This is the happy crew from the bone section I played with today for our annual Christmas concert. They're good kids and good players and like all trombone players, they're fun. Every year my brass quintet does an annual Christmas show where we recruit students to play along. It's grueling, but it's a huge hit with the community. We earn our keep since it's an hour and a half of nonstop playing, but it always feels worth it when it's done.
Over all it went well, though I've noticed a very curious thing. This fallout with Meg has had an impact on my t-bone playing. I realize that Meg's rejection of me has really had a negative impact on my overall confidence, and it's been bleeding into my profession. That ain't good.
When I'm surrounded by college students, I often think back on my years in college. A lot of the guys brought their girlfriends with them and they came backstage after the show. Seeing all of those happy couples makes me think back on my years back then where I really never had a girlfriend, ever. If I tabulate the total time I've ever been in a relationship with a woman it probably wouldn't total two years, and a year and a half of that was with Meg.
It probably sounds like I'm feeling some self pity, but recalling all of those years of being alone, compounded by my current solitary state, is pretty painful. Watching one of these couples walking down the hall in front of me, hand in hand, caused me to feel a gut wrenching pain.
I have to believe that there is a reason and a purpose behind all of it. There just has to be.
4 comments:
On a light-hearted note, I am noting that your trombone is different than the others. Is it a bass?
Sorry, I'm ignorant here.
Nope...mine is just old school. They have some mew-fangled ones called an "open wrap" whereas mine is as the good Lord intended them to be, closed wrap. If you look at theirs, you'll see another tube. Mine is tucked inside the bell section while their bones have it stretched out. My horn is from 1955 and I love that. There's are about five years old or so.
Aside from the coolness factor of an old instrument--I did take note of the fact that it looked well-loved--and a more ornate, attractive design, is there a significant difference in sound? I would assume there is. Also, I'd heard that in trumpets, silver gives a better sound. Is this true for all horns? What is yours?
Inquiring minds want to know, I suppose. May as well learn something new every day, right?
Silver trumpets have a brilliance to them that works well for them, but in trombones silver makes them far too shrill. It's the equivalent of a male singer with a very nasally voice. As for me, I think it's really hard to beat the sound of the older trombones, but I'm a guy who naturally thinks that way about most things. I'm jonesing for another trombone make from the fifties that's a legendary instrument, but they rarely can be found, and for the price, you could buy a nice used car. But it's worth it in the long run. My trombone was owned by the previous trombone prof at MSU. I bought it from his widow while I was a student at State and she was happy to know that it was being used by a serious student where her husband used to teach. I was always sure to invite her to my recitals and she even witnessed me win a competition on that horn for a women's music society she was a part of. She was there the day of the competition and when I was announced as the winner, she was filled with more pride I think than I was. You can't get THAT kind of story from a new horn!
Thanks for asking--I haven't thought of that in ages.
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