difficulty of exerpts

[KenS]

Rick Denney wrote:

When Gene Pokorny played for the Army Conference crowd, he did not give us a showy technical demonstration. Rather, he played an old hymn tune in the low register, as if sung by a bass singer. It was breathtakingly beautiful.
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I heard that on the web. It was stunning.... Liked it so much I quickly wrote off a copy for myself (Be Thou My Vision). I'll be d*mned if I can't make it sound as nice as Pokorny. But I keep trying...

Ken S.

[Rick Denney]

I'll be d*mned if I can't make it sound as nice as Pokorny. But I keep trying...

On his last couple of iterations, he was playing notes I can't even make, let alone make with clarity and musicality. And he was adjusting the fourth-valve slide through about three trombone positions to make sure the instrument was centered on the pitch he wanted to make. On notes in that register, I can hardly even tell what pitch I'm playing.

Rick "more awestruck than by a thousand Czardases" Denney

[sc_curtis]

Where can one acquire a recording of this? I'm sure someone has it somewhere...

[Manituba]

Every instrument has it’s strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes people will make comments about violins having harder music or playing more notes than tubas.

I would love for a concertmaster to sit in the back row with his violin beside the bass trombone and play the tuba part to Ride, Fountains, etc – in the correct octave – with the correct volume and tone to balance the orchestra.

I think we can do a better job of their music than they can of ours.

That’s why I play tuba. It has the hardest parts.