Conn 8D Double Horn – Ready to Ship!
Yamaha YEP321 / 321S Euphoniums – Ready to Ship!
Miraphone 1291-5VCS Silver CC Tuba – Ready to Ship!
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Yamaha YTR9335NYS New York Custom Artist Bb Trumpet
Our Price: $3,395.01
List Price: $4,500.00
You Save: $1,104.99
Yamaha
Developed in cooperation between Robert Sullivan of the Cleveland Orchestra and Bob Malone, Yamaha master trumpet designer. The YTR9335NYS Custom Artist Bb Trumpet features a .459" medium-large bore and a one-piece yellow brass bell for improved resonance and projection. This trumpet also features a MB2 leadpipe; monel pistons; silver-plate finish. Includes a TRC-9445 deluxe case and a TR17B4 mouthpiece. Includes a FREE Silent Brass Trumpet & Flugel Pack! ($250.00 value)
Monday, April 16, 2007
Giardinelli Mouthpieces
Giardinelli Mouthpieces
Comfort, Facility & Tone
By Clive Whitehall
Every brass player is on a constant quest to find the perfect, or at least better, mouthpiece. It is, after all, the interface between you and your instrument, and the right mouthpiece can make a big difference. As young players become stronger with improved wind and embouchure, they will eventually be dissatisfied with their student mouthpiece and want to move to a different one that gives a bigger, fuller tone. But the desire to improve is universal no matter what a player's level, and a change of mouthpiece is alluring because it can be an easy, affordable, and instant path to improvement. As a result, brass players keep trying new mouthpieces, even when they already have one they like.
Giardinelli Mouthpieces
Trial and error
It would be nice if there were a method to this mouthpiece madness, but unfortunately there doesn't seem to be. It's just a matter of feeling your way guided by some general principles: shallow mouthpieces are generally easier for new players and for playing in higher registers. Deeper mouthpieces require a more developed embouchure, but produce a bigger, fuller tone and make the low notes easier to play.
Beyond these rules, mouthpiece selection involves a plethora of factors and details. The shape of your face and size of your lips make your requirements quite individual. The kind of music you play and sound you want are also factors. Most importantly, find a mouthpiece that is comfortable and works well for you.
The Giardinelli solution
Many players have found Giardinelli mouthpieces fruitful ground for mouthpiece hunting. All brass manufacturers make mouthpieces for their instruments, which means there are many to try, but most of them treat mouthpieces as a peripheral and haven't given them that much attention. Giardinelli, on the other hand, has been producing mouthpieces for decades and has focused considerable attention on refining its designs.
Giardinelli mouthpieces originated in the New York instrument repair shop of Robert Giardinelli. The shop specialized in brass repair and served musicians in the New York jazz and orchestral worlds. Along with normal repairs, musicians would ask Giardinelli to make modifications to mouthpieces they were using. Giardinelli would file, machine, or drill them and the player would often go away with an altered mouthpiece that worked better.
Giardinelli saw that many mouthpieces available at the time were of inferior quality. He decided that he could design and produce better mouthpieces and got into the business. At first he handcrafted custom mouthpieces for professionals he knew from his repair business. He proved to be good at it and his reputation grew among brass players. Before long he was making mouthpieces for top professionals, including such notables as Louis Armstrong, Clark Terry, Maynard Ferguson, Chuck Mangione, and many other big-time players from both the jazz and orchestral fields.
This close association with top players proved a wonderful resource. By discussing their needs with them and getting feedback on the custom mouthpieces he made, Giardinelli gained a wealth of knowledge and experience about what worked and what didn't, a knowledge that informed his designs.
After a time, the shop became a small factory and Giardinelli mouthpieces became available in standard models that incorporated the most successful design features from his custom work. Over the years, the Giardinelli line has continued to build a reputation among brass players of all stripes—many of whom have found their perfect mouthpiece to be a Giardinelli.
Comfort is king
The most frequent comment about the Giardinelli mouthpiece is that it is more comfortable, a better fit. The variations in mouthpieces can be extremely subtle—slight differences in mass; diameter, shape, and width of the rim; the depth and shape of the cup; the size and taper of the backbore. Even the smallest variations in these create differences in feel and air flow, both of which effect the player's connection with his instrument. Giardinelli designs vary in crucial ways that give a range of players real choices for comfort and performance. There very likely is a Giardinelli perfect for you.
In selecting a mouthpiece, it helps to know which are most popular with other players, and Giardinelli is ready and willing to provide this information. For club and jazz trumpet players, the 7 and 6 series mouthpieces are the most widely used. For symphony players, the 3 and 1 series are the most favored. All standard trumpet mouthpieces have the C-style cup in which the cup sides are gently curved inward for fullness of tone, and they come in a range of depths.
With the current popularity of the flugelhorn as a doubling instrument for trumpeters, Giardinelli also includes a selection of flugelhorn mouthpieces. For a mellow, fluffy tone, the cup has to be deeper and the bore larger than for a trumpet. For doubling it is recommended that you select a model with a rim matching your trumpet's mouthpiece to make switching from one to the other easier.
For French horn, the C series mouthpieces are far-and-away the favorites. The C1 has a deep, gently curved cup with a large bore and thin rim. It is very comfortable for many players and delivers a powerful sound. The C4, C6, C8, and C10s are the same as the C1 except for gradually smaller bores for greater resistance and less effort in tone support. C12 and C15 are also popular. They have shallower cups and are most often used for high F horns.
For trombone, 5D and 5M are the most popular for club and studio work. The symphony tenors—horns such as the Bach 42B, Conn 88H, Holton TR158, and Yamaha YSL682—respond well with the Symphony T and Symphony B bass shank models. Both models are also available in a tenor shank.
Quality that lasts
Since all mouthpieces are made of brass, differences in quality apart from design are matters of machining and plating. Giardinelli mouthpieces are machined with modern CNC lathes that create absolutely smooth surfaces, even when examined under a microscope. Then they are double-plated with a high quality and very pure nickel silver by means of a special process. The result is a plated surface that is extremely smooth and durable. It isn't abrasive to the lips and won't wear through in a lifetime no matter how much you play.
The Yamaha Silent Brass System
The Yamaha Silent Brass System
Yamaha Silent Brass System
All brass players share a common problem: finding a practice space where they won't bother anyone and, conversely, one in which they won't be distracted by ambient sound.
A traditional solution is the use of a practice mute. Inserted in the bell of the instrument, it significantly muffles projection. The downside is that practice mutes produce a lot of resistance that radically alters the instrument's natural playing characteristics. So in the course of reducing projection, they make it tough to really hear what you're playing, thus canceling out much of the benefit of practice.
Yamaha's Silent Brass System elegantly solves these problems while delivering a set of features that will enhance and maximize your practice time. The System consists of the ST9 Personal Studio (the control unit), a Pickup Mute, a locking cable, and earphones. The step-up ST5 Silent Brass Performance Studio adds an array of effects plus practice tools and features that guarantee to make your woodshedding time a downright pleasure. Let's look at the System piece by piece.
The Mute resembles a conventional straight mute. There are specific models for a number of brass instruments including trumpet, piccolo trumpet, flugelhorn, French horn, trombone, euphonium, and tuba. The mute houses a microphone that connects to the module via a cable with a screw-on connector at the mute end and a standard mini-plug on the other.
The signal from the mute's microphone is processed by the ST9 Studio (or ST5 Performance Studio) which then feeds the signal to you through the earphones. This direct connection between the instrument's bell and the musician's ears means you can more easily concentrate on your articulation and tone without any of the self-consciousness that often accompanies audible practice.
The Studio's simple controls consist of a volume knob and echo switch. Connections are equally straightforward. The aux in jack lets you combine external sources such as CD and cassette players so you practice along with your favorite music. The input jack connects to the mute for practice or to an instrument microphone for performance. Likewise, the output jack can be connected to headphones for private practice or to a sound system when you're ready to share your playing with the world. A handy belt loop strap is also included so you can be totally mobile when the spirit moves you.
For the musician seeking extensive practice tools and more sonic flexibility, Yamaha offers the ST5 Performance Studio. It incorporates an auto tuner that can be set to match the instrument's transposition and desired pitch calibration from A=438Hz to A=445Hz. Once you've set the parameters, the tuner automatically detects the note being played and indicates the degree to which you are sharp or flat.
The ST5 also boasts 32 effects including delay, chorus, flanger, filter, auto wah, overdrive, distortion, pitch shifting, limiter, and more. When you're working on rhythmic skills you'll find the onboard metronome with 34 different time signatures in four different subdivision patterns a boon. The ST5 also offers ten different drum patterns ranging from an eight-beat shuffle to funk to bossa nova and samba patterns.
The built-in phrase trainer is a huge help when you're attempting to nail difficult passages. Record a phrase that's up to 16 seconds long from either an external source or your own instrument. You can then play it back repeatedly and even slow down the phrase without affecting the pitch. Incidentally, there's an aux key function that transposes the sound received from external CD/MD players so you can play along with recorded music in just about any key you want, regardless of the song's original key.
Yamaha has designed the ST5's backlit display so that it's highly legible, even in dim stage lighting. A large Value dial gives you quick access to a total of 100 effects presets with 50 of them being user-configurable. You can save all your favorite settings and recall them instantly with a quick twist of the Value dial, making the ST5 and invaluable performance tool when you want to vary your sound.
All in all, Yamaha's Silent Brass family of gear represents not only a comprehensive solution to the challenges that practice presents, but also a tool for enhancing and expanding your performance possibilities.
Giardinelli Trumpets
Giardinelli Trumpets
The new kids on the block can really play.
By Julien Gaultier
Giardinelli is hardly a new name. The company has been around for decades, serving musicians as a source for instruments and accessories through its famous New York music store and the catalogs it mails to teachers and musicians across the country. Since the late '40s, Giardinelli has also manufactured a line of brass mouthpieces that have earned fame and favor among professional musicians.
Giardinelli's Professional Trumpets What is new is the Giardinelli trumpet. It's surprising that Giardinelli didn't expand into trumpets years ago. The other trumpet companies make mouthpieces, so it seems only logical that a mouthpiece company would expand into making trumpets. Yet the first Giardinelli model made its debut less than a year ago.
The goal
Essentially what Giardinelli was looking for in its trumpet line was quality at a low price, which is a simple and noble idea, but not easy to achieve in the real world. Well-made instruments are expensive for real reasons—more costly materials and more handwork, for example. Since Giardinelli is both manufacturer and retailer, it can cut costs by eliminating the middleman, but this alone wouldn't achieve the low pricing Giardinelli intended.
The key was to find a place where high-quality instruments could be made for relatively lower cost. Instead of turning to Asia, where many instruments are produced these days, Giardinelli went to the Czech Republic and chose a factory in the town of Hradec Kralove that had been producing brass instruments since the 1840s. It had a pool of skilled craftsmen, and the factory had been modernized to incorporate state-of-the-art computer-controlled machine tools into its production processes. It could be streamlined and consistent, yet had the eyes and hands of experienced craftsmen to see that quality was maintained. Adding to all this was a Czech economy that made production costs low by world standards.
The process
After negotiating a partnering agreement and developing a working relationship with the Czechs, Giardinelli set about designing trumpets that would meet their standards. They worked with the Czechs to create prototypes, tested them with the help of numerous professional musicians, then returned to the drawing board for further refinements. They wanted traditional European-style instruments that performed substantially above their price ranges, yet could be sold for musician-friendly prices. The first new Giardinelli trumpets meet both of these goals admirably.
Currently three Giardinelli models have been introduced: the student GTR 312, an intermediate-to-pro GTR 512, and the master level GTR 812. Here I want to focus on the first two because they have the greatest relevancy to the greatest number of trumpeters.
Click to Enlarge The GTR 312
The GTR 312 is an exceptional student horn. Giardinelli especially wanted its student model to have real quality. They wanted it to be a horn that would help students grow, not hold them back. Too often new players end up with instruments they have to fight and overcome while they are learning, so they don't develop as fast and freely as they could. Giardinelli wanted a student horn that was easy to blow, with good tone and fast and sure valve action; and it had to be tough enough to take occasional rough handling. It also had to be affordable. The GTR 312 fulfills all these requirements beautifully. It is priced to make parents, pay-their-own-way students, and program directors smile.
The GTR 312 is simple but its quality is excellent. It lacks a second water key and does away with fancy cap buttons. But the key features are right: stainless steel pistons, nickel trim (including plated top and bottom caps, finger buttons, and water key), and a lacquer finish that gives it the look of a more expensive instrument. Another nice feature on all of the GTR trumpets is the artfully engraved bell. Engraving is cosmetic, but it is usually reserved for more expensive horns. I like it on the student model because it will encourage pride of ownership.
Click to Enlarge The GTR 512
This horn takes a big step up in features. It's a trumpet that advanced students will love and most professionals will find impressive. Giardinelli touts it as a professional-quality instrument at an intermediate price, and the GTR 512 lives up to this hype quite well. It builds upon the virtues of the student model with heavier bracing, a 1st slide saddle, two water keys, mother-of-pearl cap buttons, rose brass mouthpipe and slide crooks, and impeccable craftsmanship from top to bottom including perfectly hand-lapped stainless pistons.
Like the GTR 312 it is traditional in style, responsive and free-blowing in all registers, with a rich, full tone that is quite dark. And though it is a very capable instrument, it too is accessibly priced—about half of what many comparable instruments fetch. It is available in gold, silver, and black, and also in both silver and lacquer with a rose brass bell. The rose brass gives it a warmer and even richer tone which makes it an especially effective instrument for jazz or as a second instrument for use in certain symphonic contexts.
Both the GTR 312 and the GTR 512 are excellent horns, especially for their low prices. These are instruments that can give program directors real advantages: better quality, lower price, longer life with fewer repairs, and a noticeable improvement in the trumpet section's sound. And together these two horns can cover the full sweep of a serious trumpeter's career. Giardinelli trumpets may be the new kids on the block now, but it won't be long before they make a highly regarded name for themselves.
Hands-On Product Review: MusicPad Pro Plus
Hands-On Product Review: MusicPad Pro Plus
Sheet music for the digital age
By Christine Martin
MusicPad Pro Plus
Freehand Systems is revolutionizing the way musicians look at sheet music with MusicPad Pro Plus—a portable tablet that stores all your sheet music and more. A touchscreen about the size of a piece of paper lets you make marks and notations right on the page of music. It comes with software to organize your digital music portfolio and to transfer scores between your computer and the tablet. Musician’s Friend shipped me the latest-and-greatest MusicPad Pro Plus Version 4.0 to review.
Inside the box I found the touch-screen pad with a stylus, power pack, 128MB external USB flash drive, USB cable, software installation CD, and the optional footpedal. There are two USB ports on the MusicPad tablet: one to transfer music from your PC or Mac and one to attach external devices like the USB memory module or a USB wireless device. There’s a video out, a jack to connect the footpedal, and an audio out. MusicPad Pro Version 4.0 also comes equipped with premium tools, which you can unlock with an optional $49.95 product key from freehandsystems.com. These tools include wireless networking, a metronome, pitch pipe, and an audio player for MP3s, plus additional pen colors and annotation tools.
Impressive organization
After installing MusicPad Manager software on my computer, I downloaded some music from freehandmusic.com’s selection of nearly 75,000 scores, scanned in my sheet music library, and imported music files from Sibelius and Finale directly into MusicPad Pro. Then I transferred my music library onto the MusicPad via USB and all my music was ready to go anywhere!
As a band director and gigging musician, my musical life is always busy and in the past it has been a huge headache to organize and manage all the scores I needed. I took the MusicPad along on a busy Friday with band practice in the morning and a gig at night and I was amazed at how much the MusicPad helped me get organized.
Getting ready on Thursday, I created playlists of all the different scores I needed at each event, so I could bring them up in order when I needed them. It was easy to find the scores I was looking for with the familiar computer-like controls, the touchscreen, and the browse capabilities, which let me set the search criteria for file, title, composer, instrument, date, or size, and add/delete more levels as needed. I could also sort search results by simply tapping the top of the column, plus I could save the search to pull it up again later with the QuickFind tab. Once I found the score I wanted, it was easy to add to a playlist with the tap of an arrow or just by dragging-and-dropping it.
Next, I tried out MusicPad Pro’s annotation capabilities and was really impressed. There are plenty of tools to annotate a score any way you want—you can add handwritten or typed notes; highlight sections; and add notes, rests, and more, all in different colors. You can even zoom in on the score for precise annotations. There are a variety of eraser tools—so you can erase your annotations, marks that were picked up when you scanned the score, everything but the staff lines, or everything including the staff lines. You can even hide annotations and turn them back on easily.
I also marked specific musical passages by adding rehearsal marks and Teleport Pads at convenient intervals throughout the pages. Teleport Pads let me jump to a specific location in the score by simply tapping on them, making it easy to navigate quickly during rehearsals and performances.
MusicPad Pro Plus
MusicPad Pro Plus
Scores to go
At rehearsal on Friday, I used the video out with a portable projector to project the scores so my pupils could follow along and see the annotations I had made. The versatile page-turning abilities of the MusicPad came in handy and I definitely didn’t miss fumbling through my papers. There are six ways to turn the page with the MusicPad: touch the right half of the screen to turn forward and the left to turn back; or use the toolbar, page navigation bar, rehearsal marks navigation bar, Teleport Pads, or the footpedal. You can even record repeats and cuts, so the MusicPad knows where to go in the score when a repeat appears or to skip a section where there’s a cut.
Later that night at the gig, the lighting was really low and red, so I changed the MusicPad’s color and the brightness of the background to match. It was far more aesthetically pleasing than my usual music stand and light and much more legible. I also switched the view from portrait to landscape orientation. In portrait mode, I could set the score to display look-ahead pages, which show the bottom of the current page with the top of the next page. The landscape mode also offers look-ahead pages and let me view two pages side by side, which I prefer for performance.
I was thoroughly impressed by MusicPad Pro. I can spend a lot less time managing my music library and more time and energy doing what I love to do. The productivity gains are similar to that with a computer. Can you imagine living without a computer these days? Well, now that I’ve used the MusicPad, I can’t imagine life without it either. I will never again forget a piece of music or have a page blow in the wind. And I’ll never have to cart around piles of music or deal with turning pages by hand in mid-performance! MusicPad Pro Plus is the ultimate tool for any musician who works with sheet music.
Features and Specs:
* 12.1" TFT LCD backlit, low-glare color touchscreen
* Resolution: 1024 x 768
* 128MB external USB flash drive
* 32MB internal flash memory
* Video/audio out
* AC power and rechargeable battery
* 2 USB ports (1 host, 1 device)
* Built-in jack for optional footpedal
* Size: 13.3" x 9.9" x 1.8" (just over 4 lbs.)
* One-year limited warranty
Freehand Musicpad Pro Plus Version 4.0 Electronic Sheet Music Display
Jupiter XO Series Trumpets
Jupiter XO Series Trumpets
Custom professional horns that move Jupiter into a higher orbit.
By Len Bixler
Jupiter has become well-established and highly regarded in the school instrument field. After building instruments for other well-known brands for fifty years, Jupiter introduced its own instruments in the US twenty years ago. The first Jupiter trumpets were less-than-perfect but highly affordable instruments for the schools-on-a-budget market. But Jupiter then began methodically improving its production processes and the quality of its instruments. It recently was granted ISO Certification for meeting the highest international standards in manufacturing quality. These days, Jupiter consistently produces excellent student and intermediate instruments that are chosen for their musical character and quality. This high level of quality combined with competitive prices has made Jupiter a major player in the band biz worldwide.
Jupiter XO Series Trumpets
Now, emboldened by this success, Jupiter has made its move into the professional instrument arena where upstart newcomers tend to be eaten by lions. Introduced last year, the Tribune XO Series trumpets are Jupiter's first fully professional-level trumpets. Will they find a place among the big names? My opinion, having given several XO models thorough inspections and tryouts, is that in time they will. These are exceptional horns and compare well with accepted top-name professional trumpets.
Trumpets tell the truth
It won't be easy. Professional trumpet players are a tough crowd. First of all, they've already found the horns they consider best. They're also impervious to the allure of a lower price (the Tribune XOs are priced a notch under their main rivals). Nor can you fool them with hype. Playing a trumpet is an intimate and personal activity. Players know when they've got a horn they like, know when it performs at a high level, and know especially if it has a sound and feel they like.
The Tribune XO will have to overcome doubts that a maker of student-level horns can turn out a serious professional instrument, but as more and more players experience how the Tribune XO plays, it will earn their respect and acceptance.
The variables
Jupiter hasn't been timid about this upward move. Where most companies would produce a single model with limited options and put it out there to see if it flies, Jupiter has created a full custom line with a serious set of options and extras. All the Tribune XOs have the same basic design but the options turn this design into many models. You can choose between two bore sizes, reversed or standard leadpipes in a choice of rose brass or sterling silver. The bells come in a choice of three tapers and in rose or yellow brass. You can even opt for a vertical stop on the third valve tuning slide instead of the standard horizontal.
In addition to these options, the horns come with both rounded or elliptical main slides and two sets of valve springs of differing strengths come as standard equipment. These add two more ways you can alter the instrument to suit your preferences on top of the built-in options. For a first professional series, Jupiter has given the player a wealth of choices.
The horns come with two sets of valve buttons: 24k goldplated and a second set with pearl inlays. The XOs also come in a woodframed case that seems very sturdy and is appropriately plush.
A true professional
Terms such as "professional" and "intermediate" can be used fairly loosely, and often a professional model is really an upgraded intermediate. There's no defined line, but there are several primary features that definitively qualify a horn as a professional. The first is a one-piece, hand-hammered bell. Another is two-piece valve casings. These are features that require more skill, more time, and more cost to produce, and they have major effects on the instrument's sound and playing feel. The Tribune XOs boast both of these features.
Another measure of a pro level instrument is quality workmanship. Looking over the XOs with a magnifying glass, checking the joints, the soldering, the fit of the slides and such, I couldn't find a single flaw. The valves were lapped to perfection. The slides were perfectly fitted and moved smoothly. Every detail bespoke quality: brass valve guides, Monel pistons, and a silverplated finish rather than lacquer. In every detail and feature, the XOs rate as truly professional-quality instruments.
Beautiful to eye and ear
It's important to look the part and the Tribune XOs definitely have a look and style befitting their pro status. All have a shining silverplated finish accented by 24k gold fittings, valve caps, and buttons. It's just the right amount of gold trim for understated flash. Tasty and uptown, appropriate for any musical setting or venue.
The ultimate consideration, of course, is how the horn plays and sounds. All the right features don't mean a thing if ain't got that swing. I found both of the Tribune XO models I sampled wonderful to play. The version I liked best had a reversed sterling leadpipe. With the rounded main slide on the horn, it was as free-blowing as any horn I've ever played. It had a rich, dark tone. The second model had the standard leadpipe in rose brass and a yellow brass bell. It was clearer and brighter—a more conventional tone that would serve well in any musical context. Both horns were quite facile, responsive, balanced, and alive. Faced with demanding passages, these are horns that will get it done.
No one horn will be perfect for every player no matter how good it is, but the Tribune XO trumpets should find their share of players who will choose them and forsake all others. If you have a chance to give a Tribune XO a try, do it. You may be one of those who land on Jupiter.
Musician's Friend Clearance Center
Musician's Friend Clearance Center
At our bulging Clearance Center we've unearthed $5,879,950 worth of overstocks, returns, refurbs, and discontinued gear. To find homes for it all, we've slashed prices—in many cases well below our original cost. Below you'll see just a small sampling of what's on hand. Shop now for the best selection. And check back regularly; we're constantly finding more buried treasure.
At our bulging Clearance Center we've unearthed $5,879,950 worth of overstocks, returns, refurbs, and discontinued gear. To find homes for it all, we've slashed prices—in many cases well below our original cost. Below you'll see just a small sampling of what's on hand. Shop now for the best selection. And check back regularly; we're constantly finding more buried treasure.
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