Forum

Been absent for a day. I'm setting up a forum just for us cornet players. I hope to have it working by tomorrow

Bringing The Soul Out Of The Cornet

    The more I play the cornet, the more I notice the way it affects people. I was at a friend’s house the other day and  some of  his old friends from the past dropped by. My friend is in his mid seventies and I go to visit , check,  and spend some time with him about once a week.  Anyway, when I go to visit him, he always wants me to play some passages out of   Arbans and play along with some R&B recordings. This time around,  he asked me if I could play something for his friends,  because they had heard a clip of me practicing and they couldn't   believe that  I was playing an instrument.  They thought that I was  singing instead of  playing a horn.

    There is something about the tone of the cornet that is definitely voice-like. I’ve been working on bringing more of  that quality out during my playing. It has the kind of tone that we humans can immediately recognize when we here it.  Lately ,  I’ve been checking out  allot of vocalist like Sam Cook, Smokey Robinson, Nat King Cole, Marvin Gay, Minnie Riperton,  and Whitney Houston. The great cornet players of the past used to imitate opera singers and the like and I figured why  couldn’t  I do the same. Sax players do it all the time so why shouldn’t  cornet players exploit the cornets  talents  in order to imitate the great vocalist too.

    My goal was to study and translate the great vocalist ,listed above,  and incorporate   their soulful inflections and style to the cornet. Who said that we always have to be stiff and formal? Music is supposed to be a form of communication and not some mundane task duplicated over and over.  Before  I could do this, I needed to learn  how to seriously lay back on the cornet in order to get that soulful human  expression that only the cornet , in my opinion, can imitate. When I mean lay back, I mean not  being to  ridged or predictable. Everyone expects the jazz musician to swing and not play exactly on the beat which is something that can be easily taught and learned. Everyone expects the classical musician to remain true to   the piece. But playing soulful is just another thing all together.

      Playing soulful  is the kind of stuff that can’t be written down with notes, taught with a manual , and  instructional video, but it is definitely there. It is something that must be within the cornetist and it is unique to only that cornetist. It’s like noticing the wind. You cant see  it but you can feel it as it brushes up against your face, as it rustle the leaves,   kick up dust and hear it interact with objects as it goes from here to there.

   As long as cornet-players do their best to exploit the  unique abilities of the cornet , it will make a comeback. However, it is a slow process. Most of the new cornet players are transitioning over from trumpet and playing it only as a second or third choice behind trumpet and flugelhorn.. I hope to see a day when the cornet is a first choice. It can happen because there are more people than with the last few years rediscovering the cornet.

How To Buy A Cornet Mouthpiece

    This is a hot button topic and one that will never go away. Buying the perfect cornet mouthpiece, I made allot of costly mistakes during my search for the perfect mouthpiece. I have a collection of them sitting in a case and most of them I don’t play anymore. Every day, they remind me that I went about my search the wrong way. This kind of thing happens when information about a subject is clouded in mystery, hearsay, or just mingled in with other similar information you can care less about. When I first bought my Getzen 3850, I ordered a Yamaha 16e. The weird thing was that they were both delivered to my house on the same day. I thought it was a sign. The Cornet was delivered by UPS and my 16e was dropped off by the Uncle Sam Postal Service, only fifteen minutes later. Like so many others potential cornet players, I did my research and listened to the great cornet players produce the traditional rich cornet sound. Reading how most of them used big deep V cornet mouthpieces, I decided to get one of the biggest mouthpieces out there. It was also the same brand and same cup diameter of my trumpet mouthpiece. In my mind I knew that I was making the right decision. Boy was I wrong… I basically ignored the Denis Wick 4b clone that came standard with my Getzen. I think I may have played it twice before sticking the Yamaha into the lead pipe. The Wick clone had a nice sound but I did notice that I was producing a little of hiss and was turned off.  After that short trial period, I stuck my 16e into the receiver of the 3850.  The first thing I noticed was that the mouthpiece wasn’t seated properly. It moved around, almost like a loose tooth. Thinking to myself that I just spent some hard earned money on this thing, I’m going to play it anyway. It was tight enough in the receiver to play. When I played my cornet for the first time with the Yamaha, it was almost as if the gates of heaven just opened. The sound was stunning. Thinking that I had the right mouthpiece, I searched for and found scotch tape. After taping a piece of tape to the shank of the 16e it had a nice snug fit. I commenced to getting to know my horn, after remedying my mouthpiece fit problem.

   Later, with three months of daily committed wood shedding I decided it was time to pay a visit to one of the local jam sessions. I wanted to make my self known to the world. When I arrived at the jam session, I introduced myself to the bandleader. He was welcoming and curious about my cornet.  I played “Round Midnight”. Judging with my own ears, approval from the band, and the applause from the crowed, I thought that I did a decent job. After sitting down, I managed to rustle up a couple of business cards from a few of the attending musicians. The main topic during my conversations with them were centered around the cornet and about how nice it sounds and looked. About a half hour later, I was called back to the stage.

      The chart was “A Night in Tunisia “. Because I was the guy who showed up with the cornet, I was given the honor to solo first, after playing the head. When I played “Round Midnight “The band left allot of space for me to make the cornet shine in its special mellow way. All I had to do was just sit back and let all that mellow ear candy flow.  However, for “Night In Tunisia” it was a different story.  This time around the band was more intense. The drummer and keyboard were pushing allot of sound and the room was packed. There was a tenor sax and trumpet player on stage with me and they let me know they were going to add horn lines at the bridge, when it was my turn to solo. Noticing that I couldn’t hear myself while everyone was playing through the head, to compensate I played louder. I could tell that my chops were getting tired. Concern and doubt began to creep into my mind about me being able to complete the changes. It was getting so bad that I wasn’t concentrating on the changes.  Eating the microphone with the bell of my cornet didn’t help either. I still couldn’t hear anything. Exhaustion kicked in after blowing through the changes just one time. My chops were giving up the ghost. I couldn’t wait for the next run down the head to end. There was no way I was going to do three. At the end of my solo I backed away from the mic and accepted the applause from the audience. I wasn’t happy with my performance and I new there was something I had to do. I new I could do better.

   As musicians, we go through the halls of self doubt more than once through our careers. My self doubt led to insecurity and eventually a downward spiral.  From then on, week after week was the same result. It didn’t matter which club I played. Ballads worked great, but in situations where more volume and power were required I had serious problems. I wasn’t sure about anything. Regret about selling my Kanstul 1001 Chicago begun to set in.  I feared that all the comments stating that the trumpet is better for jazz than cornet were true.

   Thinking like a new cornet player, I decided to take the quickest route to fix my problem. The mouthpiece safari was the way I decided to go. Eventually I learned that the only things mouthpiece safaris were good for is messing up your chops and paperweight accumulation. Every week ended with a new mouthpiece after every bad performance. Please see Taking the Plunge As A Cornet Player for more.

  I finally learned that choosing the right mouthpiece for your cornet is pretty simple. This is not as big as a mystery as some make it out to be. The first thing you want to do is think about the type of sound you want your cornet to produce. Notice I didn’t mention where you are planning on playing your cornet. This is on purpose. Some guys like a mouthpiece for every venue. I am from the one-mouthpiece-for-everything camp.  One nice feature of the cornet is that you have a wide sound envelope. It can sound almost like a flugelhorn or almost as bright as a trumpet.

    The fitting of the mouthpiece into the cornets receiver is the second thing to consider. This may sound pretty obvious, but you will be surprised about how many cornet mouthpieces don’t fit your cornet. During my safari, I bought a Yamaha 16C4 for my Getzen 3850 and it wouldn’t fit my cornet.

     The third consideration for buying a cornet mouthpiece is how hard it makes you work for your goals. If you can accomplish 75% of your goals and concentrate on the other 25% where you are weak, your probably going to be happy cornet player. When I finally made the decision to buy a Denis Wick 2b I knew that endurance was going to be an issue. The features that sold me were the cup size, huge throat, tone and power. I always played on large mouthpieces, even when I played trumpet. I have greater flexibility with a large diameter mouthpieces and I don’t worry about hitting the bottom of the mouthpiece. All I had to do was just work on my endurance.

    The forth consideration will be how much time are you willing to spend on one mouthpiece, before you see your desired results. Part of the problem with mouthpiece safaris is the temptation to hop from one mouthpiece to the next searching for instant success. Don’t expect to be able to play everything perfectly, just because it is your new magic mouthpiece.  The magic mouthpiece does not exist. Don’t believe the myth. The magic is in your practice. Your must spend time with your mouthpiece. When I brought my Wick 2b. I made the decision to play that one mouthpiece only. I did it for a year. Now I have no problems at all with endurance.

   The last thing to remember when buying a mouthpiece for your cornet is to not bow to peer pressure. Most people like to purchase something based on information from a trusted source. Each one of your cornet mouthpiece advisors has their favorite mouthpiece. They are going to naturally tell you how great it is. If there was a mouthpiece that one of your advisors doesn’t like, trust me, they are going to let you know every bad thing about it. Pick the mouthpiece for yourself don’t let others pick the mouthpiece for you. Try out a mouthpiece you never tried before. My favorite trumpet mouthpieces were Schilcke and Yamaha and I tried them first, on my cornet. I let opinions of a couple of advisors turn me away form Denis Wick. I’m glad I finally made the decision on my own.  In the end, like me, you’re going to be the one who makes the final judgment about what piece you’re going to get. 

    

Playing While Injured

   The day before yesterday I was a wounded cornet player. My right hand got slammed in a door and I thought that it was broken. It swelled up to almost twice its size and I could barely move my fingers without my hand feeling like it was about to break in two. Because we cornet players use our right hand to press the valves, this was a big problem. I needed to get in my usual amount of hours of practice in, but the pain was almost great enough to stop me. I did everything to make the pain go away except pain killers and pills.

    I’m the type of musician that feels guilty if I don’t put in a certain amount of hours of quality practice. At the bare minimum I will do 3 hours, broken up into 3 1hour sessions.  Six hours is great when I get the chance. Today I feel real guilty. I had the choice to go to the emergency room or see the doctor and neither were a good option for me. I didn’t have time to waste sitting around in some doctor’s office with a bunch of other people who are probably worse off than me. I decided to fight the pain and  managed to work through it , by practicing long tones and lips slurs. It was good quality practice and I didn’t feel guilty in the end. Today the swelling in my hand is down and I can move my fingers. My hand still hurts a little, but I don’t think that it is broken.

   

The Forum Is Open

Fellow cornet players I'm pleased to announce that the forum is open. I will be adding more topics within the next few days. Please let me know about any topics that you think should be on the forum . Enjoy...

Cornet Players Are Free To Be Free

   I admit that I am a little biased towards brass instrument, especially cornets. I am a cornet player after all.  I’m always looking for ways to promote the queen of the brass and her uniqueness. I look for every opportunity I can to expose people to her. When  I tell people that I play the cornet they follow up with  “ What is a cornet”  Usually the  first response I get when I show someone a cornet  for the first time in their life there is a look of confusion on their face. One day a 13 year old told me that my getzen 3850 looks like an old fashioned trumpet.  Here in the states most people are familiar with trumpets but few know what a shepherds crook cornet looks like. As far as they are concerned any brass instrument that is 20 inches long must be a trumpet.  When I play my cornet for them the first thing they comment about is how nice and different it sounds.  This is when I take the opportunity to ask them which instrument has the nicest sound, the cornet, trumpet or sax. Their answer is the cornet.

   I’ve always wondered who or what determined the saxophone to be the ultimate wind instrument. You can walk up to any Jane or Joe Blow on the street and ask them what is their favorite instrument and 9 times out of 10 they will say the sax.  How did the masses get hooked?  Who or what convinced them. Sure the serpent shaped instrument does have its appeal and is very effective in capable hands but what is it that draws Jane and Joe to it, even when it is in the hands of less gifted individuals. How much longer must we endure saxophones playing another cliché line imbedded in a smooth jazz chart and then forced to say how nice it sounds. When are the 20 minute sax solos at jam sessions going to end? How many times must we be trapped in an elevator and forced to hear squawking.   Unfortunately I don’t think we will ever know.

   I think us cornet players can make a dent in the sax-is-the-ultimate-instrument myth. We have so many tools at our disposal.  The fact that we are not that well known means we are free to roam and be individuals. We can craft our own image and not bow to the image the masses and their manipulators deemed is real. We are not forced to follow a canned blueprint when is comes to making music.  No one is expecting us to screech like trumpets or slide up and down the stage on our knees with our horns trust out. Our sound is not associated with cheesy " B " movie soundtracks or pay per view horizontal mamba videos.  We are free to be cornet players. Let’s use our cornet players  freedom to our advantage. 

What Makes a Cornet a Cornet?

   It’s an age old question and not an easy one to answer. What is the difference between the cornet and trumpet?   Part of the reason why it is so difficult to explain the differences is because the two instruments are so alike. They look almost alike, they are both high brass instruments and the same basic technique is used to make them make music. If we throw in the fact that they almost sound the same, we end up with a ball of tangled thread to unravel.

    The traditional way to explain their differences is to just say cornets are more conical than trumpets and because of this cornets are mellow and not as brilliant. Some claim that it’s the way the horns are shaped, also known as wrapped. The cornets nice curves will make it more mellow and agile than the trumpet. The newest way to explain the differences is to just say it’s the mouthpiece because manufactures are building cornets and trumpets so much alike. Oh and lets not forget about the sound. The British Bands have a cornet sound and we Americans have a different cornet sound. The Brits use allot of vibrato us Americans don’t. Brits where handed cornets when they came out of the womb and we Americans are loud and rowdy and that’s why we love trumpets

     I’m going to attempt to answer this question but this time in a different way. First let’s deal with the basic truths about both instruments. For examples I will use the shepherds crook cornet and the workhorse B flat trumpet as our subjects.

Without dealing with myths here are some facts.

1) The trumpet and cornet are keyed in B flat.  And when both horns unwrapped will be roughly six feet long made out of brass.

2) The cornet will be more conical than the trumpet and the trumpet more cylindrical than the cornet.

3)  The trumpet will have a C cup bowl shaped mouthpiece and the cornet will have a deep V cone shaped mouthpiece.

4) Cornets have a more compact wrap than trumpets and are better looking. The bell is closer to your ears so that it is easy to hear all that sweetness coming out of the business end. .(This is just my opinion)

5) Cornets usually have bigger bores than trumpets.

6) Everything that I mentioned when added up all together will make the cornets tone richer and mellower. It also affects the way  the two instrument s are played.

Fact number 1 takes care of itself. There is no confusion and  we can move on to fact number 2.

   

In fact 2,  if we assume that we have two tubes of equal length and set them side by side with one tube shaped more like a cone and the other one shaped liked a cylinder we will have the basic building blocks for a cornet and trumpet. Manufactures will play around with these basic shapes and use different ratios in order to optimize the tone of the instrument. In general cornets are not totally conical and trumpets are not totally cylindrical. The instrument with a more conical shape will be warmer, mellower and richer in tone than the instrument with a more cylindrical shape. The cylindrical shape leads to a brilliant, strident and cutting tone.

    In fact 3, the mouthpiece plays a significant role in the tone of the cornet and trumpet. The mouthpiece is also the route most musicians take in order find the quickest fix when it comes to playing a cornet versus the trumpet. Allot of trumpet players complain about cornets being too stuffy. Other complains include that they can’t play high notes as easy and have less projection and endurance. They like the nice warm sound coming out of the horn but they are too tired to stand up after five minutes of playing. The first thing they want to do is find a trumpet mouthpiece with a cornet shank and stick it in the front end of their cornet. In the process they loose some of the qualities of a cornet that makes it a cornet.

    Traditionally cornets used deep V shaped mouthpieces with narrow cookie cutter type rims and trumpets use C cup shaped mouthpieces with fat comfortable rims. Currently there are manufactures that make hybrid mouthpieces for both trumpet and cornet.  The V shaped cornet mouth piece has less resistance than trumpet C cup bowl shaped mouthpieces. Resistance is felt as backpressure. Each player needs a certain amount of backpressure in order to get the horn to make music. If there is not enough backpressure (resistance) the cornet/trumpet player will feel as if they are running out of air and will huff and puff until they become tired to blow down the house. If there is too much backpressure (allot of resistance) the cornet/trumpet player will feel like they are forcing the instrument to make music and become tired and their heads explode. Cornetist must compensate for the lack of resistance with their embouchure. An added benefit that we cornet players love is that we have more flexibility with dynamics, control over our sound, and more agility. The drawback is that if we don’t use proper technique, our chops and endurance will suffer.  Because of the resistance and fat rims built into trumpet mouthpieces there is less stress placed on the trumpet players embouchure. Their sound is more brilliant, and they can produce more volume and power with less effort. In the end it’s easier for them to play higher and have increased endurance.

   In fact number 4, cornets do have a tighter wrap than trumpets and to my eyes they look nicer than trumpets. But do they really effect the sound of the instrument? I would say yes but for me it has more to do with the closeness of the bell to my ears. I’m able to hear the subtle changes I make in my sound while I’m playing and there is more feedback.  I think realistically the crook in a shepherds crook cornet does have some effect on the shape of the bell and ultimately the sound. Every shepherds crook cornet I’ve heard sounds warmer and had more of a human quality in their sound than a trumpet or long model American cornet or trumpet.

  In fact number (5), there are just too many variables involved with bores. Back when trumpets first made their appearance on the jazz scene they were called peashooters. This was because they had smaller bores than cornets the bore is basically the diameter of the tubing on the instrument. Bores are usually measured at the second valve slide of a cornet or trumpet. There are many factors that a builder must consider when designing a cornet or trumpet and point (5) is not carved in stone. My getzen 3850 has a .462 bore. There are definitely trumpets that can be bought off the shelf today that have bores greater than .462. There are many trumpet and cornet models pushing .470. Generally peaking, bigger bores will open the horn up and make it have less resistance and freer blowing.

   Fact number (6) is perhaps the best answer of all. You can judge a tree by the fruit it bares. If horns where trees, their fruit will be their sound. There have been blind studies that demonstrate the cornet can be mistaken for a trumpet and most people can’t tell the difference, especially people who don’t play either horns. This is a problem because if both horns sound so similar, how are we going to be able to tell them apart and then explain the differences to the curious and uninformed. It’s easy for seasoned cornet and trumpet players to tell the differences because they know what to listen for. I would argue that a key factor missing is the way they are played. Additionally the way they are designed determines how they are to be played

      Today we hear trumpets  in every kind of music imagined. In the hands of a great players like Wynton Marsalis , Melvin Jones, and Joe Grandsden  it is an amazing instrument.  They can be screaming, loud and in your face or serene and gentle. One could easily argue that there is no need for a cornet I definitely disagree with this argument and again this boils down to how the instruments sound and how it is played. Just because you can play a trumpet in allot of situations, it doesn’t mean that they are ideal for everything.  Cornets are an intimate instrument and their unique abilities still make them relevant today. Their tone is ideal for lyrical and emotional music and with a deep V cornet mouthpiece it has a human-like quality. Their precision and agility allows them to play extremely fast passages and each note is clearly defined and clean and excellent example is Richard Marshall. Trumpet players can play clean and clearly defined too, but it is the subtle nature of the cornets tone that gives it an edge in area. When cornet players were ruling the roost, they would mimic the great violinist and vocalist of the day while trumpets were restricted to just playing fanfares and viewed as crude contraptions. It was the trumpets ability to cut through the amplified bands and loud night clubs during the big band era that eventually gave them a foothold. In the end, it was musical taste that determined the destinies of   the cornet and trumpet. Today cornets are making headway again in jazz and they are a mainstay in traditional Dixieland music. Even with C cup trumpet mouthpieces it’s easy to hear the lyrical nature of the horn. The Brass Band tradition in the UK helped to keep the cornets rich mellow tone, agility and lyrical ability alive and encouraged renewed curiosity in its abilities. All of this is because tastes in music are changing.

    The next time you’re asked why your cornet is different from a trumpet. Don’t try to explain it. Just show it and then the person that is asking the question will understand.

Cornet instincts vs Trumpet Instincts

   After studying cornet players and drawing inspiration from them.  I’ve been able to pick up some instinctual differences when compared to our trumpet brethren.  I’m the kind of person that pays close attention to a musician’s stage presence. You have some musicians who pace across the stage like felines and then there are those who stay planted in one spot looking as if they had roots extending into the stage. The only way you can tell they are playing is if you’re close enough to see their fingers moving. Some musicians are laid back and look as if they are almost meditating while others look like they’re chopping down a tree with a butter knife. They really make it look hard.  

     Trumpet players and cornet players are two different musical beasts. Trumpet players tend to strut onto a stage and have the appearance of scouting a new territory. Cornetist on the other hand are more laid back. Cornet players float onto the stage almost effortless. With a slight nod the cornetist reassures everyone on stage that they are a team player. We are here to partake in the brotherhood and not take over.  

    It’s rare these days to see more than one cornetist on a stage in a jazz setting. We have been almost exterminated, but we will be back shortly. Our breed is making a comeback. Trumpet players seem to run in pacts. It’s not uncommon to see allot of them roaming a jazz jam session worth going to.  If there is more than one trumpet player on stage, each one would act as if they marked their territory. Each is exercising their valves or tapping their feet. Nodding their heads in approval of their pack members’ improvisational agility is also common. While all this is going on, they are all plotting to play a higher note than the trumpet player before them, when their turn to solo arrives. With their legs spread apart, shoulders raised, and backs arched in a 45 degree angle they will heave their axes to their chops and begin howling  away when it ‘s time for them to take a solo. Trumpet players look like they are putting allot of effort into their playing. This is their nature. They must display their power and aggression. With red faces, eyes bulging, and necks blown out of proportion they make sure that everyone knows that they are the creature of that moment and time. If they make mistakes or crack a note they know that the crowd appreciates their effort.

    Cornet players make it look easy on the jazz stage. Our approach to the horn is not the same as the trumpet player. Lyrical playing is our forte. We won’t purposely crack a note or play a double F after a long 8 bar 32^nd note expression of musical instinct. We know that there aren’t  too many of us roaming the jazz clubs. We are solitary and free to be ourselves and no one is going to walk up to us a say that we sound like a famous trumpet player. Most of the time the audience won’t have a clue about what our axe is gong to sound like.  Old timers and seasoned musicians might have a clue but even they are confused sometimes.   Yes, our instincts are different but this is a good thing.  Every horn can’t be a cornet. The music jungle is not that kind.

It has more curves and its prettier than a regular trumpet

    A couple a weeks ago at a   Joe Gransden  jam session in Decatur Georgia.  I felt a tap on my right shoulder. As I turned around I noticed a women barely old enough to drink She said something to me that I’m sure many cornet players have heard before, especially here in the states.  “That is a nice looking short trumpet” she said. I wanted to correct her on the spot but held my tongue. I knew that I shouldn’t feel insulted but I’m a cornet player and proud of it. The woman had a simple innocent query.  The trumpet is a noble instrument with a rich pedigree. I should be proud that my Getzen 3850 was misidentified.   Just as I was about to explain to her that my horn is a cornet she continued to say “It has more curves and it’s prettier than a regular trumpet “After she said that  my guard went down. She was on roll. I wanted to here more from her. “Is that what makes it sound so different?” The icing on the cake was when she said “I love the sound”.

   It’s in situations like this one we should take full advantage of the uniqueness of the cornet. Cornets do have a pleasing and graceful shape. Any shepherd’s crook short model is an eye catcher. Notice how eyes suddenly home in on your horn when you pull them out of a nice warm gig bag or case. Trumpets don’t get that kind of response from non trumpet players. Sax players are also suffering from this little unpleasantly    Lets not forget about the tone of the cornet. I could have explained to the young woman the technical stuff that made my horn stand out but that was not what she was interested in. She was caught in the cornets grip. I had no choice but to let her experience the magic of the cornet “My instrument is a Cornet and thank you” I finally said to the young woman” “Can I touch it” she asked. I nodded my approval. She smiled and touched my horn.