Dear Alex,
You could always try what I did.
When I first moved to Chicago, I had learned a lot about soldering and dent
work on my own-but I really wanted to apprentice with someone who could teach
me how to build horns.
I went to Carl Geyer's shop every day for about 2 weeks and watched him work.
It took about that long for me to get up the courage to ask him if I could
apprentice with him.
When I finally did, he told me he didn't have time to teach any one-he was
too busy-and he had tried it in the past and one or two people had worked out
but generally it did not work out.
I was very unhappy about that and decided that my only way to learn from him
would be to watch
him work.
I continued to come to his shop every day for about 4 hours a day and we
developed a very cordial relationship.
After about 2 months he gave me a very strange look and said "sit down-we
must talk.
Are you going to come here every day?"
to which I replied "YES"
He shook his head and said "Then I'd better put you to work"
I spent the first 6 months holding things, retrieving dent balls and tools
when he dropped them and was generally a "gofer" whenever he needed materials
from local suppliers.
Then he started to teach me .
The end result of this was I spent two years with him until he retired.
One day after he had retired (we had continued to have a relationship-he
would call and want to go to lunch or something to get out of the house), he
called me and said he wanted me to come to his house.
I went to his house and he told me that I was the one he felt he could trust
to continue his work
and he gave me all of his templates, mandrels, and many tools and said
someday when you get tired of playing, you can make my horns.
He was a fantastic teacher, a very warm and caring person, a genius about the
craft of hornmaking, and quite a life philosopher.
One of the saddest days of my life was the day I played in the quartet (that
he had requested) at his funeral.
This approach is a different one ,but you never can tell if it would work
with someone unless you tried it!!??
Paul Navarro-Custom Horn
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