TrumpetBoy
Trumpets, Music, Gadgets, Web Dev. and any other nonsense I feel like mentioning…
Archive for January, 2006
The Ophicleide
Jan 18th
This is the Ophicleide; a weird, old Brass instrument that we encountered today at Musik Bertram in Freiburg, Germany. I had never heard of this instrument but was enlightened by the accompanying poem:
The Ophicleide, like mortal sin
Was fostered by the serpent.
It’s pitch was vague, it’s tone was dim,
It’s timbre, rude and burpant.Composers, in a secret vote,
Declared its sound non grata.
And that’s why Wagner never wrote
An Ophicleide sonata.Thus spurned, it soon became defunct.
To gross neglect succumbing.
Some were pawned, but most were junked,
Or used for indoor plumbing.And so this ill wind, badly blown,
Has now completely vanished.
I nominate the Heckelphone
To be the one next banished.Farewell, offensive Ophicleide,
Your epitaph is chiseled.
“I died of Ophicleidicide.
I tried, alas, but fizzled!”
One of the odder poems I’ve read…
Marvellous Hotel Wireless!!
Jan 12th
In a turnaround from my post a couple of days ago, I’m now enjoying a fabulous experience with the wireless network at the Hotel Ambassador in Antwerp, Belgium. It’s free!!!
Funny how simple things like that can make your day…
Back on the Road.
Jan 11th
On Saturday night we finished the Rat Pack at Christmas show at the Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham. It was a great run and I’d like to thank all the guys in the band for making it so pleasant. Special thanks go to Gerry Freeman (drums) and all the folks in Trumpet section; John Ruddick and Georgina Bromilow, and their deps: Dave Ford, Kevin Wedrychowski, Mally Baxter and Kevin Harcourt. Thanks chaps!!
A word of congratulation must also go to Mike Neilson! We were very fortunate to have Mike on our show playing Dean Martin. He’s understudied this role in the West End production for a few years and now, following the departure of Mark Adams, he’s taking over as “Top Turn”. Good for you Mike and thanks for keeping us laughing over the festive season!!
Bright and early on Monday morning I got on a plane back to Germany and have now rejoined the tour group. Yesterday and today we’re at the Stadthalle in Bielefeld; a nice enough town in North-Western Germany. It’s been great to see the guys again after a few weeks apart over Christmas. That said, a little boredom crept in last night as I spent my first night “back in the corner” on 2nd Trumpet. It was much more fun playing Lead in Birmingham.
This week sees a lot of travelling. By next Monday, when we get to Basel in Switzerland to sit down for the week, we’ll have visited Antwerp, Mannheim and Kassel. Consequently, Internet access may be sparse so I may not have much chance to post here. (Still that’s no different to normal!) I hope, however, that the amount of “dead time” on the bus may give me a chance to catch up on some work. I have a couple of projects in mind that I’d like to get on the go soon. More about those in due course…
Right, lunchtime! Let’s hope this publishes properly this time…
Bloody Hotel Wireless!!
Jan 11th
I just finished writing a post about being back on tour and, upon submitting, found that the bloody hotel wireless network I’m on had signed me out. Consequently, 10 minutes of typing lost…
*#!!?#**!!!
Right, now to rewrite it….
A further state of flux…
Jan 6th
The site theme will probably keep changing over the next few days. I’m testing out a couple of different Wordpress themes upon which to base my forthcoming redesign. This site has existed in other peoples designs for (almost) long enough!!!