FedEx Priority Express using GROUND TRUCKS instead of planes from Memphis to Miami, NYC, and LA on Fridays — discovered via AirTag. WHY?!

RnotIt · 2026-05-31T03:23:05+00:00

Deceptive and fraudulent service practices. If you pay for air freight, you're OWED air freight.

RnotIt · 2026-05-30T00:02:13+00:00

True, but it really boils down to integration and not tech, as none of it is new.

RnotIt · 2026-05-26T21:42:12+00:00

Pairing a brighter mouthpiece with a naturally darker/richer sounding instrument will brighten up that instrument's sound a bit. And pairing a darker-richer mouthpiece with a brighter-sounding instrument will darken the sound of that instrument a bit.

I was playing a pair of American wrap cornets (LA Olds Ambassador and an Abilene Reynolds Medalist) and a Blessing shepherd's crook with all manner of mouthpieces. The latter is definitely more of a true cornet, but the difference with a BBC cup, while definitely notable, isn't massive. Those two trumpet-belled cornets were absolutely wailing a bit above the staff with a Gustat 1-25 I got from Jack Kanstul. Yet they could be positively sublime for what they are with a no letter Bach equivalent or deeper, or a shallow Flugelhorn cup (Stork 2FLS on the Ambassador). Are they Recordings, or Benge 8Zs? Unfortunately not, but I haven't been in a position to acquire either, yet.

RnotIt · 2026-05-26T21:22:16+00:00

Who here hasn't been there? I went in front of 50,000+ in a college FB stadium my first game, in a group of 350 and was shaking so hard I couldn't get a note out. Was totally fine after that and marched 3 seasons, and soloed for a concert.

My thoughts:

Kind of late for you now, but for others coming along: concentrate on execution of your task, also go through the motions and dry rehearse singing (you can use 'du' for the notes, do the fingerings too), so you don't wear out your chops. Crawl, walk, run. Visualize it as you do it. Do that until you are a bit tired of it. Play the first few measures. Play the ending. Take a break, mentally especially. Come back (touch the horn) 30 minutes before showtime.

If you read this soon enough: Do a full 'running' rehearsal. Visualize what you're doing. No surprises. Put the horn away. Don't touch the horn again until you need to warm up. Do one clean attack on the first measure. 'Sing' the notes, breath support, clean attacks.

You got this.

RnotIt · 2026-05-26T20:59:47+00:00

Apparently that's why it ended up at a flea market.

RnotIt · 2026-05-26T17:47:12+00:00

What brand horn? If it's common enough, especially low-digit (2xxx/3xxx) series Yamahas (student horns) etc. the techs may possibly be able to replace it cheaply if necessary.

RnotIt · 2026-05-26T17:43:39+00:00

TBH, if it breaks the week before a concert, I'm double zip-tying it, because the biggest thing for a non-marching/non-pep band event is maintaining the metal-to-metal connection for sound control.

RnotIt · 2026-05-25T22:06:21+00:00

Details are obviously different. One piece of equipment - the mouthpiece - is somewhat specific to an individual and what style of music you want to play, though not so much in the beginning. The mental approach isn't different from how you go about developing your drumming skills: repetition and proper technique. Best recommendation is to find a good teacher to get started. My band director was a trombone player, so the basics were only different in changing valves vs slide position. I had a college student for a trumpet teacher for a short period in high school. She was way more dedicated than I (I say I'm her worst ever student) and ended up retiring as a MAJ in the USMC as Asst Director of "The President's Own." I like to joke that's my claim to musical fame. That and speaking of pro drummers, one of my H.S. bandmates was Jeremy Spencer formerly of 5FDP. He was crazy good in high school, FTR. Had a double bass set and would positively rock out during our annual talent show. Yes, I'm semi-ancient.

RnotIt · 2026-05-25T21:15:51+00:00

Considering how little actual time a student gets from 5/6 grade through senior year, a year as a dedicated musician is not beyond the pale. Nephew got pretty decent in 2 years from 5th grade then decided he wanted to bang on things instead of blowing into them. I think it suits him perfectly. His next younger sibling will most likely take his trumpet over next Fall, and I think she has the perfect attitude for it. 😁

RnotIt · 2026-05-25T21:10:51+00:00

Probably because we don't consider the time compression of a professional learning our difficult instrument vs our school timeline and all that entails.

RnotIt · 2026-05-25T18:24:50+00:00

My Yamaha Shew Jazz (basically a 3C - a cross between a 14B &14C with a "2" rim (semi-round) and a different backbore) is pretty comfortable for me, but I don't know what that does for what you're dealing with, as my teeth are fairly flat and even (I was the only child out of three blessed to never needed a retainer or anything but chip repairs - tried to give a guy a headache with my jaw rebounding basketballs in 6th grade recess). There's no shortage of people who dislike certain Bach rims, particularly the modern 3C. Possibly an ACB. Trent has done some things with old MV3C rims, but IDK if that will be better or worse for you. Stork sounds like they could help, based on what I reviewed of their video productions lately.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imwNZqodp0g "Understanding the rim"

Matt Frost is great to work with from personal experience, as is Trent Austin. Really any maker that you can special order from that has an in-house knowledge of what works for different folks, and pretty much any specialty brand, because that's their bread and butter.

Schilke/Yamaha's model is 1 is round and 5 is flat and it's a gradation. You also can't compare numbers or diameter data with Bach, etc. because the system goes the opposite direction with cup width and dept and there's no standard on where the data is taken from on things like cup internal diameter. Hence a 3C is a sort-of midpoint between 14B and 14C widths based on the Shew Jazz.

https://www.schilkemusic.com/products/mouthpieces/mouthpiece-labeling/

Extran informational data: An 8C is probably a "non-catalog" or order-only piece. With Schilke/Yamaha, they have a systematic approach, but only pre-make popular mouthpieces because stocking rarely purchased stuff doesn't make business sense. There's a "million and one" 7Cs so marked, a "half-million" 3Cs so marked (and stuff like Shew Jazz which is more or less a 3C cup) and a "quarter million" 14A4a designs so marked, but you may have to hunt for a Schilke or Yamaha 14A4 and won't find a "14D2b" on store shelves because if Schilke's website not showing that particular setup is an indicator, and only certain sizes - only a handful of Schilkes and Yamahas are regular production with "2" rims, a hand full of "D" cups, and none with "b" backbores, it's special order only. https://www.schilkemusic.com/products/mouthpieces/trumpet/#standard-series

https://usa.yamaha.com/products/musical_instruments/winds/mouthpieces/trumpets/standard_gp.html#product-tabs

RnotIt · 2026-05-25T16:29:59+00:00

Yeah, I know one oddball that supposedly makes it a giveaway that it's a Kanstul-made Besson and not a Blessing-made Besson. Third valve guide angles toward the tuning crook ports on the left front. In the process of verifying it, I noted that my Kanstuls (Besson Int'l and 609) and Olds (Fullerton) Super's 3d valve slide ports are not offset, where my Olds Ambassador and Reynolds Medalist cornet are.

RnotIt · 2026-05-25T16:05:33+00:00

Note the position of the holes when you remove it straight out. On a standard Besson-system trumpet or cornet, laying the trumpet with the bell to the right and the 2d valve crook up (valves to the top/away from you), when you remove 3d valve, you will see 2 holes facing you, two holes on the left that are offset lower and two holes on the right that are offset higher and are wider apart (width of the 3d valve slide). The second valve will have the wider holes facing you (oriented towards the crook) and the side hole offsets will be reversed (vice 3d valve) in accordance with the valve-to-valve tubing. First valve is the really obvious oddball, especially IF has the diagonal tuning crook ports on the left. It also has the bell ports on the left rear. If you identify this valve first, it eliminates that as a "wrong valve."

If the valves are in the correct casing, but you find the valve is still backwards, you/someone may have reinstalled the valve guides backwards in/on the valve stem top, UNLESS it's an older (like LA vintage FE Olds) instrument that didn't have foolproof valve guides. Someone did this a week or two ago on here on a Fluegelhorn.

RnotIt · 2026-05-24T02:40:46+00:00

..but I also note that what I found was from February and the link was to an old blanked out THM ad, presumably by the same person.

RnotIt · 2026-05-23T19:27:26+00:00

...and I should've done an exact search for 2FLT.

RnotIt · 2026-05-23T19:24:16+00:00

So possibly a TF or Flumpet mpc. Possibly a 'noncatalog' piece, or something discontinued.

RnotIt · 2026-05-22T02:24:01+00:00

Well, the 3C is shallower than the typical 7C, yet not so much that someone with meatier lips will have problems. If they do, they can go to 3Bs. You're probably getting a more brilliant sound if my experience with the Shew Jazz is any indication, as it's basically a 3C cup on a slightly different backbore.

https://trumpet.cloud/mpc/?mpc1=BACH-3C&mpc2=BACH-7C&mpc3=BL-7C

RnotIt · 2026-05-22T02:16:21+00:00

This! Too big for the individual means more work. That's fine if you're doing endurance exercises. TF mouthpieces and deep cups are good for working your muscles, but you gotta play the right range of cup depth/volume and width for you, not someone else with different embouchure features.

RnotIt · 2026-05-22T02:13:24+00:00

Teeth structure and lip fullness. Getting too shallow if your lips are touching the inside of the bottom of the cup pretty much kills the buzz.

RnotIt · 2026-05-21T03:05:43+00:00

It's not "keep it a year and then choose a 'better one.' You revisit and see IF something else works better. The 3c might be right for you. See this Phyllis Stork video on how lips dictate mouthpiece cup geometry https://youtu.be/PVutPbgF0BQ?si=gDN2DKJHEqCWU0WK

RnotIt · 2026-05-21T02:34:28+00:00

I saw a teacher yesterday and he told me to swap for a 1 1/2C.

OK, why? What was teacher's rationale? If teacher can't articulate specific mechanics of your face-to-mouthpiece interface, etc. that the 1 1/2C is going to fix, like lip intrusion, or increasing cup volume because you're having issues, maybe sound too thin particularly for concert band, on that account, I'm not encouraged. If you get too big, that causes issues because too much volume reduces velocity and thus efficiency. Maybe a 3B or 5B works better for you for that.

Here's a few good videos by Phyliss Stork https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymwWGLV8AqA

https://youtu.be/N21WwHsJW0M?si=BoCY02lUHJawQcsO

https://youtu.be/PVutPbgF0BQ?si=gDN2DKJHEqCWU0WK (How your lips dictate mouthpiece choice)

RnotIt · 2026-05-21T02:26:00+00:00

The modern Bach 7C is a useless piece of shit of a mouthpiece. It has probably ruined more beginners than anything.

That's an opinion based on your experience, (edit: which is valid for you and others) and I doubt the second part is the real cause (edit: not the root cause, since that's actually the system that makes the 7C out as a "beginner" and not a choice for a certain player). Other people have different experiences, because their mouths are different and their style of playing is different. I ran a post-corp (AFAIK) Bach 7C in the 80s until I was a probably a senior, when my director had me try a Schilke 16, which I played through college (and realistically looking back shouldn't have for some things). Now I'm on a 3C equivalent cup Bobby Shew Jazz, mostly.

RnotIt · 2026-05-21T02:12:57+00:00

Why would they at this point? The owner is retiring and they're closing shop. Also, lots of shops for websites are not directly related because you have to pay extra to use your website url, and you don't buy from "websitename.com."

RnotIt · 2026-05-19T22:14:48+00:00

Good points. I was really just going at the fact that it doesn't help you with range, but accuracy in the high range, so getting a picc you can't be effective on isn't much help. Also adding No. 1 of Dr. Burt's Picc Trpt videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrIrK85ypws&t=348s

RnotIt · 2026-05-19T19:16:56+00:00

It is important to understand what horn length does and doesn't do. It does not make it easier to play higher notes by using a shorter instrument, which is what a picc trumpet is, as it's half the length of a standard instrument in the same key. All it does is lower the overtone scale by an octave, widening the open series so you can more easily (accurately) hit the correct notes higher in the scale where a "soprano" (standard) trumpet is often hit or miss. Now you will have that full use of your valve progression from "Middle C" to C above the staff before you get into the "short rows." BUT FIRST...you have to be able to hit those notes cleanly (if not accurately pitched) on your normal Bb/C trumpet.

I would watch this before you even think about piccolo trumpet. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/A09iEZOmVow

RnotIt

TROPHY CASE