulates that were in your mouth don’t get in your horn. Do not brush your teeth every time you play because that's probably really bad for your teeth and you will definitely get toothpaste in your horn :)
For Pride Month, I would like to share a list of some of my favorite queer composers. Being queer doesn’t matter when talking about the music, and there is no other commonality that pairs these composers together. The point isn’t to say that queerness makes their music more valuable or influences their music, rather the point is to recognize diversity, and to acknowledge queer visibility. I understand the people who scratch their heads or roll their eyes at the idea of bringing up queer composers, and to them I say the point is simply to recognize their existence, because prejudices and biases through time have worked on erasing or revising history in order to keep hidden this aspect of the human condition. You could shrug and say “Who cares if Tchaikovsky was gay?” and I would say, “You’re right, it doesn’t matter much outside of biographies, but if you acknowledged Tchaikovsky’s homosexuality in Russia you could be arrested for “promoting gay propaganda”. I am also motivated by a comment from a friend who admitted they think the concept of “Pride” for anything you cannot control is “idiotic”. My response can be summed up as, when a group has been shamed for years for their identity, they will be ready to sing about it from the mountaintops when it is accepted. In other words, it is not about who is better or worse, rather it is the opposite of shame, and hopefully putting a human face on something that a lot of people only consider in the abstract.
In no particular order, here is some cool music by some queer people;
And if you reblog this list, feel free to add any of your favorite queer composers and share their music, their names, their faces.
I went to a string quartet intensive and got to a play some chamber music with students at the university I will be attending next year and here’s some of what was said:
I think I’m going to like college
is this real?
violin
pro: really agile instrument capable of large leaps and scale runs
con: open e string
viola
pro: gooood tone quality
con: alto clef
cello
pro: has a deep lower register and a very emotionally intense upper register
con: the players always fucling rush
double bass
pro: super important for helping the orchestra sound full
con: have fun carrying that thing everywhere
flute
pro: can play really fast melodic lines
con: piccolo
clarinet
pro: comes in many sizes, including bass and piccolo clarinet
con: comes in many sizes, including bass and piccolo clarinet
oboe
con: oboe
bassoon
pro: has a very distinct sound and is important in orchestral textures
con: it is a giant toot pipe
trumpet
pro: is the highest-pitched of the brass instruments and has a triumphant sound
con: is a transposing instrument (which goes for a lot of the spit instruments)
trombone
pro: slidey slide
con: I literally know nothing about trombone
tuba
pro: doot do doot do doot do dodododoot do doot
con: it weighs like half a person
piano
pro: works wonderfully as a solo instrument
con: works wonderfully as a solo instrument but composers refuse to believe that performers don’t have more than ten fingers
harp
pro: just listen to it
con: pedals
percussion
pro: provides rhythm and sound effects that the orchestra could not have without it
con: sitting within two feet of the bass drum and the cymbals
guitars
pro: work nicely as solo instruments and for providing chords
con: those people who learn four chords or one bass line and suddenly think they’re god. also for acoustics: dropping your pick into your instrument
OKAY WAIT BUT CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW MUCH TRUMPETS (and french horns sometimes) HAVE TO SIGHT-TRANSPOSE MUSIC IN EARLIER ORCHESTRAL WORKS???
*i misread the actual con section at first but this came to mind first and i REALLY want to talk about it*
(for those of u who don’t know what I am talking about, it is when you read a music, transpose it in your head, then play the transposed music that came from ur mind. ex: part is in Bb but you are playing C trumpet, music says to play a an F, you play an Eb. this has nothing to do with transposing intruments (instrument reads one note but plays a different one) but with the act of transposing ON THE FLY.
i am only passionate about this because it is an incredibly mentally challenging task when learning and practicing and i am a little butt-hurt that no other instrument really needs to do this on a professional level (other than french horn occasionally)
There was basically a trumpet for EVERY key imaginable (alright that was a stretch but there was a lot)
Most of the classical-period music I have played for orchestra was either for trumpet in D, Eb, or F. OCCASIONALLY it would be for E (i know it is disgusting). And so for those of you who do not know, most collegiate students and professionals actually play C trumpet for orchestra (with a few situational exceptions) because we’ve all learned C is really really important in theory and it is easier on the brain to transpose.
so why is Bb trumpet the most popular and the one people play on the most? i genuinely don’t know. possibly because it is the most in-tune. dont quote me on that.
I can hear it now: “but trumpet-jesus!!!! what happens when you get music in orchestra that is for Bb or you have a transposed copy for Bb trumpet??? Wont u just play it on Bb then??”
you still play it on C.
‘nocturne op. 9 no. 2’ by chopin but you’re in a hotel lobby avoiding the rain on a cold night in an unfamiliar city, captivated by the soft piano music that reminds you of home. (youtube)
✨🥰✨🥰✨
I just heard someone in a previous post say marimbaist. I mean I say I am a mallet percussionist or just percussionist, but maybe I should start saying I am a xylophonist. Sounds spicy.
no matter how many years of classical training i have under my belt the first thing that comes to mind when someone says ‘xylophone’ are skeletons.
make of that what you will
ill never forget that my post, how to do instruments, got onto a buzzfeed article about music.
someone really sat down and looked at it and was like “ah yes. peak musician. the millennials will love this”
PRACTICE YOUR SCALES
SERIOUSLY
hello!! i’m a marimbist trying to pick up trumpet and i cannot for the life of me figure out how to get my embechure to consistently make noise (not even with good tone, just..... any noise). i have no previous experience with brass instruments at all, but i did do chorus for a couple years so my breath control isn’t terrible. do u have any tips you could share for getting a consistent and correct embechure? thanks!!
yes!!! my brass techniques class wasn’t actually for nothing!!
a good trick a lot of educators use with students is to say “ma’am” and then hold the shape of your mouth at the last ‘M’. after that u can try blowing through but if nothing comes out think about tightening/cementing your corners of the mouth to your teeth. the buzz comes from the top lip so make sure that its completely tight or too loose.
u can practice this by saying ma’am, trying to play, then once u get a decent sound take the horn off of your face and repeat. it will take some trial and error cause not everyone plays the same cause not everyone has the same lips or teeth(i literally cant play if the horn is centered on my mouth it always has to be off to the left).
another potential issue is lip size for beginners. If the mouthpiece is small like a 7C (which most beginner horns come with) and you have bigger lips, you will have a significantly harder time trying to play and vise-versa. i usually tell students to play with a 3C for bigger lips 5C for medium lips, and 7C for small lips.
lol let me add this before someone gets mad
this sizing is ONLY for straight out of the case beginners who aren’t able to make a decent sound after trying everything else. as you progress you will need to go to a bigger mouthpiece such as a 3C which is fairly standard across the board. when you upgrade, it will not really depend on lip size but more about play style (compression, how much air, etc.) and your regular repertoire. i currently play on a 1.25C (fairly big) for classical and solo playing, and i have medium lips. i also have a golf-tee looking mouthpiece strictly for jazz lead playing.
hello!! i’m a marimbist trying to pick up trumpet and i cannot for the life of me figure out how to get my embechure to consistently make noise (not even with good tone, just..... any noise). i have no previous experience with brass instruments at all, but i did do chorus for a couple years so my breath control isn’t terrible. do u have any tips you could share for getting a consistent and correct embechure? thanks!!
yes!!! my brass techniques class wasn’t actually for nothing!!
a good trick a lot of educators use with students is to say “ma’am” and then hold the shape of your mouth at the last ‘M’. after that u can try blowing through but if nothing comes out think about tightening/cementing your corners of the mouth to your teeth. the buzz comes from the top lip so make sure that its completely tight or too loose.
u can practice this by saying ma’am, trying to play, then once u get a decent sound take the horn off of your face and repeat. it will take some trial and error cause not everyone plays the same cause not everyone has the same lips or teeth(i literally cant play if the horn is centered on my mouth it always has to be off to the left).
another potential issue is lip size for beginners. If the mouthpiece is small like a 7C (which most beginner horns come with) and you have bigger lips, you will have a significantly harder time trying to play and vise-versa. i usually tell students to play with a 3C for bigger lips 5C for medium lips, and 7C for small lips.
so I was making an arrangement of dance of the sugar plum fairy in ableton but I accidentally didn’t line the parts up correctly and it turned out to be a cool lil ditty
“it turned out to be a cool lil ditty”
-most composers