marchinc_pirate

Wow. I'm terribly sorry for taking so long to reply, but I've been really busy and my computer wasn't working. I've read everyone's suggestions and comments carefully, and I appreciate the help everyone was willing to give me. I borrowed a trumpet from a friend this week. I'm ecstatic to actually have a brass instrument in my possession to practice and work on, because it's like I'm another step closer to achieving my dream. It's going to take a ton of work though.. I plan on getting a trumpet fingering chart from my band director in the near future and just working out every single note.. so far all I've been able to do is lip slurs, the concert Bb scale, and long tones, just sitting next to a tuner and checking my pitches. One of my trumpet-playing friends found it odd, though, that it's really easy for me to get high notes out. I can get some notes above the staff out with little difficulty. The lower octaves are killing me though, they sound terrible. Is this a bad thing? I know it's one of those things that will take a lot of hard work, but does anyone know any ways to improve my lower range? Thank you all once again for actually responding to my questions and helping me out, it's definitely appreciated.

wow, yay, i asked my band director about it and he said he really didn't know which horn i should try either.. but offered to let me take home a baritone, since i know a few kids who went from clarinet to bari.. so as soon as i get a mouthpiece i'm bringing it home to learn! i'm really really excited.. right now corps is the one thing i want to do most and i know that actualy having a horn puts me one step closer.. i'm not going to let anything stop me, i've known a bunch of people who just gave up their dreams of corps just because they didnt get their way.. and i dont think i could ever do that.. i'm going to do everything in my power to get to audition and try my absolute hardest to make it.. thanks to everyone for encouraging me and helping me with this.. it's greatly appreciated.. -edit- eh.. another question.. any clue what type of mouthpiece i need to get?

In my band's case, if we do corps then we miss all of band camp, and we learn a good portion of our show in band camp so we can improve other things sooner.. and I think I'd really regret missing out on my senior year of marching.. we're going to Disney and possibly getting new uniforms if we can raise enough money.. and like I've said before (I think), I'm going to graduate when I'm only 16, so I have enough time to march corps.. I'm going to ask my BD about all of this tomorrow after school since band is my last class.. I still don't think I"ll do corps this summer because I still need to learn a horn and earn the money, but I am going to see what he thinks I can be capable of in the future.. I am really excited about corps though

thanks so much! I was planning on asking my BD tomorrow about it as well. He knows me very well as a musician and is always pushing me to try harder so I think if anyone, he'd be the best to help me decide. He's also the best BD i've ever had.. I came to my high school knowing absolutely nothing musical and am now told almost daily that I'm one of the better clarinets in there. (not trying to sound vain, becuase i'm not sure how true that is, i just hear it often) I was thinking about trying out for Carolina Crown first, being that I live in NC and our drum major this past year marched Crown.. a lot of my friends and I who are serious about corps are considering Crown. I believe their camps start in November though, so I don't really have much time to learn a new instrument by then.. I have to think about my classes and practicing for my school's wind ensemble before summer break, and then a good majority of July-October is taken up with marching band. I would have tried out for corps this summer, but my BD decided to make it a rule that if we marched corps then we couldn't march with the school. <**> I don't want to give up my senior year of high school marching band. I love it, the adrenaline of competing is one of my favorite feelings in the world.. that and I'll graduate when I'm only 16 so that gives me plenty of time to do corps. And I found out today one of my friends who plays trumpet wants to learn clarinet. So I'm going to see if I can teach him... and see if he'll let me try out his trumpet. :) Okay, so I've blabbed on about nothing for too long, lol. I do that when talking about music.. it's my life.. Thanks everyone!

Ever since I saw the standstill performance at Nightbeat 2003 (Charlotte, NC), I absolutely want nothing more than to march corps after I graduate high school. On Thanksgiving Day, I even shut myself in a room when DCI played (finally!) on PBS and taped it-- 2 copies, just in case one messed up (which one did, actually..) I have a slight problem though. I play clarinet. I'm going to try to get a discount horn from a local pawn shop or Ebay or something, but I'm not sure which instrument I should learn, they all have their pros and cons... Trumpet- I think it may be easy since it's a Bb horn like a clarinet, but I'm not sure if I'd be able to get the right range for corps Mellophone- I've never tried to play one, and from what I've heard seem kind of hard to tune and get pitches out? Baritone- I dont think I'm strong enough to hold one up! Does anyone have any suggestion that may make my decision any easier? It'd be greatly appreciated.. thank you all so much