In early January 2011 I made the decision to purchase a used trumpet from a pawn shop and take it back up. I had not played regular since Jr. High School, as I dropped it in the early part of 10th grade.
In the story of my life, I have been told I am pretty good on a trumpet. I have a deep love for all kinds of music, and classical and jazz on the horns is almost always something I like. I actually wrote a blog about it when I first purchased the horn, and talked about a story from my childhood.
http://benjaminacrane.blogspot.com/2011/08/making-music.html
Thats right, there is the blog..lol Read it first.
The point is, when I wrote this and bought this POS horn I had set the goal to learn how to play, and not just simple crap, but the real music of the world. I purchased a broken trumpet at a pawn shop, and a few years later I picked up another, and between the two I had a working horn.
The horn I have been playing sounds very poor. The sound produced on the high notes are like playing a blade of grass. The low notes, they sound like stepping on a whoopee cushion.
But, I had a goal and have steadily played for almost 1 hour no less than 4 days a week for the better part of a year, and the last few months I have been know to play for 2 plus hours. It really hasn't been easy either.
For starters, I have a slight vibrato from my tremors. And my anxiety is very bad when I know that a bunch of people who do not like me can hear what I am doing. Not sure why that bothers me, but it has made it very difficult to play at times.
Well, my goal has been, when I can play Haydn trumpet concerto for Eb trumpet I would buy a new horn. The first problem I faced was, well the trumpet I have been playing isn't capable of playing that particular peace of music. It simply cannot play that high. But, I have been getting very good.
Well, I received a small portion of my accident settlement, and after paying all the little bills I have, and there were a bunch, I decided I would by a trumpet.
I budgeted a lot less than I paid, but I walked into Beacoks with the intent of looking at some horns, and there it was, my dream horn. I will stress, I did not intend to purchase when I went in. After all, I have been in there several times and played there horns for fun. But after playing this horn, I could not walk out without it.
I purchased a a Harrelson model 909 custom made trumpet, and paid well for it. I have to say, playing the music is so much nicer, and I sound great. This horn is amazing, and I could probably play for the rest of my life and not be good enough to justify such a horn.
Harrelson is a small company. In fact, there is only one person Jasson Harrelson who makes all of the horns. You can imagine, there are not that many of them out there if only one person makes them. Equivalent horns sell on there website for over $8,000 bucks.
I emailed the company asking for more information, and was told about all the customizations that were made, and was also told the horn retailed new for over the price for over that number. I am stoked.
Point is, with this trumpet I am now prepared to start recording some of my playing, as I am both good enough now and have a instrument that doesn't sound like a whoopee cushion. So, look for some of those blogs coming up. But for fun, here is my new horn. My new love, and my new toy...
And another.
I know, to the untrained eye it actually looks kind of beat up and ugly. It is a non lacquered horn, and to me a peace of personal art. It also weighs about 10 times what my old one does, and the sound is so perfect. This will be fun, and I look forward to trying out for some Orchestras over the next year. Not sure if I stand a chance, but I will try out once again.
