TubeNet

During my recently holiday I had arranged to play with Harmoniemusik Bürs courtesy of Hans, “Tubeastâ€

could he play a low C?...

MikeMason wrote:could he play a low C?...

Respect to MikeMason.

Good times!

Thanks for the reports!

MikeMason wrote:could he play a low C?...

I played in concerts with some of the Czech pro and butcher/baker/candlestickmaker bands that were just incredible. Tone, intonation, balance, MUSICALITY . . . just phenominal musicians there in CZ, even the "amateur" ones.

Brings back many happy memories . . . okay, okay, many of them are a little hazy from the crystalweitzen und Asbach . . .

I also noticed in the parade pictures the tubas were in the traditional spots: marching to their extreme right stacked by file, rather than all in the back rank as we do with sousaphones, so the sound is directed towards the rest of the band.

LMAO. 3rd picture down, tuba player in the back. No music. Gotta respect the skillz. Reminds me of playing band jobs with Tom Holtz. No music, no problem. "Just give me the key and tell me if there is no stinger."

A few years back there was a piccolo player in the Marine Band who never used music while marching. He said he had about 200 marches memorized. That sort of stuff blows me away.

iiipopes wrote:I also noticed in the parade pictures the tubas were in the traditional spots: marching to their extreme right stacked by file, rather than all in the back rank as we do with sousaphones, so the sound is directed towards the rest of the band.

In the concert pictures as well!

It's really not that hard. You don't memorize it note for note. You memorize sections, then subsections, like
Intro
4 measures in I
4 measures in V
turnaround
etc.

Cameron Gates wrote:LMAO. 3rd picture down, tuba player in the back. No music. Gotta respect the skillz.

It is a skill which amazes me too. That player I was told has been with the band 40 years, one of the two longest serving members, so guess he has done them all many times before.

I was surprised how much Czech music the Austrian bands play and asked why - the answer was, "it is just good music".

Who are Moravanka - another virtuoso band?

Bob1062 wrote:Why are so many European horns SO stove-pipey?

Tradition is my guess. What is expected.

Bob1062 wrote:Seems like a good enough place as any to ask this.


Why are so many European horns SO stove-pipey?

I can get around alot of stuff, but I have never liked them.

They probably ask why our tubas look like birdbaths.

But if you look at tubas from 150 years ago, you'll note that they had almost no bell flare at all.

Rick "vive l'differance" Denney

Back during the Cold War, I played with the 298th Army Band in West Berlin. Since the city was still occupied by the US, the UK, and France at the time, the West German government didn't put military troops there (even though the GDR put them in East Berlin). Consequently, since there was no German military band in West Berlin, our German band partnership was with the Berlin Police Band, which was a full-time group.

While we Americans would usually play BBb tubas (a few might play CC), the Police Band had BBb, CC, and F tuba players. The players who played those tubas were hired to play those tubas and some of the parts were specially written for them. Even the British bands (and there were two bands in Berlin that rotated around various army posts every few years) used BBb and Eb tubas who worked pretty much the same way.

We never really got close enough to the French Army musicians to know what they did.

LoyalTubist wrote:We never really got close enough to the French Army musicians to know what they did.

We sure did get close to some of the French bands with the 76th . . . eeewww! Yuk. Not that there aren't great French bands out there, but I've never heard one, unfortunately.

Cameron Gates wrote:LMAO. 3rd picture down, tuba player in the back. No music. Gotta respect the skillz. Reminds me of playing band jobs with Tom Holtz. No music, no problem. "Just give me the key and tell me if there is no stinger."

A few years back there was a piccolo player in the Marine Band who never used music while marching. He said he had about 200 marches memorized. That sort of stuff blows me away.

No, you got it all wrong. He's actually a band librarian, carrying the horn to fill out the line. He's also playing the role of "strolling spare" - in case someone drops their horn, he passes his up to the actual playing member and picks up the broken horn, not unlike what precision drill teams do.

Or, he's the Austrian Tom Holtz. You decide.

Hey people,
just got back from vacation today. Jon, thanks for the coverage. I´ll let the band know about the link to this post.

The gentleman in the back carrying a tuba, but no music never uses his "Marschbuch" unless there are marches all new to him (of which there are not that many). Hope I´ll have the honor to play with him for years to come.
He´s a fine mountain climber as well and took me to places I´d not have dared to go on my own.

Welcome back Hans! I hope everything went well in China and your tuba survived the flights undamaged?

When you let the band know of the link, please pass on my thanks to everyone for their hospitality which made my visit to Bürs the highlight of a great holiday.