The First Cut Is The Deepest

[officermayo]

Got a brand-new King 2B on Monday. I haven't gotten a brand-new horn since the late 70s.
Played it tonight for the first time at big band rehearsal and while inserting a straight mute, I put a ding in the bell.

Now, it's a very tiny ding, but it's the first one (ironically the first time I played it). I've been shoving mutes into trombone bells since 1973 and never did any damage. I guess new horns aren't as sturdy these days.

I'm hoping this means there'll be no more dings in the future.

Yeah, I know. "First world problems".

[CheeseTray]

The first mute ding is just like the first chip in the paint from a rock on your a new car... relax and enjoy, the pressure is off!

[Kbiggs]

I remember reading about a famous teacher who, when a student would show up with a new horn, would take the student’s mouthpiece, and put a tiny dent in the bell at the very top, near the tuning slide. Then he’d say something like, “There. You can stop worrying about whether you’ll dent your horn. Now you can get back to playing music.”

[officermayo]

The first mute ding is just like the first chip in the paint from a rock on your a new car... relax and enjoy, the pressure is off!

Ironically, I got a new truck in August.
The second day I had it, I put a humongous scratch on it from my lack of binocular vision and just plain clumsiness.

Perhaps it was a warning for the future.

[BGuttman]

I remember reading about a famous teacher who, when a student would show up with a new horn, would take the student’s mouthpiece, and put a tiny dent in the bell at the very top, near the tuning slide. Then he’d say something like, “There. You can stop worrying about whether you’ll dent your horn. Now you can get back to playing music.”

I believe that was John Coffey, a noted teacher in Boston.

[ithinknot]

I remember reading about a famous teacher who, when a student would show up with a new horn, would take the student’s mouthpiece, and put a tiny dent in the bell at the very top, near the tuning slide. Then he’d say something like, “There. You can stop worrying about whether you’ll dent your horn. Now you can get back to playing music.”

I believe that was John Coffey, a noted teacher in Boston.

Honestly, imagine having so little usable personality that you had to damage musical instruments to create an anecdote.

[BGuttman]

Coffey had plenty of personality. Any of his former students could give you anecdotes for hours. Unfortunately for me I moved to New England two years after he passed, so all I could get were the anecdotes, and great suggestions from his former students.

[officermayo]

I believe that was John Coffey, a noted teacher in Boston.

Honestly, imagine having so little usable personality that you had to damage musical instruments to create an anecdote.

[ithinknot]

you're right, it's great comic material

Granted, pedagogical deference has been exploited in the service of considerably worse crimes, but it's still a dumb thing to do.

[Posaunus]

I purchased my Conn 88H from John Coffey in 1972, when he owned a music store. I didn't take lessons from him, but he had a lot of respect for trombones and trombonists. I suspect that he never actually damaged his students' instruments, but in jest may have so "threatened" those who babied their trombones - to let them know that the music comes first. And so a legend was born.

John Coffey was a lovely and generous man!

[boneagain]

you're right, it's great comic material

Granted, pedagogical deference has been exploited in the service of considerably worse crimes, but it's still a dumb thing to do.

I was one student to whom Coffey made the suggestion. I never heard of him actually DOING what he suggested.

To me he said, "Hey, kid, give me your mouthpiece so I can put a ding in that horn so you can start playing the ... thing and stop babying it."

Made me laugh, and obviously stuck firmly in memory. From that point I never put being careful with my horn above making music. That doesn't mean I did "trombone suicide" or other things that are good for NEITHER horn nor music. But I NEVER got distracted from a musical line by worrying about my horn.

Dumb? Nah. Short. Effective. No actual harm done anywhere.

[ithinknot]

I never heard of him actually DOING what he suggested.

[Digidog]

Ironically, I got a new truck in August.
The second day I had it, I put a humongous scratch on it from my lack of binocular vision and just plain clumsiness.

Perhaps it was a warning for the future.

According to what I've read here, it was a pedagogic trick so you can focus more on the driving henceforth....

The other day, at a recording, I put two long scratches inside my bell from a New Stone bucket mute with the rubber paddings shorn off. When I realised I needed a bucket, I quickly found that the only bucket I had fitting my 7.75 bell was an old beater where the rubber paddings on the metal holders had since long worn off. I tried to remedy it by duct taping those as thick as possible while still providing a hold on the rim, but apparently I missed out on one or two of the metal edges sticking out enough to do some scratching when attaching or removing the mute.

[officermayo]

Took the plunge and rolled it out myself using a mouthpiece and a soft towel.
It's gone now, but of course my OCD will ALWAYS see it.

[chromebone]

A few years ago I forgot to zip up my Bona case after going through TSA and and was alerted to that fact when I walked 20 feet and I heard the sound of my pristine Benge 190 bell section hitting the floor of the Pittsburgh airport. I was in tears. That particular horn was my favorite of the 3 190’s that I own. Unfortunately, the rim wire was bent from the side, and there is no way to get it perfectly round again. That also meant the brass cannot be completely rolled straight in the area next to it.
I sent it out to Jim Huwe at Ward-Brodt music in Wisconsin who straightened it out as much as he could, lightly buffed the creases on bell rim and relaquered it. It doesn’t look perfect, but it’s barely noticeable unless you really pay attention, no one would notice unless I point it out to them.
After the initial OCD unhappiness with it, I discovered that horn plays even better now than it ever did. I now look at the damage is just a battle scar that I wear proudly every time I pick the horn up to play.