Which of our forum members use rotaries

[dizforprez]

I have had a rotary B flat for years, I recently had some work done on it by Ken Larson that turned out pretty well,and over the past month I have found that I am using the horn for all my B flat playing and foundation type playing( though I still use a piston C for nearly all gigs).

I was kind of curious if there are any other forum users here that use rotaries a good bit over piston horn and what kind of experiences they have to share about making music( and prolonged practice) on our rotary brothers.

[Bill Dishman]

I use a rotary C quite a bit. As my orchestra partner does not have one, I have found other outlets. I use it primarily for Bach Chorales with organ in church. It has a nice color that works well for me. I try to practice it at least three time a week for my daily routine as there is is different approach to tonguing than the piston C.

I have also been known to use it for community band rehearsal to get chop time on it in a performance type situation.

One other area it is good for is certain brass quintet literature. Provides a nice bridge between the 1st trumpet and the French horn.

For fun, another friend of mine has a rotary C and we get together and play duets and excerpts on the two rotaries.

Bill Dishman
Gainesville, Florida

[Vulgano Brother]

I have a B&S Bb converted to C, an Alexander Bb and a Scherzer piccolo. The Alexander is a dog, but the B&S and Scherzer are quite fun to play. I love the sound of my rotaries, but for something wicked loud like Carmina Burana I'll grab my piston C.

[dizforprez]

Thanks for the input guys, do you find any improvements in your piston playing due to rotary practice? What are some of the specific problems you might run into if you are playing rotary along with piston players? Is there any solo rep that you think lays really well on rotary that most people might not think about using it for?

Bill, since you are in Gainesville do you know Dan S.? he is a buddy of mine from college days....played trumpet at my wedding. Could you tell us more about different tonguing for rotary vs piston?

[Vulgano Brother]

The Hindemith Sonata was written for rotary.

My C is pretty tricked out, leadpipe and all, so I can tongue like normal. From my years in Germany word was the East Germans single tongued everything, because their rotary horns wouldn't allow multiple tonguing.

[edcon1981]

Several members of my Civil War brass band play rotary horns. While I never have, they seem to prefer them over conventional valves. The primary benefit seems to be a quicker valve action. Outside of this I have no clue if there is a difference in sound quality.

[Bill Dishman]

Yes....Dan S. is a very good friend. (Along with Stephanie and Caden)
Dan subs with our quintet and plays in the symphony with me.
We have lunch every couple of weeks or so.
He came and did Christmas Duets with me for my special needs class.

Great friend and person.

Bill Dishman
Gainesville, Florida

[guyclark]

Hi, guys!

I've been playing rotary almost exclusively for near 20 years in both orchestra and concert band not to mention brass ensembles. I can get away with this, I believe, because my favored horns aren't as "rotary sounding" as others.

I really like the way the Schilke-designed Yamaha rotaries, the YTR-935 Bb and YTR-945 C trumpets play and sound. They sound to me like good "fat" piston trumpets, and play as if they were parts of my body.

When I play my other rotaries, Ganter, Scherzer, and Laberer, I get more of the typical extra-dark sound that isn't always appropriate for all gigs. They also aren't quite as much a part of me, and take more effort to play well.

My mouthpiece is actually a flugelhorn mouthpiece I made while in college (I'm an engineer by trade) with a piece of heat-shrink tubing applied to the shank to make it fit the trumpet receiver. It ended up being alot like the short shank Monette mouthpiece and works really well for me on these horns. I find that I sound alot like myself on my Yamahas when I use this mouthpiece on my wife's piston trumpets, Bach C and Yamaha Bb.

I play piston cornet in brass band, however, never having found a rotary cornet that played well that I was able to afford. I saw a Galileo rotary cornet recently (was that here?) that looks really cool, but I'm not in a position right now to consider a purchase like that. Getzen Eterna Bb and Schilke Eb soprano piston cornets are my current favorites, with Wick 2B on Bb and Warburton 1D and 12* shank on soprano.

In conclusion, the Yamaha rotaries are my preferred horns, mainly because of the ease of getting the sound I want and the ease of playing. I clam far less often on these horns than I ever did on my Bach C (or Schilke C5)!

Anybody else???

Guy Clark
South Bay Brass
Silicon Valley Brass Band - A Traditional British Brass Band
I have some youtube videos of myself playing some of my trumpet arsenal. Search for "Rotary Trumpet" and/or guyjclark channel.

[Vulgano Brother]

The Yamaha rotaries are darned close to the Monke trumpets in feel. Fun stuff!

[Vulgano Brother]

The Yamaha rotaries are darned close to the Monke trumpets in feel. Fun stuff!