[Trombone-l] Natural trumpet-making (and slide trumpet!) course in Bloomington, 30 July-3 August

Thu Jul 12 11:13:12 CDT 2007

I took this course in 1997.  I was already an apprentice tech, but I learned stuff there I still use - and regularly.  I cannot recommend this course more, even after 50 hours lhard labor and a really great laceration of my right hand (my stupidity!).

If you have the time and money - do it!  You'll love the results too!  I hope one day they do a Sackbut class - I'd be first in line!

J.c.S.

---- George Butler <georgebutler2003 at yahoo.com> wrote: 
> Rick Seraphinoff tells me that he still has three or four openings for participants in the baroque trumpet-making course to be held in Bloomington, Indiana from Monday July 30 through Friday August 3.  For details, see http://www.seraphinoff.com/naturaltrumpet.htm 
>    
>   You guys remember back in April, I posted a note asking if anyone had a renaissance slide trumpet in their closet?  I didn't get any responses, so...
>    
>   I participated in the course held last week in the little town of Myn'a'm'a'ki, in southwest Finland.  Instructors were Robert Barclay of Canada; Richard Seraphinoff of Indiana University; and Michael M'un'kwitz, trumpet-maker of Rostock, Germany.
>    
>   For a description of what you'll be doing, see chapter six, "The Techniques," in Barclay's 1992 book, The Art of the Trumpet-maker:  The Materials, Tools, and Techniques of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries in Nuremberg, published by Oxford University Press.
>   For a slide trumpet, you'll need to make another tube for your single inner slide, and change a couple of dimensions.
>    
>   Even if you're not interested in old instruments or metalworking, I recommend this course highly.  I learned so much.  I was quite surprised at the quality of work done by my beginning classmates, and any time anyone had a problem, the instructors pitched in.  To have a beautiful, working instrument at the end is just a nice bonus.
>    
>   Rick Serephinoff took the lead in the overall design of my slide trumpet.  It's in modern pitch E-flat, like your alto trombone.  (That's D=460 at high pitch, which is where most alta capella groups--shawm, bombard, slide trumpet--play these days.)  I had in mind the alterpiece painting of angel musicians done by Hans Memling.  But, as Bob Barclay pointed out, if you trace the lines of that slide trumpet in the painting, the lines don't line up.  (Bob has a paper coming out soon on that, in the Historic Brass Society Journal.)  Bob was invaluable in teaching basic metal technique, and helped me with crooks.  Michael had some input on my bell, and took on my my slide.  So, this horn has input and parts from three different masters.
>    
>   I got a bit behind on my first day, cutting teeth on one edge of the bell, and soldering up tubes for the long yards and crooks.  (I'm slow!)  Tuesday began for most with a couple of hours vigorously hammering the last last 6 centimeters of the bell on an anvil (Exedrin, anyone?), followed by three hours of braising (scraping) down the rest of the bell into shape.  (What a workout!)  By quitting time Wednesday afternoon, I was having doubts as to whether I'd finish.  I also  needed to leave a day early, to get back to Tallinn for a rehearsal on Friday morning.
>    
>   But guess what?  After dinner, the three masters went back to the workshop to work until eleven.  (If you're doing something you enjoy, you don't get tired, I guess.)  I came to work Thursday morning to find that Rick had already decorated and attached the bell garland, and Michael had worked on the single slide.  I guess it's true that Santa and his elves live in Finland.  
>    
>   Rick helped with the final assembly on Thursday, cutting tubing to the right pitch.  (He wrote down the dimensions, so it may not take you as long.)  Michael worked some more on the slide, and added a grab handle to the mouthpipe.
>    
>   Though the instructors have been doing this course together for over ten years now, they sometimes had different techniques for doing the same thing.  They would trade ideas with each other.  We also had a couple of blacksmithing students from Myn'a'm'a'ki participating, and it was good to see the masters learn from those students as well.  The whole atmosphere was like a one-room school house, as everyone shared tools and techniques, and worked on different tasks at the same time.  (There are only so many anvils, so many mandrels, etc.  But it all works out.)  At various times during the day, Bob would gather everyone around for a demonstration of the next step.  Being behind, I'd have to ask for a reminder later, and he'd show me how again.  Then, I'd start, and one of the other instructors would come by to show me how he does it.  
>    
>   The trumpeters in the course were replicating a 1632 Hanns Hainlein in the Munich Stadtmuseum--Musikinstrumentenmuseum, #67-05, at D=415.  That's D-flat at modern pitch, which meant I needed to shorten my horn a whole step.  Rick and I worked with a tuner, and took off a a little each try from the small end of the bell and the slides.  
>    
>   I was surprised to not see any tape measures or calipers for measuring bore.  The brass sheet had been cut using patterns, and tubing was cut to length by holding the tube up to a drawing posted on the wall.  Mark with your Sharpie, and get the hack saw.  
>    
>   We don't have a surviving slide trumpet to copy until 1651, so my slide trumpet is speculative at best.  (There's even a debate as to whether the slide trumpet even existed, but that's another thread.)  Still, I can't tell you how pleased I am with my resulting horn:  The sound is beautiful, the intonation is dead-on, and it's good looking.  The slide is good now, and will get better as it is used.
>    
>   Don't let the trumpeters have all the fun.  The Bloomington course is in a couple of weeks.  
>    
>   The next course in Rostock, Germany is probably in late June 2008, to be held in Michael's new workshop.  See his website:  www.trompetenmacher.de  
>    
>   The course has only been held in Finland for a couple of years now.  It is not a regular affair, organized only when there has been demand.  It is held at the Lounais-Suomen K'a'si- ja Taideteollisuusoppilaitos (South Finland Handwork and ...something), a school well-known for its blacksmithing curriculum.  Living accomodations are just a short walk away, and the small town of Myn'a'm'a'ki and the surrounding area is nice.  (I need to buy a keyboard with umlauts "...)
>    
>   George Butler
>   Tallinn, Estonia 
> 
>        
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