From: JLindem96@aol.com
Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 05:55:34 EST
Subject: [TPIN] Jens
Lindemann trumpet rant
Time for another one of my rants...I must be jet-lagged...again. Today,
I would like to take on the 'Goliath' of classical sound...Bach
trumpets! For many years, it has been considered an arrival point for
young players when you buy your first Bach trumpet...you are now a
professional!
My Middle School teacher had one and I still remember seeing it every
day at the front of the band room on it's tall Holton stand. He would
play cool excerpts from Jay Chattaway wind ensemble charts...we all
wanted to be just like him. The very first trumpet I bought was a Czech
made horn called a Musica (if anyone knows any specs about these horns,
please do NOT write me...it was a terrible instrument although I didn't
know it at the time). I was 12 years old and I bought that horn because
it had a cool thumb ring on the first valve slide just like my band
teacher's Bach. My rented school horn didn't have that ring so this one
must have been better.
Finally, I bought a Silver plated 37 standard Bach when I was 14. Why
did I buy that horn? Because that's what the local pros played! I had
that trumpet for one year before I switched to the new pro-line Yamaha
that had just come out with gold-like lacquer because I though it
looked better. Serial number 001010...I thought that was cool too...I
used it as a P.I.N. on bank cards all through college...what a trumpet
geek.
All through high school, I was one of the only ones playing a Yamaha. I
played that horn because it was different...I wanted to be different.
The more people said I should play a Bach because that's what the pros
played, the less I wanted to play a Bach. It became a badge of honor to
be different. Instead of trying to be different, I should have been
practising more...E major wouldn't be as difficult today.
When I left my hometown and ventured out into the world of university
abroad, summer music schools and international competitions, I
discovered that there were Bachs everywhere...a veritable Bach invasion
around the world. Let's face it, local classical players are influenced
by and large by local symphony players who measure themselves by other
symphony players up the proverbial orchestra ladder until you hit the
'Big Five'. Ominous sounding term like the mafia...you are just
supposed to know who they are without needing to talk about it and when
you learn those five cities, you have moved up a notch in trumpet cool.
Anyone who says they were not influenced in some way by the trumpeters
in those orchestras and their equipment specs is lying. It's like
learning the Periodic Table...you have to know it even if you never use
it.
Now the fun part, the mythic Bach sound. Yup, I heard it and felt it
when I was 14. When did you experience it? That magical tone streaming
from my bell had me destined for an orchestra if only I could play in E
major. The last time I checked, it was "Phil Smith sounds great" not
"Phil-Smith -sounds-great-playing- a-229H-with- slightly-shortened
-first-valve-slide" I'm just guessing here folks, but I bet Phil Smith
would sound great on my aforementioned Musica...even if he didn't like
playing it very much. I would also venture a guess that Phil Smith
sounds pretty good because he might have his fundamentals figured out.
My suggestion here is that it is up to the next generation to decide
what trumpets should be played as 'standards'. An instrument should not
be purchased based on the 'compromise' notes that you
'just-get-used-to' by lipping slightly. Some of you will understand
that statement immediately, others will figure it out after going
through their Periodic Tables. We are now in a new millenium and there
are new standards that need to be considered. Instrument design has
improved radically and there are people out there who have made a
science out of studying subtle nuances that will improve the overall
resonance of a horn. Not snake charming quick fixes but people with
long term staying power. You have to find out who these people are...it
is part of your trumpet curriculum and it should not be a surprise when
you discover that it is an extremely short list. Don't be afraid to
break the mold...great playing and individual musicality is what is
ultimately rewarded in our industry and a shift in the status quo is a
natural part of any cycle. Don't believe me?
Look at the history of democracy itself. Something about the sun never
setting on a certain empire...
Jens Lindemann
www.trumpetsolo.com
