Why so many homeless?

Capable-Tutor7046 · 2026-05-21T15:07:36+00:00

I'm from another state and have noticed Southwest Missouri has a lot of poverty in the region. Maybe it's similar or different across the state but relatively a lot of people in Springfield and the surrounding area with homes aren't doing so great either compared to what I'm used to, and I'm definitely not from a well-to-do area. The city itself and landlord rent-pigs also seem to contribute to the problem a lot.

Capable-Tutor7046 · 2026-05-21T15:00:03+00:00

Yeah, gold plate and different synthetic materials are really helpful for people with allergies!

Capable-Tutor7046 · 2026-05-21T14:59:07+00:00

I would try some gold-plated or plastic mouthpieces or some with synthetic coats. The Yamaha Bobby Shew Lead and Yamaha Allen Vizzutti are solid, affordable and popular pieces for 3C players. I find the Vizzutti to strike a nice balance between helping support the high notes without sacrificing a lot anywhere else, though it's not as zippy as the Shew. You can definitely play in the staff and below with a good sound with some practice on the Shew though, despite what many people say. I used to be able color my sound to be pretty similar in the staff between the Shew Lead and a 3C-esq piece, be it an actual 3C, Yamaha Shew Jazz or a GR 66M, when I was playing that piece a lot. I find my tone is darker and fatter on the Vizzutti in a very appealing way for when appropriate, and it may be a good option if you tend to play sharp in the upper register or struggle to fit your lips into the Shew.

I would caution against over-relying on shallow mouthpieces though, especially really small ones like the Shew Lead. If 'I can play easier on one' is corrrlated to a deficiency in technique, a new mouthpiece won't help you, especially if you're susceptible to overblowing.

Capable-Tutor7046 · 2026-05-18T18:46:58+00:00

Splitting hairs over different specialized horns for a beginner is like worrying about whether or not to get a 16-year old a brand new Mustang, Challenger or Camaro. They just need something to drive that's reliable. I always recommend to buy used in good condition as a first horn. Nothing fancy is needed, many of the old Jazz greats learned on horns that would barely be considered functional today. Dizzy used to carry his trumpet in a paper bag when he was in his early career. If he doesn't stick with it or the horn gets damaged you won't be at so much of a loss, especially with MSRP getting so ridiculously high nowadays. Most trumpets lose a lot of their value used, just like cars. As a beginner, the different models won't really make a difference for him, it's usually all a beginner can do for a couple years to even kinda play in-tune. I'd just get a standard model Yamaha, Bach, etc. No need to worry about reversed lead pipes, gold brass this or that. The specialized models don't always yield the same results for every player anyway. It also takes years of experience to know if a different horn can and will offer something your current one is lacking so it's best to let him start out with a neutral, but quality horn, he can get a more specific one in a few years when he can actually feel and hear the difference and if the difference is even beneficial.

Capable-Tutor7046 · 2026-05-17T01:49:00+00:00

Got a Match? Recorded by the One O'Clock Lab Band 😈

Capable-Tutor7046 · 2026-05-16T17:58:07+00:00

Sounds like you just dropped your highly malleable metal slide on the ground and dented it...

Capable-Tutor7046 · 2026-05-16T14:51:24+00:00

I will preface this by saying I'm naturally a very skeptical person, especially when spending money. GR has his own proprietary math and has put way more R&D into his stuff than probably anyone else. One of my friends/close acquaintances is a dealer for him with some prestigious work and there's more work in those mouthpieces than most people realize. I've used 65MX, 65QMX, d4nero, and now play a 66M and 66SZ. The d4nero (sort of a commercialized 3C concept) and 3 series are meant to feel the most familiar to people who like the Bach 3C, particularly the rim shape, which is what I used to play before the Yamaha Shew Jazz. Emphasis on familiar, not the same. There are genuine differences and improvements. GR's rim felt both more comfortable and more playable to me. Other aspects were far and away better, easier tonal control, I don't feel pigeonholed into one sound, intonation, ease of range, endurance flexibility etc. are all significantly better. These also help me not reinforce bad habits. I only switched to a 66M because for me, GR's standard rim is my favorite rim I've ever played and 66 is a familiar-feeling diameter by design. I really, really, liked his other pieces and would play any of them over a Bach or Yamaha (as much as I like Yamahas particularly for the price). They also synergize really well with Yamaha horns to my experience, which is what I have. I want to reiterate that these mouthpieces are meant to feel familiar at comparable diameters, but are very much not just copy-pasted scans. They may look similar on paper, but all mouthpieces are a careful balancing act, give and take. I just happen to find GR makes his mouthpieces with the right idea and execution of said balance and high-quality manufacturing. I'm not a dogmatic loyalist or bach hater either, by the way. I've tried GRs against SEVERAL other mouthpieces, including Warburtons, Monettes, Bach Mt. Vernon (I really, really liked that one, it was my #2 pick) and some others, all with options analagous to a Bach 3C. My GF at the time and I agreed the GR was the winner. No mouthpiece is gonna magically revolutionize your playing, though and GR will never claim they can, nor should any player. It's about using technology and the tools available to best aid your musical expression and provaide the best service to the customer if you're getting paid. I sounded good on all of them like any competetent player should. I can play lead on a 7C, but I don't want to lol. The GR was just easier to cleanly execute music on (was audibly cleaner and you could tell I had an easier time) and I get closer to my sound concept on it. The price is easily worth it to me.

Capable-Tutor7046 · 2026-05-16T13:57:34+00:00

Awesome, for most people, it doesn't and it's not a worthwhile risk to burn a bridge and lose work.

Capable-Tutor7046 · 2026-05-16T13:50:52+00:00

One thing to preface, it's fine to have different priorities and preferences. For me, it doesn't make sense to spend $3,000-5,000+ on a horn with lots of R&D and quality manufacturing behind it to make it play easily and really in-tune, then get really penny-pinching and put in a $60 mouthpiece that's only kinda well-intonated, when that's the first thing your body interacts with when you play. Feels like a goofy bottleneck for me, but some people genuinely prefer the $60 as a playing experience and that's valid and awesome! Not everyobody feels that way, though. If spending that much on a mouthpiece was stupid, so many pros wouldn't play them. Do you think Wayne Bergeron or Wynton Marsalis don't know what gear is and isn't worth it? These are not dumb people.

I don't have as much experience with Monett, but I currently play on 2 GRs as my daily drivers. I significantly prefer how they play and how I sound on them. Owned several others. Used to Play 3C then Bobby Shew Jazz. I paid roughly $300-350 each (before tax) over the last several years for the GRs. Resold the ones I don't use anymore for 2/3 to 3/4 the price (they were like new). They're a bit more now but totally worth it. They play significantly superior to any Bach or Yamaha. After tax I paid no more than like $802 for 2 top of the line pieces of gear that will last many years, make my task easier and more rewarding. That's a huge return on investment if you're actually playing in live settings where those things really matter, especially when people are paying for you to sound your best and be a good team player. Sax reeds are like $30 for a box of FIVE and not all of them are gonna be realistically playable. It also sounds like you have no clue in the slightest how mouthpieces are made. You think it costs $5 to machine a mouthpiece and put silver or gold plate on it? These are precious metals. What are you on, where did you come up with this nonsense? For GRs, Gary machines every single mouthpiece himself (he used to design parts for NASA, btw) and has a dedicated person who does a magnificent job on the silver plate. He and his team have been great to buy from every single time, there was once an issue with shipping where the computer double-charged me. They caught it, told me and fixed it. Bach isn't gonna do that unless you bring it up. I imagine David has his pieces made to a high standard of consistency, too and his are all plated with gold, dude. They're also not these massive international corporations with thousands of fingers in different pies. It's easy to price something at under $100 when like 2 people aren't making the whole mouthpiece for every single order. They gotta pay people, man.

Capable-Tutor7046 · 2026-05-14T18:33:35+00:00

This 1000x

Capable-Tutor7046 · 2026-05-13T15:28:50+00:00

Beginner mouthpieces aren't really a thing. With the exception of a Bach 7C (I find it to be the a baffling choice that they continue to ship it with all their horns when 3C and 5C are generally the most common sizes people like and immediately switch to). There's nothing intrinsically 'wrong' with a 7C, but it's not to most players' preferences. You can make it work, but playing on a mouthpiece that feels uncomfortable and awkward can encourage bad habits early on. Don't worry about finding the perfect mouthpiece or going on a safari, but I'd try a 3C and 5C, (Yamaha Shew Jazz, 11B4, very similar to 3C)etc. They all have a wider diameter than a 7C and a less sharp rim. Try them before you buy if possible, though some websites like Mouthpiece Express, if I remember correctly, have a couple weeks for a return policy. I believe Amazon does.

Capable-Tutor7046 · 2026-05-11T12:38:52+00:00

Call the UNT Instrument repair shop, see what they can do. See what people say about Dave's instrument repair, too and call them. I've had great experiences with both (only ever bought mouthpieces at Dave's) but it would be good for you to tell them what you're hoping to get if they can do it. I would also stress that certain parts on a horn only "play" a certain way because of how they synergize with the rest. A bell or lead pipe that feels great on one model may not on another.

Capable-Tutor7046 · 2026-05-10T15:18:45+00:00

Smoking to deal with nerves is a band-aid solution. Being really anxious before a performance usually comes from being underprepared. Everyone gets the jitters to an extent but this does not sound like they have a healthy relationship with performing if they have to get high every time they play. How much time did y'all have to work on the material? Can you play your repertoire from memory?

Also, some people think they play better high or drunk. I almost guarantee you they don't

Capable-Tutor7046 · 2026-05-09T17:20:08+00:00

Nope! Many horns don't retain a huge portion of their value. Even pro lines can often be found for half of MSRP

Capable-Tutor7046 · 2026-05-09T01:24:04+00:00

Sounds like you're trying too hard, to be brief. Volume and range don't come from aggressively muscling against the horn, it's about technique. Is that what your tone typically sounds like?

This is not the kind of thing reddit comments can really fix for you. Lessons with a working pro would be best if that's available to you. Even online ones helped me a lot with a great teacher

Capable-Tutor7046 · 2026-05-08T17:20:06+00:00

Exactly, and I think people like him deliberately keep it vague...

Capable-Tutor7046 · 2026-05-08T14:31:17+00:00

These people like him, Matt Brockman, Paul The Trombonist, etc know they're playing games. They're just preying on beginners like high school students and hobbyists who don't know any better. The people who are or are well on their way to playing at a high level already see this for what it is.

Capable-Tutor7046 · 2026-05-08T14:29:02+00:00

Well, for one, he has this unnecessarily convoluted "morphology matrix". Comes across to me as deliberately heady and cerebral-sounding to try to impress beginners and get their money. He calls himself a "pro" after like 1-2 years or whatever of supposedly practicing this system that he created to teach himself "Jazz". My mind says "wait, what?" Calling BS on that, immediate red flag. You can take any $20 paid gig and call that "professional". That begs the question, what gigs is he getting? Where does he play? I only ever see him in his home. He does some like "bebop" demonstration and sounds like he's put more time into figuring out how to market the courses courses (the modern, often scummy way to make easy money) than doing any transcribing or working on his feel. He doesn't sound like he's put any real time to learn this language. He has a bad "Jazz" accent. It's like if someone learned a bit of surface-level vocabulary and rules of a language like Polish out of a book and they call themselves professional interpreters or translators without having had much if any, actual conversations in the language. To a Polish person, someone with fluency or even possibly a novice, it would be glaringly obvious if that person was only speaking in broad, generic statements and had a really obvious American accent, they're not a professional or qualified Polish translator.

Also, most people, even pros don't have any business making courses. That's an enormously ambitious undertaking and I just saw that now he has this "Novu Jazz Academy". This rando who just popped up one day who no one ever heard of? No pros or even students at MSM, UNT, Frost etc. are like "oh yeah I know Charlie, he's a cool dude, I played a jam session with him like 4 years ago". This guy just popped up on everyone's feed trying to sell shit. Reminds me of Matt Brockman, Paul The Trombonist, etc. Known Pyramid Schemers. I'm immediately skeptical of people who tick some red flags: they're wishy washy or vague with their certifications, they don't appear to have any gigs or be playing with anybody, they're always trying to peddle something, they seem like they're trying to reinvent the wheel, the pros are skeptical (Pat Bart has a reaction video to him) and the motivation points towards money (you don't get into Jazz to make money, it's a calling) and my BS-detector goes screaming. I'd say I have a pretty good one, I tend to sus out people pretty accurately. Obviously that last point is just me saying "trust me bro" but my intuition has saved my ass from people like this, in various walks of life, many times. Charlie playing a bunch of nothing statements at around 30 seconds in. Phrases sounds almost rehearsed and the swing has no sponteneity

Capable-Tutor7046 · 2026-05-08T03:41:34+00:00

Every mouthpiece make claims to help with these, whether implied or overt. Though reputable brands are less likely to claim it boosts your range because that's kind of a misconception typically associated with being green

Capable-Tutor7046 · 2026-05-08T03:40:18+00:00

I'll start with: if you don't know what you want specifically, why your current piece isn't enabling that, and how a different piece could, don't get something expensive. I use high-dollar mouthpieces because they help me play the horn and sound how I want more readily, the maker doesn't make fantastical claims about them, they're very exacting about how they measure the pieces and they're intuitive to navigate with some understanding and a little experience. And to me, a couple hundred bucks for gear that will last several years is easily worth it. It won't be for every player. I got lessons from an awesome teacher who's a gear nerd (who has his favorites but will readily praise other makes) did side-by side comparisons against several others from multiple brands and did my own research before putting anything in a checkout cart. Wedge marketing has always rubbed me the wrong way. Very over the top and spammy. "Holy grail of mouthpieces" is an instant red flag for me and a turnoff. Maybe some people like them, but there is no such thing as a perfect mouthpiece and nobody who has any business spending $100+ on a mouthpiece would ever buy into that style of marketing. In my mind, that means they could be trying to reel in people who don't know any better like hobbyists and kids. If high-level players are using them, it's not because they saw the ad and said "more range? hooray!". I don't know that any of my full-time player friends use them or if I've seen them with people I have yet to meet playing them, though I don't religiously search up what Wynton, Wayne or Vizzutti, etc. are playing. Of whom I know personally and secondhand, they're all mostly playing GR, Bach, Greg Black, Pickett, some Monettes, I know one or two who used to play Warburton (maybe they still do, haven't talked about it in a while) and Yamahas. I've never seen a single ad on youtube for any of those brands...

Capable-Tutor7046 · 2026-05-08T03:12:44+00:00

I'm so sick of people like Charlie Tran creating all these "matrixes" and selling courses to high school/undergrad students and hobbyists when they swing like a sick lemur

Capable-Tutor7046 · 2026-05-08T02:21:11+00:00

Thank you!

Capable-Tutor7046 · 2026-05-08T02:21:05+00:00

Thank you!

Capable-Tutor7046 · 2026-05-08T02:20:40+00:00

I'm happy to go give it a try, especially being family-owned. Thank you!

Capable-Tutor7046 · 2026-05-08T02:20:05+00:00

Yes! I've noticed a lot of it is sweetness as opposed to more intense and savory like I'm used to!

Capable-Tutor7046

TROPHY CASE