Here on Half Hour Note Trumpets you will find trumpets from just about all brands. Yamaha, Bach, Zephyr, Clarke, as well as many others. We have many accessories, music, books, CDs, DVDs, Movies, even some jewelry managed to sneak in. You want mutes, stands, polish, mouthpieces. We have all of that.
So how did I get into this website? Well...read on.
Trumpet is something that is very near and dear to my heart. The brilliant sounds that penetrate and sear through your sole can be coaxed from this popular band instrument.
The trumpet or coronet while appearing very similar have similar but distinctively different sounds. It has been my experience that the trumpet is more popular but the coronet has a more mellow sound.
I have owned and played both for years. I have enjoyed both. Both have advantages and disadvantages.
I started playing trumpet in the 4th grade band at school. I was drawn to it because a cousin I admired also played it and played it well. I also noticed that the trumpets were standouts in marching band, something else I aspired to.
My first trumpet (a $25 pawn shop special) had no case. It was beat up big time. But I loved it. The trumpet didn't know it was beat up and the mechanics worked fine. It just wasn't very pretty. I played it for all of that year.
But my dad did a smart thing. He didn't invest a bunch of money, that we didn't have anyway, in an instrument that his kid may not stick with.
After that year of playing with that trumpet my folks got me a newish "case" for it. Remember, I did not have one. This was for Christmas if I remember. I opened it up and WOW! There was a not new, but MUCH NEWER used horn that looked beautiful to me. Here I thought I was just getting a new case. As I said we didn't have a lot of money. I was in heaven.
I played that newer trumpet until junior high school. I had proven I could learn and play too. I had become first chair my first year of grade school and stayed there. I became first chair in junior high school until I got braces put on. Let me tell you braces and trumpet do NOT work very well.
My well meaning instructor bumped me down to 10th chair to make it "easy" on me. You can really cut your lip and make your teeth sore pushing on your braces. The bad news is I was soooo mad and hurt that he put me down without even giving me a chance to prove that I could still play.
We were allowed challenges to climb but you could only climb 3 chairs and only do a challenge every 30 days to add stability to the band. EVERY 30 days I challenged until I won back first chair by the end of the year. I guess you could say I am pretty competitive.
Next comes high school. My horn was pretty well shot again and dad came dragging home a almost new coronet. I had decided to switch to coronet after hearing the difference and just wanted to play one frankly. It turned out to be an advantage in marching band in high school. It was not so long that you were banging it into everything all the time.
Unfortunately, I ran into a gal I call "hot lips". She beat me out for first chair so I was number 2. I never COULD beat her. She was one hot set of lips. Nice gal too. I appreciated her skill and we became friends. Unfortunately, she got a case of nerves at contests and didn't play as well as she could. I think I could do better at contests, but I could NOT for the life of me beat her on her home turf. Good for her. I liked her.
The trumpet has been a large part of my life through school. I loved playing horn in the high school marching band and concert band. I love music. Around junior high I also started playing guitar in rock bands so slowly trumpet began to take a back seat.
But I still have my trumpet and coronet some 30 something years later and can still play them, although my tone is shot. I even went to a high school reunion here last summer and HEY THERE'S HOT LIPS! I was super glad to see her. Probably both her and my wife wonder why I still call her hot lips but she grinned big time when I called to her.
So please consider learning to play the trumpet. It can become a huge part of your life and who you are. Band kids are some of the best kids in the world to be around and they are forced into discipline at a very early age. You MUST follow the rules or you are OUT!
And just think 30 or 40 years later if you still have your horn you can chase the dog around the house with it!
Enjoy life!
Rex
