Saturday, April 25, 2009

tried a new horn today

I have been poking around thinking about switching back to a horn without an F-attachment. The weight, the added weight, of the F-attachment causes a numb middle finger and not insignificant hand pain ... I'm 47, it's not like I'm going to be progressing towards stronger hands just naturally. Unless I start a weight lifting hand strengthening program but I already don't have enough time in the day.

I was out at Bill Paulick's today picking up a cup mute for the Concert Band performance coming up, and I just happened to ask him if he had a large bore horn, a .525 or .547 inch bore, without the F-attach. For the non-trombone player, the F-attachment adds a whole section of tubing which drops the range down when the "trigger" opening the tubing is pulled. It gives you a lot more range on the low end, gives you a lovely B natural in 2nd rather than 7th position, and gives you a lot more weight to pack around on your left hand and specifically on the middle finger of your left hand. I've been trying different grips and braces, etc., to get around the pain that comes from packing this thing primarily on that one finger - and right now I am just tolerating the pain 'cause nothing else works without interrupting my playing.

Well he had a Yamaha Xeno 881, which is a straight (non F-attach) 0.547 inch bore (relatively large bore) instrument, and I tried it out and I liked it a lot. I am completely conflicted about getting a new horn. On the one hand, I feel like I'd have to sell my current instrument because I really don't want to afford to have a stable of expensive horns hanging around. On the other hand ... I'll have to think about it. Decisions, decisions.

I worked on my final exam today and had Leona and Jeff over for dinner, so did not practice at all, with my only playing scales and such on the 881 horn at Bill Paulick's. I did have a nice little practice last night on my concert band material. I need to practice for that, but I need to finish my exam tomorrow. So much to play, so little time.

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