The inspiration of sound

I saw this really inspiring interview with Belgian trumpet player Bert Joris, and one of the things he was talking about is the way his sound influences his inspiration and ideas. That is a very interesting thought.
In my case I am certain that I play differently on trumpet than on flugelhorn, really different notes and licks, just because they sound different. When I got my Van Laar B8 trumpet, I instantly could play a ballad on it, something I just couldn't do on my former Holton MF Horn. The sound just wasn't right for that. On the Holton I could play in a bigband very well, it was a bright sounding, light playing horn, but whenever I had to play a solo, I wanted to switch to flugel, because the sound didn't inspire me to play a good solo. The moment I had my current Van Laars, I had to reconsider all my concepts and I had to experiment a bit with what sounded best and what felt best for a certain piece. I have to say that it is not a very conscious process, it has a high degree of subconsciousness, but it matters a lot. Some pieces I cannot play on flugel and the other way around. Or maybe it is more like I cannot find the right inspiration for a certain piece if I don't play it on the right horn. It even goes as far as a different mouthpiece can give a different sound and feel and give me a totally different angle. That is what I like about the Curry TC. It gives me instant access to another part of my brain to play different things.

So sound is, at least to me, very important in terms of inspiration. That can be very annoying if you have bad sound equipment on stage. If the sound from the monitor isn't right, it instantly cuts off some inspirational directions. I have to be very aware of that and try to concentrate on my inner voice for inspiration. But it makes it harder to play the way you want. It can also enhance your performance if the sound is right, or even simply change the way you play on a given moment, if the sound coming from the monitor is different, because it can give you different ideas. If for instance, a monitor has  much high in it, I like to take my trumpet and inspiration goes in the direction of lots of notes, bravoura kind of playing. I shouldn't take out my flugel then, because all the 'flugely' ideas immediately drop down on the floor and never hit my soul (or anyone else's for that matter).

So, yes, sound is a very important inspiration.