Last night I arrived in San Antonio, Texas. I’m here for the 2022 International Trumpet Guild Conference this week. I’m so excited–so much that I thought it would be good to get back into blogging and sharing that excitement!
I had a long list of things to pack yesterday–flugelhorn for my ITG New Works recital performance of my composition, Night Fall (Thursday, June 2, at 11am local time) and my baroque trumpet (to play with the Kentucky Baroque Trumpet Ensemble–with my old teacher from when I studied in Europe–Friedemann Immer). I packed my regulation G/F bugle to play on Britten’s Fanfare for St. Edmundsbury on that same baroque trumpet recital. I packed my mouthpieces. I packed my little “PageFlip” pedal that I use with my iPad. I packed all my charging cords.
This morning, I looked at my flugel and its yucky surface. Oh no–I forgot my silver polish! What could I do? I didn’t want to perform on a tarnished horn! I had an idea.
If you ever experience this problem when traveling, get an old sock (the one you wore the previous day) and wet it under the sink. Put a little TOOTHPASTE on your sock! Rub this on your horn, and then wipe clean with your regular cloth you keep in your case (or maybe the hotel towel). Your toothpaste has some gentle abrasives that will work wonders on silver plating. Would you like to see? Check it out!
- Flugel before (front of bell)
- Flugel before (side view)
- Flugel after polishing with toothpaste (front of bell)
- Flugel after polishing with toothpaste (side view)
Oh–and please say hi if you are here also in San Antonio! Happy traveling and playing!
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