[TPIN] Another bag for the Gershwin Piano Concerto

[Rick Hunnel]

So, Gershwin called for a Crown Royal bag as a mute on the score? 


----- Original Message ----
From: James Olcott <olcottj at muohio.edu>
To: tpin <tpin at tpin.okcu.edu>
Sent: Monday, April 30, 2007 6:36:29 PM
Subject: [TPIN] Another bag for the Gershwin Piano Concerto


Yo, all,

I had the opportunity to play the Gershwin Piano Concerto in F this  
last weekend. Lots of fun and an interesting experience:

Crown Royal bag in hand for the two rehearsals prior to the dress,  
things worked fine for that infamous solo in the second movement.  
Comes the dress rehearsal and performance, the first at 3 p.m. and  
the other at 8:15, and I had left the bag at home with no chance to  
travel back between the two services.  (sigh).

An extra such bag, of course, was not to be found. With panic close  
at hand, my third trumpeter happened to have with him his TrumCor  
mute and the bag in which it was packed. Any port in a storm, as they  
say.

The point of this missive: the TrumCor bag worked quite beautifully  
in place of the Crown Royal, with easy, dark warmth, a very smooth   
sound and, somehow, an easier and more solid lower register (thank  
goodness :-] ). It was, in fact, a real improvement over the Crown  
Royal bag. The TrumCor is a tiny bit thicker, maybe allowing me to  
feel more comfortable with the solo as I could play with a louder  
dynamic and still deal with the solo's sultriness. I dunno. Anyhow,  
it was a really neat experience.

So, just a note to let you know that you're not dead if you don't  
have a Crown Royal bag (although the famous purple color does outdo  
the black of the TrumCor bag). TrumCor unwittingly has done us a  
great service. (Now, if they'd bottle something inside the mute, the  
product would be a triple threat....)

JO

James Olcott
Professor of Trumpet
Miami University
Oxford, OH 45056 USA

Prop., Triplo Press
Member Bd. of Directors, ITG
ITG Past President

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