Luke says Moo!

Ok, I’ve known who Louis Armstong is and I’ve heard his songs from time to time just like everyone else. But until tonight I never realized just how good he was.

I picked up “Louis Armstrong: The Definitive Collection” at the store this evening while I was getting a few other things on a whim. Anyway, I’ve been listening to it for a while. And just like I was promised by the insert I’m loving every sound. Louis Armstrong definately made an impact on modern music to such an extent that we’ll never truly understand it.

I think I’m going to go on a kick for a little while and start buying “old’ music. Jazz and big band stuff…then again the feeling could go away shortly. We’ll see, but so far I’m happy and want more.

I’m in the process of transcribing “Pleyel’s Hymn” from piano (concert C) to B flat so that I can play it on my trumpet. On that note, I sent Mrs. L an e-mail asking her opinion on the best type of mute to get to help make me sound more dirge like. And I spent a little time on Froogle looking for trumpet mutes and things, but then I stumbled upon the Yamaha practice do-hickey (also known as Yamaha Silent Brass). I found out about that back in high school (1998ish if I remember correctly) and it was cool, but expensive. Now it’s not *that* expensive, but definately has a much more important reason for being purchased. Namely that I’m in a tiny apartment and my trumpet would definately be heard by all the neighbors and maybe people outside the building if I was really wailing. Anyway, for about $100 I can get a system to allow me to play quietly. Now I just have to determine if I have the self motivation to pick up my horn and play on a regular basis.

I want to play, but I don’t have any pressing reason to play. In high school it was to play in the Marching Band or in Pep band or for Solo competition. Now I don’t have any of those things to push me. I suppose I could find a group to play with, but before I do that I have to build my chops back up to the point where practicing for an hour or two with a group won’t totally kill me. Gotta get that stamina back.

Now, I’ve thought in passing about joining the AAONMS, but there are lots of other things to weigh. By joining the Shrine I would have access to the Shring musical groups which would give me a reason to keep playing and to practice. But as I said before there are other problems with joining the Shrine…none of which I’ll go into now. Just suffice it to say that there are equally good reasons to join and equally bad resons not to join…thus I’m letting it sit on the edge of the knife and something will shift it into place for me.