Richard Oliver

This reminds me of the long trips in a car with parents during summer vacation when I was young.

When the car pulled over, I knew something baaaaad was going to happen next.

Vulgano Brother

If it was a Chevy, then the baaaaad thing already happened. That's why it was pulled over.

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www.letsbuildhope.org

Siegtrmpt

That's true enough too although I think most of our trumpet struggles exist regardless of what equipment we have in our hands at the time. The right mouthpiece can be of some help but it's not going to fix an inadequate approach to playing.

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Bill S.- NY Bach 6, 38 Mt. Vernon 43 Bach "C" cornet, NY Bach trombone 6vii Monette mouthpieces

Richard Oliver

Right Sieg. Or just a frank lack of native ability. I figure I'm only ever going to get so "good." Hardware is irrelevant at that juncture. Can be a fun diversion, but it's not going to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

brian moon

Right on.

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Revelation 3:20

brian moon

Native ability is over rated. The talents that mean the most are the talent to perservere and the talent to analyze and understand.

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Revelation 3:20

skankin'dan

Lol my teacher is a drummer too...

rowuk

Brian, I think that "native ability" is under rated. Many players with natural talent are LAZY because they get pretty far with a minimum of effort. Most band directors are happy to have players that do not need a lot of attention (although many would benefit greatly from more!). My best students are always the ones that were one cut "below" those naturals with the drive that you mention!

Bama Boys question about 2 different mouthpieces is further proof that the message is not getting through. We can tell you what we prefer, but my face, ears and brains are different than yours so my selection does not help you one bit over the ethernet. Your face, ears and wallet will need to decide what to do. I have a collection and can let my students try different things before laying down cash.
If you are playing things symphonic, a big mouthpiece (Bach 1 1/2, 1 1/4, 1 or equivalent with deep cups) is popular. For real lead playing, the spread is MUCH greater. There is a tendency to use smaller and shallower mouthpieces. Players that switch need to spend more time looking as they do not always have time to get used to the shallower piece.

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Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

brian moon

Native ability IMHO (well, I'm kidding about the H ) is many, many times more important in the ears than the chops. Maybe we are talking about the same thing? Natural chop ability is only important as long as the student doesn't have much drive. The brain, IQ, is vastly more important. Like I said before, the ability to analyze and understand is much more important.

A determined student with no native ability (well ok, you do need lips,somewhat normal lungs, and intelligence) can do just as well as the determined student that can play High C, or G, or even Double C or tongue extrememly fast very early on.

Most HS band players are awful. No decent instruction and no desire to improve. They don't even know what good is.

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Revelation 3:20

Shelbywmccarty

why is it that people only talk about the people that have played on one mouthpiece for their whole life. If you dont like something about the mouthpiece, then try new things. How many mouthpieces has doc played on or maynard or lots of other people who have played on hundreds. Doc did still sound like doc, but what I am saying is that he wanted something different and changed it. Shallower mouthpiece do take some getting used to, but can help if you put in the time. Lessons would be nice for younger players, but lots of places dont have "lead" teachers. Try out some mouthpieces if you want to. Buy some used mouthpieces off dillon music or ebay or here or trumpetherald and if you dont like them, sell them back. Continue to practice hard and things will happen. There is no substitute for good ole lip slurs and long tones. Also, if you dont practice in the upper register, then you probably wont be able to play up there. Just my opinions.