John, one thing you said caught my attention-almost every other horn you played seemed to help your playing, in your opinion. That to me suggests that there may be a repair issue with the horn you're currently playing. I would suggest talking to your band director and see about sending the horn to the shop. Since you're in Texas and I'm in Maine it's a little hard for me to suggest or offer and evaluation of shops, but often times, the local shops are more or less (and this varies widely) are good enough for triage and or minor work. More serious work should go to someone who specializes. In Texas, there's Dennis Houghton (http://www.houghtoncustomhorns.com/dennis/index.html), but I don't know where he is in relation to you. Sending/taking the horn to a specialist may not be an easy option, at least if you want the school to pay, due to repair contracts that may exist with the district, but your band director should be able to tell you.
As others have said, if you can get by with a school horn until you're ready for college, save your money, get a recommendation from the teacher at your school of choice, and shop around for an instrument. Dana Twiss _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
