As I indicated in this post I had two new mouthpieces for Christmas, a shallow one for playing the trumpet lead in the wind band and a deeper one for the more classical playing that I do in the brass ensemble. The reason for the new mouthpieces was so that they match the rim size (diameter) of the mouthpiece I use on the cornet that I’m comfortable with.

The first time I played with the new mouthpieces was on Tuesday night where I only lasted for about 15 minutes, but this was the first time I’d practiced since before Christmas and I was using a practice mute to keep the noise down.

Last night I rehearsed with the brass ensemble which was the first true test of the new mouthpiece and I managed 40 minutes which was a marked improvement. Everyone else was feeling the strain from lack of practice over the Christmas period too, which was somehow comforting.

It was a great rehearsal as Ken, our lead trumpeter, had written a new piece of music called “No Room” which was written as a Christmas piece for brass quintet depicting the story of Mary and Joseph looking for somewhere to stay in Bethlehem. It was a lovely, and at times, quite haunting piece of music. I hope we get the opportunity to play this in a church setting at Christmas time.