[Trombone-l] Trombone-l and old timers

[Phil Burton]

For some reason this never came back to me, so will try it again..
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I
believe it was mid-late 96 or early 97 when I joined the list as an
occaisonal participant.  I joined the JJ list also about the same
time.  

It had been 30 years since I had 'laid hands on my
horn' and this list was very instrumental in my return to one of the
joys in my life. Sadly, it also is partly responsible, along with my
own lack of will power, for the increase in inventory of trombones and
accessories.  I was perfectly happy with my Old's Ambassador, circa
1954 but then because of these dang discussions, I added a 3B, 88H, and
72H to my arsenal.  I also increased my collection of slide lubes,
mouthpieces, method books, and CD's.  I will not mention  the amount of
money that I have spent on CD's that
have been recommended, but that has been by far overshadowed by the
number of excellent trombonists that I would have never had the
opportunity to hear. 

As a result of joining and reading this
list, I have joined the ITF, (highly recommended) and met in person at
the ITF festival in New Orleans last year, and via e-mail some
wonderful people. I first heard of  "Bones West" on this list by the
late Ralph Bigelow, who invited me to join in with them on 2 of my
trips to So. Cal.  Also, Doug Yeo, Adrian Drover, and Sam Burtis were
there with excellent ideas, tips on warmups, playing and in general
great ways to improve my playing. I cannot recall the number of
chuckles I got from reading Adrians posts.  There have been others too
numerous to mention, (and for me to remember their names) who have been
equally as forthcoming with their ideas, and suggestions.  Ah yes the
trolls also kept my blood pressure maintained at it's too high level,
but taught me the benifits of just sitting and reading, and deleting,
instead of firing back.

Thanks to everyone (especially the admin
 types who manage this list) for helping make this ol geezer a better player than he ever was

Phil Burton
Great Falls, MT..