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Shiny New Van Laar Trumpet

on May 28 2011, by Jo

I am now the proud owner of a beautiful brand new C Trumpet. It’s so silver it is practically white.  I have placed it on a table on a cloth and I gaze at it and polish it before and after playing.  It’s the most expensive thing I own and when I play it I feel tingly.

These Flickr pictures show the way that musicians identify themselves through their instrument. They look happy don’t they? Apart from the crazy guy eating his violin.  Perhaps he spent his life savings on it and can’t afford any food….

Every musician thinks they play the best instrument and has a story about how they realised it was the instrument for them. This lovely article about Lou Anne Neill, principal harpist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic speaks of the first time she glimpsed a harp in the back of an orchestra as a child:

“I couldn’t see the strings from where I was sitting,” she says. “I just saw hands move through the air, and these beautiful sounds were coming out of the instrument.”

Well, for me it was seeing a gold trumpet in a shop window while on holiday. It was in the very centre of the display, upright on a stand with Christmas tinsel around the bottom. The spotlights were shining on it and it was glinting. I knew it could play loud and I knew that sitting at the back of the orchestra looked like the most fun. I suppose a little like sitting on the back seats of the bus. To put think in context and if you think I’m mad, I was surprised to see that you can actually get your instrument blessed at a special Vespers service.

If you would like your own beautiful C Trumpet I can recommend visiting Hub Van Laar in his workshop in the Netherlands. Trumpeters from all over Europe and the US buy his custom made instruments. I believe I am the first UK Classical player to own one.  It’s easy to get to the Margraten workshop from London. I went by Eurostar and train to Maastricht and from there Heidrun the manager picked me up.  Trumpet players, you know you want to!


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