Get the horn that’s right for you
I’ve been in contact with Adam Rapa about buying a new instrument from his new Lotus line of trumpets.
If you’re not a trumpet player, or if you’re a trumpet player who lives under a rock (I do know a few) Adam is a terrific player; one of the better high registers I’ve seen/heard – and I’ve heard several others say the same of him.
And in 2017 at the ITG (int’l trumpet guild) conference in Hershey, PA, Adam totally won me over with his work ethic, professionalism, business savvy when he launched his new line of instruments. I was at the conference to give a talk, and had nothing better to do so I helped out with providing transportation, whatever logistical things I could – and he and I have stayed in contact since.
At any rate, Adam and I were talking about what kind of horn I should get – not right now, probably when I’ve settled in the U.S. a bit.
But my criteria for what type of instrument I should get isn’t based on how I can “blend” with a certain setting, such as an orchestra, a brass quintet, a rock band, what have you.
My criteria is what suits me as an individual.
Of course the biggest factor in deciding what instrument to choose is how it suits me as a person and a musician. For that reason, I embraced the cornet awhile back, and even tried to make it an exclusive thing.
There are a number of advantages to that. First of all it does suit me as a person as I’m more of an introvert, the cornet has more of a personable and warm timbre. And no one on this earth is more personable and warm than me. If you don’t believe me, just ask me and I’ll tell you.
Another advantage is that it kind of differentiates me from the rest of the masses who are just trying to blend in. Not necessarily with an orchestra, but with the music field in general.
“Authenticity” is a word that’s thrown around like a pack of hyenas throw around a 3-days dead gazelle. Everybody’s trying to be “authentic”; and it’s to the point that the word itself screams, “Blending in…I don’t know how else to promote myself so I’m just going to say what everyone else on Instagram is saying.”
So I told Adam that maybe the way to go is to buy a cornet from him, and then play a C trumpet for other types of repertoire (if you’re not a trumpet player, forgive the technical details, I don’t have time to explain all of them; I hope you’ll take away the principle I’m trying to expound on.)
That in and of itself would definitely be unique among people in my field. How many people play cornet exclusively on a Bb instrument, and trumpet exclusively on the other keys, C, Eb, G, piccolo, etc.
Not many, and if doing something to stand out from the crowd is my goal, I may just do that.
But we’ll see. For now, I’m focused on preparing for the move to the U.S. as well as a couple of performances here in Vietnam that will most likely be cancelled due to an increased threat of Covid.
I’m currently editing a scintillating podcast on that very topic and it will be available in the next couple of weeks, stay tuned.
In the meantime, if you listen to podcasts and are in the market for one or two that will encourage you to break the mold society expects you to conform to, you may like the Trumpet Dynamics show I host, and the Musicpreneur show my friend Jim Lambie hosts.
They’re at trumpetdynamics.com and musicpreneur.com respectively.
James Newcomb