by Matt on March 20, 2008
Later on today I have a few of my students going in for their trumpet exams. I’m sure they’ll do very well as over the past few weeks they’ve been making me very proud.Last week my students played at the Worcestershire Competitive Arts Competition.
Four of my students entered and walked away with the top prize, two honors and a distinction. Baring in mind that some of the competition was a good 4 years (plus) older, that makes their achievement even more impressive.
Yesterday was there school competition where they proved their talent again with winning the Senior music prize, the Junior music prize, the brass prize and even my lad who’s been playing for a just over a year managed to play his way into 2nd place of the juniors!!
I’ll be interested to see how the recording from the concert my young jazz group (The Off-Beats) played for came out. Hopefully it’ll be of good enough quality to put the audio up on here for you to have a listen. There’s something very cool about 7-10 year olds playing Miles Davis!!
by Matt on March 19, 2008
Recently I’ve found that my practice regime has been lacking (to put it mildly) and as a consequence my progress is flat lining.
So in an effort to re-inspire and pick myself back up I will be trying a 30 day run of a new technique inspired by a fantastic trumpet player (to be named in an up and coming post).
It may be great. It may be crap. But in my experience you can always walk away with something valuable by exploring the techniques and mind sets of trumpet players you admire.
The flaw in this plan is that the technique book I need is currently in Liverpool and I am not. So rather than waste time I want to get my chops back on track, hence; The 1 to 7 Arban Challenge.
I have set myself the first of 2 Arban challenges. That means over the next 2 weeks I’ll be hammering out the first 7 Arban studies with a view to record them for the site in the near future. Not the most difficult of studies to play, but I think they’re some of the hardest to play well.
by Matt on March 18, 2008
With the exception of 1 small issue my Mac is a s good as new!!
So to celebrate this long awaited moment I thought I’d post a random picture I made when messing around with Photoshop.
…. I don’t even know why? :p
by Matt on March 17, 2008
Like most trumpet players I started with a Dennis Wick straight mute, which I used all the way up to the Conservatoire.
It was there I met serious trumpet players in and out of college. This gave me the chance to try a whole range of mutes and find what suited me with experience rather than luck and the critique of others.
I play on a Jo Ral copper-based straight. As with the harmon that I reviewed previously, the straight mute stays in-tune whilst retaining its strong tone. It blows easily with very little resistance even in the upper register. The tone blends well with other straights, so it isn’t an overspecialized mute.
Mute Base
The difference between the full aluminum mute and the copper-based mute its tone. The copper base gives the mute a heavier and more penetrating sound. Perhaps this is a little more suited for the harder blowing of big band (yet still isn’t out of place in an orchestra).
I would recommend that if you consider yourself a classical trumpet player you might find yourself more at home with the softer blending and less edgy aluminum straight.
For rounded trumpet player who spans both the Jazz and Classical genres like myself I would recommend the strong copper-base straight mute.
Don’t forget to email me with anything you’d like Dave and I to talk about on our up and coming Podcast.
Send your emails to me: matt@mattrobertsmusic.com
by Matt on March 15, 2008
Is there anything better than looking forward to a day where you do nothing constructive?
Unless this happens to you all the time the answer is; no.
After a crazy 10 days I set myself a “Wasted Day” earlier this week where I just played X-Box all day with an old school friend. I highly recommend Army of Two for anyone who loves co-op games. However I’m ashamed to say we finished it within the day, so it’s not all that long.
It’s not a game that you win or lose. You just kill a few more bad guys and get a slightly bigger gun every time you play. 
by Matt on March 14, 2008
The big band gig I did last week was a really good one.
The audience seemed to love it as the evening was filled with copious applause, 2 standing ovations and 2 encores.
The only thing they seemed a little unhappy about was that we didn’t come out for a 3rd.
However, after a gig we did in the old days where half of us didn’t have music when we started a 3rd encore the band have since gone by the principle “leave them wanting more”.
This is the second gig we’ve done at the Skakesperience in Stratford and it would seem, the second success.
Good Times!!
by Matt on March 13, 2008
It’s been a long time coming, but now (finally) I have a short video that you can watch of me in action.
The video is taken from the Orchestra I created for the “Sound Ideas” Project a year ago. The piece is The Green Hornet from the movie Kill Bill (and originally I think from a Bruce Lee Movie of the same name). Dave Livesey is conducting and the venue is the Adrian Boult Hall at the Birmingham Conservatoire.
The Orchestra is great and I might add a taster of the rest of the concert in the near future.
The Orchestra had 5 2hour Rehearsals which we crammed 50 people into a lecture room to accomplish. In reality after the set up we had a total of 9 hours to rehearse 40 mins of music. The result is fantastic as you will see.
It was a first for me to stand up as a soloist in front of an orchestra and also to performing from memory but apart from a couple of corners that I wish I could redo it sounds pretty good. It was also really great fun!!
So here it is, and please post your thoughts on;
The Green Hornet, Performed by Myself and the Sound Ideas Film Orchestra
by Matt on March 12, 2008
Dave Livesey and I are currently working on creating our Podcast.
We’ll be discussing a variety of topics including music, ourselves, our posts and other things.
Plus we would really like some questions or topic suggestions from our blog audience. Should you have anything you would like discussed or questions to ask us please add your comments here or email me at matt@mattrobertsmusic.com
We intend to put it up on iTines and make it a regluar monthly feature of our sites.
by Matt on March 11, 2008
The subject of; “who makes the best valve oil?” is a widely disputed topic as there are 2 main features you look for.
Some do one better than the other but it’s Blue Juice that seems to be get it right:
1) It’s slick
(The whole purpose of the oil, making your valves move freely and quickly)
2) It stays on the valves
(If it didn’t you would need continuous reapplication)
I’ve been using Blue Juice for 8 years now and doubt I’ll every change my valve oil again. It’s reliability is second to none and my valves have never stuck since I started using it.
Of course they’ve slowed a little from time to time, but this is a sign that I haven’t oiled my valves in a couple of weeks and I need to reapply.
Serious players will know the difference between ’stuck’ and ’slow’. It’s the difference between screwing up in front of an audience and thinking “I could do with some oil”.
The best valve oils are the ones that you rarely have to think about, that just do their job and can be forgotten about.
This is why Blue Juice is the Valve Oil of Kings.
by Matt on March 10, 2008
Spending my life playing the trumpet I’ve gone through all sorts of equipment, mutes, trumpets, valve oils, cases, music etc.
This is why I will dedicate one post a week to writing about my experiences with these different things. Good to Bad, Recommendations to Warnings.
If you have anything to add, whether you agree with what I say or not, please leave your comments.
If you have experience with the subject matter I would like to hear your views!!
(I’m having some trouble with creating new Categories at the moment so until the issues are resolved these posts can be found under : Trumpet)
