Musicians?

[The Mick]

Welcome Mick you are amongst friends here. I think you find this place to be friendly, informative and hilarious..

I have found there is a lot more respect for each other here than at the guitar forums I frequent.

 

[billyspew]

Play bass mostly and tinker with guitar occasionally, on and off trying uke and mandolin when I find the time.

My go to instrument is an Italia Mondial (very, very old pic)

 

[warmentrout]

Wow, so many musicians in our midst. And even some wind players!

1. Mostly flute, usually keyed wooden (McGee Rudall model, Olwell Pratten model) but also silver Boehm (Brio). Sometimes guitar, fiddle, mandolin, trying to take up flugelhorn...

2. Play flute and whistles in contra dance bands (reels, jigs, waltzes, French Canadian tunes, that sort of thing).

3. Mostly hatless - brims distort and amplify sound near ears...but sometimes do when I can't hear myself in the monitors!

- Bill

Wow, a real wooden flute owner ! I bought a plastic oboe so I wouldn't have to worry about it cracking. What kind of maintenence do you have to do to keep your flutes from cracking ?

 

[HarpPlayerGene]

I sing and play harmonica. Blues is where it's at for me, but I can jump in and hang with just about any pop, funk, country, rock bands. I had a great teacher. I play for pure fun and just jam on weekends with friends and sit in with various live acts in the area when they see me in the crowd and invite me up. Great fun.

Oh, and wear a hat? Absolutely. All the time.

 

[Woodfluter]

Wow, a real wooden flute owner ! I bought a plastic oboe so I wouldn't have to worry about it cracking. What kind of maintenence do you have to do to keep your flutes from cracking ?

Hi Warmentrout -

Nothing special at all. They are made of grenadilla, African blackwood. It doesn't absorb much moisture and to further minimize that, I oil them every 3-6 months. No big deal. Swab after playing of course.

The principal cause of cracking in old wooden flutes (and some newer ones) is tightly-inserted metal tuning slides. The wood gets moist from playing, then dries out and goes "out of round" after long unplayed storage in air-conditioned rooms - something the 19th C. makers never conceived of. Metal won't give and eventually the stress differential can overcome the tensile strength of the wood.

One of my flutes (the Olwell) is made like that so I keep a little sponge inside a plastic tube with holes in the case - a humidifier. The McGee is made differently with a cork liner for the slides so it gives - no danger there. Plus it never goes unplayed for a week.

The maker also matters. Proper seasoning of the wood.

The biggest worry is this: if you have a nice sax or guitar or whatever and it gets stolen, you can replace it. Might cost you but still possible. There's so few makers of good wooden flutes that their waiting times are around 5-10 years or longer. So I keep them in sight.

- Bill

 

[Jabos]

I'd love to find someone who enjoyed hanging out and doing that. At this stage in my life, it's really a pleasure to sit down and just play for fun. I had a buddy in college who liked to sit around and play Amsdens; we played the Arban's duets a lot too. My wife and I will occasionally play together. But she plays a clarinet, so it's just not the same. Besides, she's not a super-fantastic sight reader (i.e. she has trouble keeping up!) so we don't do it very often. I guess it's just as well because truth be told, I really only have director's chops now. I can't play for hours like I used to. And you must have pretty good chops yourself. I've never yet met anyone who had a Schilke who couldn't play.

rrog

Don't be fooled by the Schilke! I tell you, it is all about chops for me too. I just started a new exercise book-The Cat Anderson Method. Go to Trumpet Herald and you will find the author and info on purchasing it online, a really nice guy that studied with him for years. Be ready to play a 20 minute G without taking the horn off the chops, and the teeth touching-ouch! Then do the same for 10 minutes going up to high C. Double ouch!

Sounds like we smoked out another trumpet player-Warmentrout?

High Pockets-no, I'm more of a section player, not a soloist onstage but thanks for the compliment. Who was it???? I'd like to catch Octoberfest in Choctaw but sounds like rain may be a problem. Besides, I drank a barrel of beer last night at Eskimo Joes.

 

[Jabos]

I sing and play harmonica. Blues is where it's at for me, but I can jump in and hang with just about any pop, funk, country, rock bands. I had a great teacher. I play for pure fun and just jam on weekends with friends and sit in with various live acts in the area when they see me in the crowd and invite me up. Great fun.

Oh, and wear a hat? Absolutely. All the time.

Gene, I can only imagine how "down and dirty" you are playing in that pic. I can tell it is some good stuff because the band behind you are all smilin at each other like, "S#%@ this dude is smokin' hot!"

 

[Eyemo]

Drums...badly lol ..since 83.

 

[HungaryTom]

What about a Fedora Lounge Big Band???

I am not a musician but I would definitely enjoy.

 

[Carlisle Blues]

I am not a musician but I would definitely enjoy.

Well HungaryTom you are a man of many hats. I am sure there is a musician under one of them.

 

[HungaryTom]

Well HungaryTom you are a man of many hats. I am sure there is a musician under one of them.

Carlisle Blues,

Thank you for the kind welcome - I had indeeda musical affection and sanga long in the choir - but than I decided for the fine arts as an affection. You know the day consists only of 24 hours. However I love to listen to music while painting.

Tom

 

[Carlisle Blues]

Carlisle Blues,

Thank you for the kind welcome - I had indeeda musical affection and sanga long in the choir - but than I decided for the fine arts as an affection. You know the day consists only of 24 hours. However I love to listen to music while painting.

Tom

Of course, sounds nice my friend.

 

[Fletch]

Hoping the warmentrout hasn't gone cold, I answer belatedly...

Hey Fletch,

I'm interested what else you have. I have a 1920's Beuscher Tru-tone alto, an old three digit serial number Evette clarinet and a full system high pitch Buffet clarinet with the low Eb key and all the extra trill keys etc. I'm not really a collector but things have a way of accumulating over the years.

That's actually a very good way to get neat stuff. My collection - which I haven't added to in about 3 years now - probably numbers close to 40, with 1920s-50s Buescher and Conn saxes making up most of it. Another dozen or so are Selmer and Conn clarinets from the 20s-40s.

My showpieces are "high numbered" obsolete saxes, ie: models made after they were no longer commonly used. These include 1930 Buescher and 1936 Conn C-melodies, 2 curved sopranos ('36 Buescher, '37 Conn), and a 1940 Conn bass sax.

I also own a 1927 Buescher soprano in the key of C with key range up to high F (most ended at Eb), and a 1928 Conn mezzo-soprano in F with extra high range keys added at the factory.

 

[KeyGrip]

Harmonica, clarinet, washboard, mandolin, and miscellaneous vocals and percussion.

It's rare that I wear a hat throughout the entirety of a performance, as it usually gets too hot and my head gets too sweaty.

 

[Herzen]

Will strum for hat money...



A recent square dance.

 

[steveforse]

Banjo and Guitar

I play banjo and guitar, but I like banjo better. This 1890s model is my baby:

 

[kaosharper1]

Harp

I used to play the guitar (worked my way through school in the early 1970s). But carpal tunnel put an end to that. Now I play the medieval celtic harp. The kind the old bards used to play with strings of gold in the bass, and brass. Hence, the "harper" in my handle. The "kaos" part is something else.

I rarely perform, hatless or otherwise.

 

[JimWagner]

I played tuba, baritone and trombone for 13 years with a German band. Here's a real vintage outfit and hat And that's my grandson.

 

[Shangas]

I don't play professionally (and probably just as well!), but I've played the piano on-and-off since the age of seven (I'm now 22). I play classic pop, early 20th-century pop and vintage jazz. Anything from the 1890s-1950s.

 

[Bill Greene]

I play guitar, fair...but I build guitars, well (if I do say so myself). Bluegrass is my musical passion, but I can strum along with about 90% of what I hear. Not so great with alternate tunings, but I can do a little David Wilcox, etc.

Bill