Well, here is my intro of sorts...(beware...its long)
I'm 27, married with two kids, and stuck in Kansas (lived here all my life and hate it...I can't wait until my husband gets stationed somewhere else...probably another year here)
I started my musical endeavors at the age of 4, when I started playing the piano...when I was 9 I picked up the violin for a year before band started. When I was 10, band was an option for kids in my school, and being the chicken that I was, I told the director I wanted to play flute (heaven forbid I was different than the other girls and told them that I wanted to play the trombone). Fast forward another 4 years and find me in highschool. I finally got fed up to the proverbial "here" with the flute, and told my director that I wanted to take trombone lessons and switch horns. Went home to my parents and threw a class A fit until they decided that they would pay for lessons. I was allowed to play my dad's old horn, an Olds Special. It wasn't the prettiest horn to look at, but it wasn't dinged up and the slide was fast.
I played my behind off and 6 months after starting lessons, I took 5th chair (out of 10) in my highschool band. I worked harder, and 3 months after placing with the band, I took a solo to regionals. I didn't do the best, but walked out with a 2, and the band director was very impressed...considering 9 months earlier I could barely blow a note. The next two years I sat 3rd chair (more by choice than anything) and played the bass bone. I fell in love with the bass...and have yet to save up the money for one. I went to college, and played in their "not very good band" since I had missed out on the fall semester and couldn't get into the good band until the following year. I didn't mind too much, I was still playing. The next semester I was in the marching band, and couldn't get enough of it. Life at college being what it was, the only classes I bothered to go to were music ones...and despite all "A" grades in them, it wasn't enough to keep me in school. So I moved out, got married, and then got divorced (might be TMI right now but it has relevance). During my divorce I discovered that the soon-to-be-ex was going to fight to get his hands on whatever he could...and I didn't want him to try to get my horn, so it went to stay at my parents house. It stayed at my parents house until just a few weeks ago. I spent nearly 7 years not playing. After a battle over the horn (note: controlling parents), I found another Olds at the local music store, it was reputed to be "not the prettiest we have ever seen" but it was a horn, the price was right, and I had the money. I also got some solo books, a new mouthpiece, and a new music stand because I was sure that I wasn't going to get the other horn from my parents no matter how hard I tried to reason with them. A few days later I found out that I had won the "let me have it and play it or you keep it and let it gather dust" argument, and now I have two horns. A 47 year old Special, and a 30 year old Ambassador. I shined the special up real nice and it absolutley sparkles now, I've never seen it so clean. The contrast between the silver flare and the gold bell is very obvious. I'll try to get pics taken within the near future if you really want to see them. Until I found this board I've never seen another two tone bell...and definatley haven't seen another Olds with one. (If you have an Olds with a two tone bell, I'd love to see pics!!)
I'm working slowly on getting my chops back in proper order, and hopefully in the nearish future I'll be joining up with the city band. They aren't the best...but hey, I'd be playing right??
Ok, there is my long winded intro...thanks for reading this far!
Regards,
Precious