Jack E
Well-Known Member
Fix yourself a brew, ladies and gents - this could be another 4 page essay . . .
I've had some serious breathing problems for about the last 3 / 4 years, which an inhaler has kept manageable up till last winter - when it all went pear-shaped. I had to quit playing baritone completely for a bit, but as the weather warmed up, I found I could play it - just not for very long, and even a short piece would leave me panting at the end.
But noticing that I could still play my clarinet, which depends far more on air pressure than it does air volume, and bearing in mind that the CAT scan my doctor has referred me for may take months (years?) to happen, and may still not result in any cure / palliative (especially next winter), I thought I'd explore other options. One was to buy a tenor horn on Ebay, which cleaned up quite nicely, but you'd have more chance of fitting a biblical camel through the eye of a needle than getting it through the mouthpiece that came with the horn. Back to Ebay, got a Sonata 5 (which appears to be a fairly stock recommendation for beginners). Well, yes, I grant you my embouchure is used to a Wick 6BS, but, even so
If it was a rifle, my guess would be about .177 calibre!
Back to Ebay, again - but second hand, decent nick tenor horn mouthpieces are very thin on the ground, and as for anything larger than a No.5 - "Fifty sovs to you, guv!" So that will have to wait till pension day. Just out of curiosity, I dug out another one in the fleet - a John Packer 132R trombone (8.5" bell, 0.547" bore), which, like my baritone, was an ex-demo jobbie at a very favourable price, and in perfect nick.
It's not only a large bore, it takes a large shank mouthpiece, too - currently a Sonata 5G. I was expecting it to take vast quantities of air compared to the baritone, and for myself to run out of puff very quickly. I spent 20 minutes or more re-learning the slide positions, as I haven't played a trombone for years, and was very much a novice even then. Then I realised that I wasn't out of breath at all.
I spent a while chatting about this last night with an old friend, who's been playing trombone for over 40 years (and with some good bands, too). We didn't come to any firm conclusions, but one point he mentioned was that the air flowing through a trombone only goes round two curves, both of which are Motorway standard as compared to the maze of 'single track with passing places' tubing in and around the valves on a baritone. Could that plus the bigger bore account for the difference in ease of playing, which I assure you was very noticeable?
It may be that the docs do find some way of improving my breathing - preferably short of recommending a permanent move to the French Riviera! - though from my research, it appears that the damage done by phosgene isn't actually repairable, short of a lung transplant. I won't sell my baritone, though, until and unless it is clear that I'll never be able to play it again - and the way I take care of my instruments means I can keep it for decades without deterioration. Whilst I haven't ruled out making a switch to tenor horn, it wouldn't be my first choice; they're just a tad too sweet for my taste, whereas the much gutsier sound of a large bore trombone would suit me down to the ground (if I can carry on playing it even in the winter).
D'you know the most sickening part about all this? I met the friend (mentioned above), and his sister (another trombonist) in 1981 - and I'm damn sure that if I'd expressed the slightest interest in trying brass then, they would have given me all the help and encouragement they could. Sadly, earlier experiences on piano, violin and guitar had convinced me that I would never be a musician - so I never even asked them, and only tried brass out of sheer boredom in 2015, after I retired!!
That's over 30 years of making music that I've missed out on, and it's nobody's fault but my own.
So if anyone is dipping into The Mouthpiece, and idly thinking "I'd like to have a go at playing brass - but I'm too old . . . " - I started on baritone aged 68, banjo aged 73, and clarinet when I was 74; so whaddya mean, you're "too old"??
And if anyone else is wondering about "Is it worth me trying to re-start on brass, when I haven't played for 40 years?" - of COURSE it is! So stop faffing around and dive in, or - when you do - you'll be kicking yourself for not having done it years before, just like I was when I got that first gorgeous note out of a baritone horn, and realised "Hey - I can do this!"
With best regards,
Jack
I've had some serious breathing problems for about the last 3 / 4 years, which an inhaler has kept manageable up till last winter - when it all went pear-shaped. I had to quit playing baritone completely for a bit, but as the weather warmed up, I found I could play it - just not for very long, and even a short piece would leave me panting at the end.
But noticing that I could still play my clarinet, which depends far more on air pressure than it does air volume, and bearing in mind that the CAT scan my doctor has referred me for may take months (years?) to happen, and may still not result in any cure / palliative (especially next winter), I thought I'd explore other options. One was to buy a tenor horn on Ebay, which cleaned up quite nicely, but you'd have more chance of fitting a biblical camel through the eye of a needle than getting it through the mouthpiece that came with the horn. Back to Ebay, got a Sonata 5 (which appears to be a fairly stock recommendation for beginners). Well, yes, I grant you my embouchure is used to a Wick 6BS, but, even so
Back to Ebay, again - but second hand, decent nick tenor horn mouthpieces are very thin on the ground, and as for anything larger than a No.5 - "Fifty sovs to you, guv!" So that will have to wait till pension day. Just out of curiosity, I dug out another one in the fleet - a John Packer 132R trombone (8.5" bell, 0.547" bore), which, like my baritone, was an ex-demo jobbie at a very favourable price, and in perfect nick.
It's not only a large bore, it takes a large shank mouthpiece, too - currently a Sonata 5G. I was expecting it to take vast quantities of air compared to the baritone, and for myself to run out of puff very quickly. I spent 20 minutes or more re-learning the slide positions, as I haven't played a trombone for years, and was very much a novice even then. Then I realised that I wasn't out of breath at all.

I spent a while chatting about this last night with an old friend, who's been playing trombone for over 40 years (and with some good bands, too). We didn't come to any firm conclusions, but one point he mentioned was that the air flowing through a trombone only goes round two curves, both of which are Motorway standard as compared to the maze of 'single track with passing places' tubing in and around the valves on a baritone. Could that plus the bigger bore account for the difference in ease of playing, which I assure you was very noticeable?
It may be that the docs do find some way of improving my breathing - preferably short of recommending a permanent move to the French Riviera! - though from my research, it appears that the damage done by phosgene isn't actually repairable, short of a lung transplant. I won't sell my baritone, though, until and unless it is clear that I'll never be able to play it again - and the way I take care of my instruments means I can keep it for decades without deterioration. Whilst I haven't ruled out making a switch to tenor horn, it wouldn't be my first choice; they're just a tad too sweet for my taste, whereas the much gutsier sound of a large bore trombone would suit me down to the ground (if I can carry on playing it even in the winter).
D'you know the most sickening part about all this? I met the friend (mentioned above), and his sister (another trombonist) in 1981 - and I'm damn sure that if I'd expressed the slightest interest in trying brass then, they would have given me all the help and encouragement they could. Sadly, earlier experiences on piano, violin and guitar had convinced me that I would never be a musician - so I never even asked them, and only tried brass out of sheer boredom in 2015, after I retired!!

So if anyone is dipping into The Mouthpiece, and idly thinking "I'd like to have a go at playing brass - but I'm too old . . . " - I started on baritone aged 68, banjo aged 73, and clarinet when I was 74; so whaddya mean, you're "too old"??
And if anyone else is wondering about "Is it worth me trying to re-start on brass, when I haven't played for 40 years?" - of COURSE it is! So stop faffing around and dive in, or - when you do - you'll be kicking yourself for not having done it years before, just like I was when I got that first gorgeous note out of a baritone horn, and realised "Hey - I can do this!"
With best regards,
Jack