It’s been a while since the reality of playing ‘Live’ is on the cards. During lockdown more and more students have been taking lessons via Zoom and now coming to the studio which is fantastic. Since Christmas I have taken delivery of the S43HDL-F Faddis Model which was designed for legendary jazz artist, musician, conductor, composer and educator Jon Faddis,  It is built on the HD valve section, which is heavier in mass at the centre of the trumpet. No nibs on the second slide, no water key on the main tuning slide, heavy valve caps, and adjustable sound-post.

The S43HDL-F* is available by special order with an optional bell crown that provides more core to the sound with increased resonance, mine is this model with the following features One-piece, Hand-Hammered Yellow Brass HD Tuning Bell

Soldered Bead w/ Steel Wire

#3 Bell Taper

.450″ Medium Bore

Reverse Leadpipe

Round Main Tuning Slide w/ Brace

Heavy Design

1st slide ring & 3rd slide ring

Heavy Bottom Caps

Adjustable Bell Brace

Yellow Brass Bell Crown

Anyone who knows me will confirm my affection with Schilke trumpets and I’ve had more than a few over the 50 years gone by… My S42L Faddis I’ve loved over the last twenty years and this now moves to professional ‘spare’.

Highly unusual for me during the last few months I’ve also taken delivery of the Stomvi Master Titanium Bb/A Piccolo Trumpet as it really is a direct copy of the P5.4 from Schilke and with the two bells it really is a stunning instrument to play having it’s debut performance on Easter Sunday in Church here in Hambledon in the South Downs National Park.

“Our Salvation is always going to be in some type of creativity, some type of music… it’s very important that we find a way to make it. Be as creative as you possibly can in your everyday life; whether it’s music or not. Make sure you have stuff you want to do on your own… Don’t depend on something that you don’t have right now, like 16 other musicians and a rehearsal space, for your creativity to thrive.”

1. BREATHE THROUGH THE NOSE

2. START WITH ‘HIGH SET’

3. DON’T MOVE CHOPS – KEEP PLAYING TENSION THROUGHOUT

DIMARTINO/ADAPTED SCOTT BELCK

Dr. Scott Belck currently serves as the Director of Jazz Studies and Professor of Music at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) where he directs the CCM Jazz Orchestra and teaches applied Jazz Trumpet.

This is a Calisthenic Study that I use regularly, it should be treated in the same fashion as a Carmine Caruso Exercise, stay calm and relaxed and keep the air moving gently throughout. When you get to the point where you can proceed no further, take a break for 10 minutes and then resume at the point you left off. I am very much an exponent of the Bill Adam Method and use his advisory words to remind myself how important it is to keep a full beautiful sound always in all practice periods… go be awesome.

After a bruising 10 months of Covid shutdown, live music businesses — not to mention artists and fans — are hoping concerts and tours can return in the Summer of 2021. But is it a pipe dream?

Perhaps understandably, the plight experienced by the industry focuses almost exclusively on its creative incumbents;  the artists and bands. However, without producers, lighting engineers, sound engineers, roadies, caterers and the hundreds of other important cogs in the wheel, live music would be unheard and gigs and festivals rarely experienced.

The support from the UK government has been mixed and sometimes controversial. And while some may argue that unprofitable businesses should not be propped up by subsidies, this is an industry that has had closure forced upon it. It has been rendered unprofitable because the gates have been locked by others, and even those who invested in adapting their premises and working practices in order to continue trading still find themselves subject to closure when new local and national lockdown directives are issued.

For professional Musicians it’s a time to concentrate on weak areas of technique and performance, Zoom lessons have become the new norm and this is less than ideal for teachers as hands on instruction is a very necessary part of the process in learning to play a musical instrument. May positivity return soon and the joy of music be part of our normal day to day routine…