Page 1 of 1
Re: "President's Own" Marine Band
Posted: Sun Jul 25, 2010 6:35 pm
by Cameron Gates
I can answer this one.
There are 7 players in the section. 3 play at any one time. EACH of the 7 players has a different concert horn. There is one EEb and 6 CC's. All the valves work most of the time. John Cradler's is the only one that has been polished in the last 6 years.
The more important info is that all 7 of these players use the same type of sousaphone. Matching both pitch and timbre remains the most important aspect of outdoor stand-up performances. These horns were all hand-picked by Tom Holtz.
Re: "President's Own" Marine Band
Posted: Mon Jul 26, 2010 9:31 am
by ztuba
One of you guys plays on a firebird occasionally.
Re: "President's Own" Marine Band
Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 8:41 am
by TonyTuba
six years, no polishing? try that on your shoes. 50 demerits.
Re: "President's Own" Marine Band
Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 2:49 pm
by Dan Schultz
Has the original question been answered?
Re: "President's Own" Marine Band
Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 2:52 pm
by Chuck Jackson
Cameron Gates wrote:There are 7 players in the section. 3 play at any one time. EACH of the 7 players has a different concert horn. There is one EEb and 6 CC's. All the valves work most of the time. John Cradler's is the only one that has been polished in the last 6 years.
TubaTinker wrote:Has the original question been answered?
Seems that it has.
Chuck"just saying"Jackson
Re: "President's Own" Marine Band
Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 4:09 pm
by Cameron Gates
The reason I did not include brand names is that things get a little hinky in the military when using something (such as playing a specific brand of tuba) might be viewed as an endorsement when spewed on a public forum.
With that said, my personal choice for an instrument is the Jin Bao contrabass trombone. I'm proud

to say that I am an owner and avid fan of these.
Re: "President's Own" Marine Band
Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 5:51 pm
by djwesp
TonyTuba wrote:six years, no polishing? try that on your shoes. 50 demerits.
Oh jeeeze. What about the people that NEVER polish their horns? I'm looking at about 5,000,000 demerits for two of my tubas in particular.
Re: "President's Own" Marine Band
Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 11:47 pm
by ztuba
that is also why I hear you don't see any artist names on the Giddings and Webster mouthpieces some of the euphonium guys play on. I believe someone plays a Nirschl another a pt-605 maybe a HB-21. The add for their last tour had the euphonium soloist clearly on G&W, and I asked Ivan why no signature mouthpiece and he said exactly what you are saying ... they can't endorse because they are in the public forum.
Re: "President's Own" Marine Band
Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 3:50 am
by Wyvern
Cameron Gates wrote:is the only one that has been polished in the last 6 years.
Would not get away with that in the British military!!! The Royal Marines silver plated instruments have to be polished to perfection before every gig. I have never seen one out tarnished.
Cameron Gates wrote:Matching both pitch and timbre remains the most important aspect of outdoor stand-up performances.
Is not matching pitch and timbre equally important, if not more so in concert performances? Curious!
Re: "President's Own" Marine Band
Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 7:30 am
by Cameron Gates
Neptune wrote:Cameron Gates wrote:Matching both pitch and timbre remains the most important aspect of outdoor stand-up performances.
Is not matching pitch and timbre equally important, if not more so in concert performances? Curious!
Sorry, weak attempt at humor. Oh, wait.......that was funny. Super funny. Neptune, you can't tell me you don't know funny. After all, you are from the land of Benny Hill.
Re: "President's Own" Marine Band
Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 10:44 am
by knarfman
ztuba wrote:that is also why I hear you don't see any artist names on the Giddings and Webster mouthpieces some of the euphonium guys play on. I believe someone plays a Nirschl another a pt-605 maybe a HB-21. The add for their last tour had the euphonium soloist clearly on G&W, and I asked Ivan why no signature mouthpiece and he said exactly what you are saying ... they can't endorse because they are in the public forum.
How about filing a Freedom of Information Act request? (Oops! Maybe this info is on WikiLeaks already!)
Re: "President's Own" Marine Band
Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 7:14 pm
by Porkins
Cameron Gates wrote:my personal choice for an instrument is the Jin Bao contrabass trombone. I'm proud

to say that I am an owner and avid fan of these.
Any chance we'll hear that particular instrument at a Marine Band concert?
Re: "President's Own" Marine Band
Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 8:04 pm
by Frank Byrne
bloke wrote:I wonder if the "President's Own" Marine Band tuba players buy all of their instruments out of Hoston...??
If it were left to the normal military procurement process, all the horns would come from "Hoston" and similar venues. (BTW, I hear that Hoston tubas berry, berry good and have sound like braying elk)
In my former life, finding ways to avoid the worst stereotypes of military procurement in the purchase of professional instruments was, shall we say, an ongoing challenge.
"Whut? You wanna PLAY it before you BUY it?"
"Why cain't we jes order one outta this here catalog?"
"A tuber is a tuber, ain't it?"
"You want a tuber that was made WHERE?"
"Whut dya mean SEE tuber, hell yes I can see it."
"If that one BE FLAT, will it still play?"
"You ain't really wantin' me to buy something that is silver plated do ya?"
"That thang cost more than my car"
"My brother use'da play tuber in junior high so he said this was a good one...."
etc.
Re: "President's Own" Marine Band
Posted: Sat Jul 31, 2010 10:32 am
by Tom Holtz
Cameron Gates wrote:The more important info is that all 7 of these players use the same type of sousaphone. Matching both pitch and timbre remains the most important aspect of outdoor stand-up performances. These horns were all hand-picked by Tom Holtz.
All seven sousaphones are equally bright, and they're all about 40-45 cents sharp at any given time. The only discrepancy among the horns is that one weighs in about four pounds heavier than the others, for no apparent reason. Tiedeman got that one.
Re: "President's Own" Marine Band
Posted: Sat Jul 31, 2010 10:27 pm
by iiipopes
Edit: don't post when you're on painkillers from having a tooth extracted. I momentarily forgot about Kanstul now having a CC to go with the BBb's and Eb's.
Re: "President's Own" Marine Band
Posted: Sun Aug 01, 2010 3:00 am
by tofu
iiipopes wrote:
And it is even more problematic since with the cessation of production of the Conn 5XJ series, there is no American CC.
Quick - somebody tell Kanstul that they no longer are an American firm making a CC tuba.
