It can get pretty intimidating, especially when you're just out of middleschool and these big, bad high schoolers have been taught how to play better, instead of learning how to play your instrument. A freshman in All District is pretty ******, even if you're just at Trumpet 3-A lol. I think that's when you start getting respect as a serious musician.
It can get pretty intimidating, especially when you're just out of middleschool and these big, bad high schoolers have been taught how to play better
But... I'm a junior in high school. But I guess I'm a lot better now than I was as a freshman, and I also was intimidated that there were people a lot better than I was at my instrument back then.
I was talking about me lol. Back then, I saw what the Trumpet 1-A could do as he was practicing and I'm like "how does he do that!?". Then, when I was a senior, I was like "hehehe yeah I can do better".
But all-state was different. Those 1st trumpets know how to play! I wish I was part of that section, but no, just 2-A for me...
The idea with the french horn is that there are many, many pitches that can be played with the same keys...
Sort of. All brass instruments use the same principle of harmonic series so each instrument has many pitches that can be played on the one position. Trumpets, tubas, etc. after all, have the same 3 valves and trombones have to figure out their appropriate slide position (which seems harder to me!) Once you understand what property of air-flow affects what (velocity of air + aperture of embrochure = pitch, volume of air = volume), it isn't all that mysterious or difficult. The difficulty is that it just so happens that the French Horn occupies the no-man's land between allowing vast volumes of air through the mouth piece, and nothing at all, so balancing everything to get the right pitch out of the blue is very finnicky, but once your body remembers what to do it's not too bad. I mean I think the trumpet is harder for the sheer back-pressure the cup of the mouthpiece generates, after all there have been fatalities from people blowing their brains in while playing the short cornet... or have there? (You decide whether this article has any truth to it!)
But this is coming from a guy who's played it more than 10 years so maybe I'm just used to it. And then again I can't play it for peanuts right now, unlike the piano, I haven't practiced it in ages.
I had no idea what that was until I googled it, but I've seen those before. Those look pretty complicated to play. It looks as though if you're good at piano, you could be good at the melodica.
To play the melodica well, all you need is experience with playing piano and any wind/brass instrument. The main problem is that the keys are smaller, and if you hold it up you can't really see the keys you're playing. And if you attempt live performances of long pieces you may go blue and pass out! My brother and I arranged a duo for Flight of the Bumblebee without too much difficulty, though, I might link you to a recording of it someday (I'm working on arranging Muse's Butterflies and Hurricanes for the duo too). There are some other crazy musicians who do incredible stuff with it, most of them already professional pianists, otherwise they've got a bit of a reputation as being a toy, much like the alto recorder and harmonica.
Well it seems so far that I'm the only one here who plays bass. Not bass trumpet or whatever, the bass that everyone laughs at in a band. I love it, the nice bass line you can make, how it's so calm yet rocks. I used to hate it and think it was useless, then I go into System of a Down and saw Shavo and thought "You know, Bass is cooler than I thought". I'll just sit in my room and make a nice calming bass line.
I mean I think the trumpet is harder for the sheer back-pressure the cup of the mouthpiece generates, after all there have been fatalities from people blowing their brains in while playing the short cornet...
I lol'd at the link by the way. I've also heard of accidents from people with trumpets. Louis Armstrong blew out his cheeks, for example. It happened from playing too high and using too much air which caused his muscles to rip. Then there are those that have been playing trumpets after their braces were taken off that ended up having their teeth more or less....bent.
There are good trumpets that more or less eliminate the need for backpressure. My Stradivarius has a bulkier lip that is supposed to focus the air better. I'm not sure how it works, but it helps stop the need for backpressure. Afterwards, you just gotta train yourself to not do it anymore! =D
Course, there are pros, or just good players, that can play strictly on air with minimal backpressure. One of my college mentors can play a 3rd-octave D with the same backpressure of a high F. That's pretty impressive, considering I can do the same, except I have to push my lips back half a mile lol
i play the banjo, the violion,the drums, the guitar, the bass, the piano, i sing, i play the trumpet, i play the clarinet, i play the trumbone, and i play your mother.
