Aidan, do you use a smaller mouthpiece when you play single valve bass?

Would you still recommend this horn? planning on picking up a tenor and this is just a good price point

You going to go mouthpiece hunting at the next convention/workshop?

I have a Conn 78H special built in 1940 that I use for show work. I could care less that it’s almost a hundred years old. All that matters is that it plays really well. If it was built last year I’d be just as happy.

I didn’t know this was a thing. Great work man!

I have a 50 year old back 50B with an Eb valve. It needs some work but I’ve loved it since 2008.

I'll take a Euphonium off your hands if you have one! 🤣

Great character of sound from the 50b. That tuning slide definitely has different proportions! I dare you to mix and match, perhaps you can make a 50 that isn’t too long!

They're good horns who can blame you?

Hi could you give me advice of playing detached notes and use of air to play detached particularly if slow eg quarter note, quarter note rest at quarter = 60 for example particualrly if playing second line Bb downward

What are your thoughts on Courtois and Rath bass trombones?

I've gone down that road with my 2 Courtois horns trying to find out the age. I have a Challenger II 420 BEST (sterling silver bell) and a 151 silver plated valve trombone. I've also tried with a Willson Flugelhorn I have. It's like you said. It just seems like an American thing.

In this last months I took an audition aswell, made it to the 2nd to last round and unfortunately got cut. Got ALOT great critique on my playing and how i can get farther next time. Even though I didn’t win it I’m glad as heck I’m tried.

I love my Bach Corp bass trumpet too :)

yamaha serials often arent back to back sent into the world the same year or progressive years. I've dated 2 xenos with serial numbers 8 apart and yamaha got back to me dating them 5 years apart. so yamaha serial list is useless for the most part. You can email them and they get back to you with month and year of factory exit. and they get back actually fairly quickly. they have internal databases of when each serial left the factory, but the lists make no sense when you try to date them with x-y numbers are from z year because they dont line up. I think when a horn is made is not really relevant to people UNLESS you collect horns. I am a collector, so I do care about serials/age, but thats to the extent they matter. I do also care about how they play and sound so that makes a venn diagram of horns i want to own/collect. but that's really just a collector's problem. I can tell you that a Elkhart era Conn 4H is good and that a lot of the good ones tend to be the 40s-50s examples but that doesnt matter to anyone except a collector. like you said, a good horn is a good horn regardless of age or era and a bad horn is a bad horn regardless of age or era. when people ask me about horns and older horns vs newer horns i never bring up years/eras unless they are a collector. I just point out that older horns will usually have more wear and tear on them and may not look perfect but also emphasize that a good horn will play good no matter how old or new it is. then people usually care about if it's shiny or not and that's a whole different discussion. if you are a player of horns, find a horn that plays well. if you are a collector, well you have your own pit dug for ya.

Certain vintage student models however are known to be equal to some professional models today. For example mid 20th century Boosey and Hawkes euphonium were made in the same factory as professional Besson. Similiar to how the Pontiac vibe used same engine as Toyota Carolla but was about $5,000 less.

The age really doesn't matter but there are specific specific vintages that are known to be particularly good trombones

Where do you buy your instruments (specifically trombones) online, if you ever do? I'm quite young and don't really have the connections in my city to buy instruments second hand from people that I know. I already have a really nice, new bass trombone that will be my main horn for a very long time but there are some opportunities open for me that I would love to have a tenor trombone for. Because of this, I would be interested in something cheaper but still at an advanced/pro model standard. I'm assuming that this just means an older, second hand, pro model trombone like that Benge 190C you showed in a recent video. I'm sure you could provide tomes of advice so anything at all is much appreciated!

I'd schedule an appointment at Horn guys in Pasadena when Ferguson is available and play test what he has on hand. I was surprised his prices are so reasonable despite the location.

Heck yeah 🌬️ good on ya for taking tenor auditions! I will likely be doing the same in the spring!

Hello, what grip are you using? And would you recommend it for a bass trombone?

Best thing you can do before a gig is have a walk. Get out of that stuffy dressing room or venue and clear yourself out. It makes a world of difference to how you use your air. The most dramatic change I'd noticed was when I was bored enough on a weekend away to keep going swimming. I was the most cut and toned I've probably ever been and my ability to blow really loud notes and prance around on a silly oompah gig was riduclous. I didn't get tired for a single moment in two hours.

I have a bunch of mps for my schilke st-21 g3 large tenor, recently got a modular piece from breslmair wein, best mouthpiece I’ve played, they have a smaller selection of components for bass and a bit pricey but nothing beats their quality

Thank you, Aidan! I haven't played regularly since April 2020, two weeks before our spring concert (KSU - Stark Concert Band). But I just bought a Bach trombone (LT42AFG) and am starting to get back at it. I was looking at the 42AF until you recommended the 42AFG in one of your videos. My trombone has the lightweight nickel slide, which you don't like. I previously played a vintage late 70's King 4BF and like the look and feel of a nickel slide. Wish me luck getting back in shape.

Have you tried a Doug Elliott 112 J or 113 L ? Doug's throats are smaller and much more efficient. I'm playing an XB113 L* L9 and love it.

The Hammond sounds the cleanest of all those. No fluff in any of the registers, doesnt fight back. I wish I sounded like you do on my bass!

Have you tried the Yamaha signature Douglas Yeo on that horn and or the Denis Wick heritage 00 AL.

Did you give Denis Wicks a try? You can have a large throat with a small to medium sized rim. I use the 00AL and though it was a little small in the beginning, now I'm totally happy

I learned from a trumpet player about adjusting the gap of a mouthpiece. Since then, I have been doing it with every horn. I find a mouthpiece that seems to match the horn and then I fine tune it. I do a paper test to make sure it will work and then use a metal file to shorten the shank. When I get it right, its like boom! My notes start centering and my phrase lengths increase. The disadvantage is that you can go too far with the file and ruin a mouthpiece. It works for me. Its better if you can find a mouthpiece that immediately works without having to file anything. It helps to fix the problem of a mouthpiece that almost works but not quite.

I'm kind of going through a similar struggle as you are, though I haven't accumulated as many things to try. The horn I'm playing (Yamaha 830, which I know you aren't a fan of) responds well to the Yamaha 59 (basically a 1 1/2G) for everything above D below the bass clef staff, but really struggles for volume with everything below that. I tried the Yamaha 60 and the Yamaha Doug Yeo replica and don't really care for them. The 60 feels great in the low/pedal range, but feels like it takes buckets of air to work. The Yeo always feels like it's just off of where the note wants to be. I've tried a couple other things, but I feel like I can't center the notes with them. Hopefully both of our journeys are short and end in success!

Hammond all the way, but agreed his throats are big. I had him make me a piece with a more focused throat & BB. Best MP I’ve ever played.

Interesting. I went through a 2-year period many years ago, where I was trying all sorts of mouthpieces (not as many selections as there are today). However, I always found myself coming back to the 1.5G. So I eventually came to the conclusion that this is me, and this is my mouthpiece. Therefore, I had to find the instrument that would match me and my mouthpiece. Thanks for the video!

Commenting before I watched the video, have you ever been to Bob Reeves out in Santa Clarita? I went for the first time earlier this year as a treat to myself for my first big teaching gig and found the mouthpiece I've always dreamed of within about 4 hours based off of their consultation. In general it was also just a wonderful experience, they were a great group of really knowledgeable guys and i think you might get a lot out of the experience!

Same for euphonium. 😂

I struggle choosing between two mouthpieces. try not to go insane. You sound great regardless

Playing trombone is an art. But we need more science when it comes to mouthpieces.

Air is not the problem. The vowel posture is related to the lip posture . The oral cavity does not make the air flow faster through the lip aperture.

🌬

Super amazing sound on that horn! Are those the original valves or triggers? I've only ever seen 62hs with the dependent thumb triggers

The embouchure thing has always been super weird. For the most part I make the correlation to talking, I don't think about what vowel shape I am making while I tatryntoI try to minimize the emborchure work. Of course its different for me who isnt a full time professional, but we all know some pros who dont have an "ideal" emborchure. None of us talk the same way so none of us play the same way. Its a concept I am working on, but of course being efficient with air is just better than trying to be "perfect" at everything

What tenor is that? What a cool bell! Not playing the Y-fort due to playing a lower part?

Maestro, thank you!

Tommy Dorsey would tell his guys to “blow air” to keep in shape while touring/traveling.

Then there is the Conn 48H with the "Electro-D" Bell. Yellow brass substrate, coated in copper, plated with nickle and covered in a dense clear enamel lacquer. Not cosmetic but an intentional multilayered alloy designed to produce very specific core sound qualities before and after the bell at different volume levels.

I love epiphanies! Those times when some boundary you’ve been brushing up against… falls and a new world of possibilities opens up. Woohoo! 🎉

Shot you a "lesson" email.

Brass is always such a finicky instrument, no matter how much somebody is able to explain it at the end of the day you have to figure out how your body works and cooperation with the instrument. I like how you highlighted that it's always an ongoing process

Learning how to play using air instead of always relying on my face, helped me to be able to get a warmer more round sound in the lower register on like a Bach 36 versus having to use a 42 with a larger bore and just as important shank to get that sound.

I experienced tired abs for the first time while preparing for the Stuttgart audition! It's an interesting feeling. There were some lovely things being learned during the last few months.

I have a major audition tomorrow, so thank you!!