A New Trumpet

Some of you may remember that a million years ago, I was actually a trumpet player who pursued the instrument all the way through to a Master's Degree. Some of you may have a hard time believing this because you either know me as a guy who does bike sales or a singer/guitar player.

Well, I do still play trumpet occassionally and now it may have to be less occasionally since I finally purchased a new instrument. After grad school, I gradually sold off most of my horns in order to purchase things that were of a more pressing need (guitars, amps, pedals). The last horn I sold off was my Yamaha Bb that I bought in undergrad that was a large bore, heavy walled instrument that was really a great horn, but more horn than my occasional trumpet playing tendencies could handle. I sold it on eBay and bought a Blessing ML-1 Bb trumpet and a guitar amp.

For awhile I thought the Blessing would work out alright for me. After all, it's not like I was getting the chance to play alot. That changed when I started teaching a few students at the University of Sioux Falls for the Fall '06 semester. I quickly learned the limits to the instrument. It would be great as a lead instrument for a jazz big band, but too bright and unwieldy for most other applications. Demonstrating technique or any kind of nuance of sound that required more subtlety or a slightly darker tone was nearly impossible.

Had I been teaching last fall, I probably would have made this purchase sooner, but I held out since I didn't have any driving motivation without regular opportunities to play. I have the chance to play on the USF faculty recital in the fall now and decided that I needed to make the change now in order to give myself time to get back in shape, pick a piece and beat it into a state of performance readiness.

I started asking around about instruments at the local shops awhile ago and just kept checking in over time. Finally, Sioux Falls Music had a French Besson C trumpet at a clearance price that was too good to pass up. I still exercised patience as I had some other things that were more pressing and wanted to play a few times before trying it out so I wasn't making a decision that I would regret like the last one that I bought.

I decided yesterday was the day and Amy and Maia decided to come along as well. I played the horn a bit while the girls looked at other stuff and asked Amy's opinion after awhile. She said it was up to me but that it had a good tone (she knows how I like to sound) and I felt like it blew very much like what I used to play.

Why a C trumpet instead of a standard Bb? I played A LOT of C trumpet in grad school and really got to the point where it was the instrument that I was most comfortable on. I did mostly orchestral and classical solo lit by that time and the Bb was only used for wind ensemble and any jazz stuff I got to do. Since I'm mostly playing in a classical style now and demonstrating to students in a one on one lesson setting, the C trumpet will feel more like home. It may take me a little time to get my skills of transposition back (especially when playing literature written for Bb), but I can't wait to begin to dig in.

Now if I can just get through the weekend I might even be able to play a little.

Guess we're headed to the Cheese

Our family does the NCAA tournament brackets at home with the winner selecting the restaurant of their choice as the grand prize. Xander took the seeding very literally through the entire tournament and destroyed the rest of us since all four number 1 seeds made the Final Four. To top it off though, he also selected the correct participants in the title game and the correct national champ. Out of the 63 games (or 64 if you count the play in game) Xander was 47 and 16 which comes out to a 74.6% win percentage.

Looks like we're headed to Chuck E. Cheese.

Another thing about my run

I realized after yesterday's post that my run yesterday morning was my first 30 minute run since the first Bush administration... As in Bush Sr.

First ride and run of the season

I'd been wondering how long it would take to finally get that first road ride of the season under my belt since we've had so much snow and so little opportunity, but I finally did it over the weekend when we visited Jim and Marilyn in Yankton. Now, Yankton isn't exactly the spot I would pick for my first ride out because of the hills and I expected to hurt a lot on this ride, but temps and precip finally called a truce to allow a few days of decent riding conditions. The wind decided to kick it up to make for less than ideal conditions, but beggars can't be choosers in this part of the country.

I did about 30 miles and left at 10:00 in order to finish up by noon so I could have lunch with the family and be somewhat social for the afternoon. The 25 mph wind off the still ice-laden lake was a bit brisk as I rode through the park, but I got my legs warmed up and readied myself for the first hill section climbing out of the river valley. I was surprised when I hit the first hill section and didn't hurt nearly as bad as I thought I would. I certainly didn't show midseason, aggressive climbing form, but I wasn't gasping and weezing. I even hit 40 mph on one downhill section.

I did a sort of figure eight route that took me out of the valley, into town, all the way through the valley to where highways 52 and 50 meet up again and then back to my first hill section in the opposite direction. I really did have some good climbing sections and returned home really feeling good about the ride.

I got to test out some new gear while I was at it. After borrowing saddles from Bryan all of last season, I got my first ride out on my new Selle Italia Gel Flite saddle. I hated everything that I borrowed from Bryan and really didn't think about my new saddle much (which is a good thing). I still need to break it in a bit, but expect that it will be one that I'll be thrilled with once Tour de Kota hits in June.

I also got to test my new Polar CS200 computer. I was at a training for the store in October and was given a Polar heart rate monitor and was amazed to see what I could learn about the way that I work based on my heart rate. When the bracket on my old computer mount broke, I decided this might be a good season to step up into a heart rate compatible computer. It worked like a charm and I was able to use hrm information to gauge effort and recovery in a way that I never have before. I also got to take the Serfas carbon water bottle cages that I bought from Bryan on Friday for a ride. They are super lightweight and much easier in and out than my old cages, one of which broke, the other of which is now on my Rig.

In a very surprising move, I did my first half hour run since high school this morning. It's still too cold and dark out to ride early and I've about had it with kettle bells which I've been doing since October but really trailed off in January when I had some muscle pain in my left arm, so I checked the forecast and decided to run instead. I actually did better than I thought I would. I did about three miles on the bike trail and was able to settle into a rhythm pretty well. I was not fast by any stretch of the imagination, but I managed to keep it rolling. I'm not sure that this will become a regular part of my life, but it may be something to pick up when it gets cold again in the fall.

This is Spring?

Between selling bikes and scooping snow I'm getting a bit confused as to which season we're actually experiencing. I still haven't managed to get my road bike out at all and have had to settle for putting early season miles on my Rig, most with studded tires.

It seems like every time we get close to having a few days opportunity to ride, it dumps another 3-5 inches of snow. It dumped on us yesterday and the forecast is for maybe a little snow tomorrow, but it looks like things will warm up enough to get rid of all of it by the weekend when we'll be in Yankton. Having my first road ride of the year in the river valley would tear me apart, but it would be well worth it just to get out.

Speaking at church

I had a chance to speak at Mercy on Sunday and the general response was very favorable. I was the first of the staff to fill in for Shelby while he and the fam took a mini vacation. I recycled and refined a sermon that I've done a few times now in order to set the stage well for the other staff who will lead over the next several months. I'm sure there are some that may have a hard time forgiving me for eating a Twinkie in front of them, but it had to be done.