Beatles?
- Steve Marcus
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This weekend I got to play the 2 performances of The Beatles Magical Orchestra concert in the Patchogue Theater on LI. It was the lifelong dream of New York Beatle authority, Paul Michael Barkin, to recreate a Beatles concert of their music that used an orchestra. He spent years researching and copying all of the parts from the records, mostly from Sgt. Pepper, Magical Mystery Tour and Abbey Road. He also had several Indian musicians playing Indian string and percussion instruments. As a lifelong Beatles fan, it was a major thrill for me to sit in this orchestra and participate in: Sgt. Pepper, Norwegian Wood, Yesterday, Eleanor Rigby, Strawberry Fields, Penny Lane, Got to Get You Into My Life, She's Leaving Home, Within You Without You, A Day in the Life, Magical Mystery Tour, All You Need is Love, Fool On the Hill, I Am the Walrus, Martha My Dear, Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight, The End, and Hey Jude. I say participate because I only played tuba on 4 of the pieces. On most of the others, I played assorted percussion accessory instruments and banjo on All You Need is Love.
Paul Michael Barkin was convinced that The Beatles used a tuba doubling a bass trombone on A Day in the Life, Martha My Dear, and Hey Jude and so he wrote those parts for me to play. I just leaned over and played off the bass bone part on Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight and The End because there was no tuba part, it was the end of the concert and I wanted to play. Paul didn't seem to mind. So, to answer Steve Marcus (sort of) we know that there was a tuba part on Martha. If my experience this weekend was accurate, then The Beatles also used tuba on A Day in the Life, and Hey Jude. All three of those songs were from different albums, recorded in the studio and never performed live. I wonder who the tuba player was!!
Paul Michael Barkin was convinced that The Beatles used a tuba doubling a bass trombone on A Day in the Life, Martha My Dear, and Hey Jude and so he wrote those parts for me to play. I just leaned over and played off the bass bone part on Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight and The End because there was no tuba part, it was the end of the concert and I wanted to play. Paul didn't seem to mind. So, to answer Steve Marcus (sort of) we know that there was a tuba part on Martha. If my experience this weekend was accurate, then The Beatles also used tuba on A Day in the Life, and Hey Jude. All three of those songs were from different albums, recorded in the studio and never performed live. I wonder who the tuba player was!!
- Steve Marcus
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Wasn't [Sir] George Martin, aka the 5th Beatle, responsible for most of the orchestral tracks on the Beatles' albums? Did Paul Michael Barkin receive any assistance from Sir George? Would George Martin know who the tuba player was in the original studio recordings?Bill Troiano wrote:It was the lifelong dream of New York Beatle authority, Paul Michael Barkin, to recreate a Beatles concert of their music that used an orchestra. He spent years researching and copying all of the parts from the records, mostly from Sgt. Pepper, Magical Mystery Tour and Abbey Road.
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Just a follow-up - This morning, I talked to Paul Michael Barkan who did the arranging for the Beatles Magical Orchestra concert we played last week. He told me that the only Beatles songs that used tuba on the recordings were "Martha My Dear," from the White Album and "A Day in the Life," from Abbey Road. He wrote a part for me on "Hey Jude" and he had me read off the bs. tbn. part on "Golden Slumber/Carry That Weight/The End, " just because they were the last pieces on the concert. He had me doubling the bs. tbn. part on octave lower to to add to the fullness of sound. Now, we have to finf out who the tuba player(s) were on those recordings.
- humphrey
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The tuba player on Martha my dear was Alf Reece who was an active freelance player in the fifties & sixties. He played a lot of jazz gigs with various "name" British players (Digby Fairweather being one of many).
The EEb Boosey cavalry tuba that came up on ebay.co.uk was his main axe & was sold to one of his students about 10 years ago, after his retirement.
I tried out the tuba a couple of weeks ago & despite the valves being in need of some TLC it plays like a dream. The original bell has at some time been replaced with a 19" orchestral model giving it a wonderful sound with some real wieght to it.Hopefully I'll have scraped together enough dosh to aquire it later this week & I'm really looking forward to owning a little piece of musical history.
Russ
The EEb Boosey cavalry tuba that came up on ebay.co.uk was his main axe & was sold to one of his students about 10 years ago, after his retirement.
I tried out the tuba a couple of weeks ago & despite the valves being in need of some TLC it plays like a dream. The original bell has at some time been replaced with a 19" orchestral model giving it a wonderful sound with some real wieght to it.Hopefully I'll have scraped together enough dosh to aquire it later this week & I'm really looking forward to owning a little piece of musical history.
Russ
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Re: Beatles?
The tuba player on "A Day In The Life" (On the "Sergeant pepper" album) was my first teacher, Michael Barnes. At that time he was in the orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and later went on to play in the Philharmonia Orchestra, and then the BBC Symphony.
John Elliott (London, England)
John Elliott (London, England)
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Re: Beatles?
Hi John,
I knew, "A Day In The Life", was from Sgt. Pepper. I don't know why I listed is as being on Abbey Road. Thanks for the correction and the update.
I knew, "A Day In The Life", was from Sgt. Pepper. I don't know why I listed is as being on Abbey Road. Thanks for the correction and the update.
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Re: Beatles?
Hi Bill,
Funnily enough, I hadn't noticed that you had put "Abbey Road" instead of "Sgt. Pepper". As Abbey Road wasn't in quotes, I thought you were referring to where it was recorded. Anyway, now we all know who played on that one.
Funnily enough, I hadn't noticed that you had put "Abbey Road" instead of "Sgt. Pepper". As Abbey Road wasn't in quotes, I thought you were referring to where it was recorded. Anyway, now we all know who played on that one.