Dave

..

rowuk

Great recommendations! I would probably put Jupiter at the top of the list because I have some students with them and in addition to playing very well, the finish is almost indestructable! The finish on the Blessings has been a mixed blessing...........

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Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

trumpetmike

Of those listed, I would agree with Rowuk and go for the Jupiter. If Yamaha could be added to the list, that would (and is) my top choice for beginners - they are designed with young students in mind - they bounce!!

Something which is always worth taking into account is what everyone else in the bands will be playing - not so you can all get that "section sound" which certain groups and Directors think exist, but because if a young student is the only one in a section that isn't on one particular make, the might consider themselves to be less of a player. Sad, but true.

FreshBrewed

How about any Olds trumpet made prior to 1970? They are great for beginners and they are built like armored cars. Just because the student is new to trumpet, does not mean their trumpet has to be new.

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Mike
Eclipse MHY Bell
1949 Olds Ambassador

Listening has nothing to do with moving your mouth!

rowuk

Good point FreshBrewed - only one caveat: if it was played a lot, the valves will be worn. Getting the valves plated or new ones lapped in could end up costing more than a new student horn. I think that beginners need the best start that they can get. Tight valves are a part of that.

__________________
Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

trumpetmike

Yes, the Olds are lovely, but they are not as common over here - most of the guys who have them, even the Ambassadors, tend to hang on to them.

You also risk the student feeling singled out because the rest of the section are using shiny new trumpets and they are using something that looks old (no pun intended). This is one of the many reasons that the cheap Indian/Chinese models are so frequently purchased for beginners - they look shiny.
It is a silly reason to buy a trumpet, but it does happen quite often. How a student feels about their instrument can have a big impact on how confidently they play.

FreshBrewed

Over a year ago when I gave my niece an Olds to start on, she looked at me and said, "It looks like crap". I took it from her and played it for a bit. Then I played my Eclipse. When she asked why I had done that, I asked her if she noticed a difference in my sound. Her answer was of course, "no". I then explained to her the proud tradition behind these old horns and how lucky she was to be a part of that tradition of Olds owners. A few weeks into this school year they had auditions for chairs and she placed first and used the Olds to do it. Just before Christmas we had talked about getting her a new horn. When I asked her about what she would like to get she simply stated that she wanted to keep the Olds. Her thought was that she didn't need a shiney new horn to continue progressing. She was doing just fine with the Olds. Besides, she thinks it's kind of cool to go in to those auditions with that worn old horn and slaughter(as she put it) the other kids and their new horns.

__________________
Mike
Eclipse MHY Bell
1949 Olds Ambassador

Listening has nothing to do with moving your mouth!

Dave

Yeah, you're right. Give her your Eclipse, and you play the Olds j/k

FreshBrewed

Actually, she does practice on it when she babysits for me and she doesn't care for it. She says it's too heavy.

__________________
Mike
Eclipse MHY Bell
1949 Olds Ambassador

Listening has nothing to do with moving your mouth!

trumpetmike

Mike - I think it is great that you have got such a musically intelligent niece, even more so that you have been able to demonstrate how good her Olds sounds. Sadly I can't see this being the case with many students.
When I was a young student one guy turned up at the bottom of the section (on a residential course) with a real beat up Bach belonging to his Dad. What he didn't say at the time was that his Dad was Paul Ringham (of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra) and that this was a spare instrument.
Again, his Dad was able to say "look, this instrument WORKS" but not every student has such players as yourself and Paul in the family.

Many of my students come from families where the fact that the parents can recognise a trumpet is a good thing, if they can understand the fact that sometimes the older ones are better we are looking at impressive parents. I had one last year where the parents bought their son a new Jupiter student cornet (which is a very nice student instrument). This would have been fine, but before that he was playing on a borrowed globe-stamp Sovereign and sounding amazing on it. It has taken him some time to make the new cornet sound as good as the older one - and it is not an easy thing to say to his family that they really stuffed up. OK, he now has his own cornet, but he is playing on a MUCH lower class instrument.

Students can be a problem - parents are nearly ALWAYS a problem