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Does anyone have a part for the Miraculous Mandarin they could let me have a copy?

On the recording I have heard, I could not really make out the tuba part. Can anyone who has played it, tell me what it is like.

Is this one I should pull out my Eb, or CC to play?

Thanks!

I played that part for and orchestral rep class a couple of years ago. It had a spot or two that just randomly come in on a G three ledger lines above the staff. But it didn't seem to be bad other than that.

Hope this helps, and have fun!

Actually... funny story.

About 2 years ago I got a call at about 8:15am. It was my former teacher and he sounded absolutely haggard.

"Hey Al... You wanna play Miraculous Madarine?"

"Uh sure...." Now I had never actually heard of the piece. "Is it hard?"

"Yeah. It's pretty tricky in spots. It's Bartok."

This is where my mind started working. It was only my second time subbing in the TSO (Toronto Symph) and I had to figure that if I passed on this gig I might not be called again anytime soon.

"Okay. I'm in. So what... Is it a rehearsal tonight, dress tomorrow and concert on Saturday or what?"

"The dress is this morning at 10:30 and the concert's tonight." He replies without hesitation.

I look at my nearby alarm clock and realize I'll have just enough time to have a quick shower, strap my horn to my back and subway it to the hall for the downbeat.

I'm pleased to say that with a mixture of a couple gallons of coffee and a massive amount of adrenalin, I pulled it off.

Jonathan,

It's a sweet part and very managable with a little more than 2 hour's notice. There are some quite exposed bits and some fun leaps. I don't have a part for you Jonathan, but when you get it, you'll see it'll lie well on either your CC or EEb.

Oh! I spent all the time before the rehearsal (20 mins or so) on the Bartok. I didn't bother flipping over the page to have a look at the cello concerto.

When Yo Yo Ma walked out on stage for the dress, he looked right at me at the back and waved.

"Is he waving at me?" I asked the bass trombonist while meekly smiling and wriggling my fingers at one of my heroes.
"Yeah... He missed Mark in the last rehearsal." He replied.

Then I looked frantically at the concerto and saw 'solo' written in three sections on my part! I can't recall the piece... just the sensation of nearly sh*tting myself. I guess I played it passably as he offered me a nod and it wasn't my last time playing with the orchestra.

Wow... quite a narrative. Glad you made it this far.

Great story Al!

I will look forward to the Mandarin - it sounds fun

I remember Bobo saying that in the last few times that he played the piece, he used three different tubas and two different mutes... or was it two different tubas and three different mutes...?!
Anyways, it's a lot of fun.

There's a tricky page turn where you only have few bars of rest and you'll have to put in a mute. I recomend that you make a copy of the page so you won't have to worry about turning the page and you'll have just enough time to put in your mute.

Have fun!

Al’s story certainly was worth reading!

But then the topic of this thread touches in on a central problem in developing students optimally and in the day to day preparations needed to be done by pro and amateur players.

It is just about impossible to make collections of excerpts, which are at the same time legal and comprehensive. I have some books. Among them Wagner for trombones. Very interesting and without legal problems. 30 years ago I bought a then fairly up to date book on British orchestral excerpts for the full trombone section and tuba. It was legal, but only because the British music edition industry was dominated by one single company, which owned almost all of the works anyway, so that it freely could quote from itself.

If any board member followed the urge by the original poster and sent a scan of the Mandarin part, then both parties very likely would have committed a violation of a copyrighted work. There are some technicalities about transferred copyrights, which nullify the date of death of a given composer as the reference date for the expiration of copyright. I know enough to guard my own ***, but not enough to act as a specific and general counsel.

It is a dilemma to make ends meet. Composers and editors need to make a living. Players need a fairly unrestricted distribution. I am not able to tell how a fair compromise should be worked out.

Klaus Smedegaard Bjerre

I often think the copyright laws regards excepts is against every ones interests.

Through a musician having an except to practice, the relevant copyright owner (composer/publisher) is loosing no money, while by having the except the musician can then put on a better public performance - which may well lead to more popularity of the music and more performances - and more royalties for the copyright owner.

So players having easily available excepts for practice is a win/win situation. A pity music publishers are mostly too short sighted to see this.