I've been to my family dr, who ordered EMG, MRI and physical therapy. Of course, the tests are only available in a different order, so we're trying to use therapy to diagnose, and then MRI to confirm. So far, I've only been to therapy. So it looks like a pinched nerve probably in the spine or shoulder blade.
All of this seems to have appeared after I started playing bass trombone, where I was formerly just a tenor player. I've always played relatively light instruments (88h, and my bass is a Kanstul 1661i, which seems like one of the lighter basses available). The Butler carbon fiber bass (4 lbs) looks attractive until you see its ~$7k price.
I don't know what the physical solution is going to be, whether surgery or just therapy, but I'm afraid they might want me to quit the bass bone, which has kind of grown on me. Lately all my best gigs seem to come as a bass player.
So I've been looking at alternatives. Some crazy stuff focused either on reduced weight or ergonomics, like:
Butler carbon fiber, the only serious option
Jazzophone/Normaphone
pbone, obvious choice for simple experimentation
cool wind f attachment trombone doesn't have a bass bone alternative, although it might not be too hard to hack one together
cool wind plastic euphonium
cool wind plastic tuba
Jhorn, generic plastic brass instrument with 3 valves - pitched in the trombone-ish range
Silent Brass mute into digital effects box - trombone synthesizer- use a plastic alto, sound like anything
Yamaha midi trumpet - you hum into it???
Morrison digital trumpet, uh, this might need some more development, but it's a cool idea
Aerophone, which plays like a sax, but it's a full on synthesizer
Akai EWI
Berglund /Steiner NuEVI
Jsax, just very light and simple plastic sax
Wessex compact F tuba, closest thing to a compact valve F bass/cimbasso you could hope for.
Venova, another plastic sax
Yamaha, wx, ew, etc several midi/synth controllers
vibrato sax, looks and plays like a more serious sax, but it's plastic
A plethora of pocket sax/fancy recorders like the Xaphoon
There seem to be more woodwind options for simple, light instruments than for brass, which is a drag. If you have other options for reducing weight or improving ergo considerations, please chime in. Not sure how this is going to turn out for me, but I want to be involved in music, preferably live acoustic music for as long as possible, at least while I still have arms.
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