Hello everyone. I am returning to playing, and I have been really enjoying this website. There is so much valuable information here and I appreciate any help I can get. I am moving to a new town soon where there is a community band, and they have welcomed me to join. So I bought what I thought was a decent intermediate horn and I have been practicing daily for about a month. I know it's early on and I don't want to blame the instrument.
Sometimes, the sound is good I think, but other times it is stuffy and muffled. It seems random but I don't know. The horn was used, but not very, and my reason for buying a used one was that I thought it would be broken in. The valves are much better now than when I started and I have been re-oiling them with every use. A lot of water seems to accumulate in the valves, and not much comes out of the water keys. I am hoping these are normal things with a newer euph.
When I played before, it seemed relatively easy to get a consistently pleasant sound. I was using a really old borrowed horn back then and I had always wanted one of my own. I am still hoping it's my weak embouchure and not the horn. Any advice?