Hey Ray!

[John Caves]

Is there any truth to the vicious rumors that the Tuba Meisters will be performing in Tomball Tx this weekend for their German Festival?

[TubaRay]

Is there any truth to the vicious rumors that the Tuba Meisters will be performing in Tomball Tx this weekend for their German Festival?

They are! Those crazy guys enjoy festivals such as the Tomball German Fest. In fact, we enjoyed the festival last year. Let's hope the weather is better this time around.

We will be armed with a couple of new arrangements that will be aired out sometime on either Sat. or Sun. The arsenal includes mostly polkas and waltzes, but includes some other "interesting" stuff.

For those who are interested, the group now consists of the following players:

Ezra Johnson(lead euph)
Al Tapia(2nd euph)
Ray Grim(upper tuba)
Richard Wallace(bass tuba)

Check us out. We'll be wandering around the festival, playing for anyone who will listen to us.

[John Caves]

I'm looking forward to seeing you!

[kingrob76]

Check us out. We'll be wandering around the festival, playing for anyone who will listen to us.

Is the festival aware of this?

[Z-Tuba Dude]

Ray, do you guys "stroll" while playing, or do you stroll, then play?

[MaryAnn]

Does somebody have a list somewhere of "good" tuba-euph quartet music? I'm going to be the F tuba in one starting this summer, and it looks like it will be a competent group. We need fun stuff to play; I think everyone in it has some kind of degree in music, so we would probably like upper-amateur level music.

(yeah I did a search but didn't wade through all the posts enough to find such a list.)

MA

[TubaRay]

Ray, do you guys "stroll" while playing, or do you stroll, then play?

We stroll, then play. Almost all of our charts are written out. We have a few that actually memorized, but not enough to play for hours at a time.

[TubaRay]

Does somebody have a list somewhere of "good" tuba-euph quartet music?
MA

In my opinion, the best single source of this would be Cimarron Music.

[Z-Tuba Dude]

Ray, do you guys "stroll" while playing, or do you stroll, then play?

We stroll, then play. Almost all of our charts are written out. We have a few that actually memorized, but not enough to play for hours at a time.

Out of curiosity, do you use light weight music stands, or lyres?

[TubaRay]

Out of curiosity, do you use light weight music stands, or lyres?

We use the "full weight" folding music stands. I'm referring to those that are similar to a standard Manhasset stand. The stand has to be heavy enough not to blow over with every gust of wind. We have our music in a moderately large notebook, enclosed in sheet protectors. Since our book contains more than 80 tunes, the book is fairly heavy. The lightweight, wire stands are totally inadequate for the task.

To be clear about our group, we are able to morph to become the type of group that a festival wants us to be. For the Tomball fest, we are a roaming act. We often perform on stages, for audiences of various sizes. Our group was "born" at Fiesta Texas, in San Antonio. At that time, we were exclusively a roaming act. When we started there we had no appropriate music for the German section of the park which we performed in. We soon had about a dozen tunes, and by the end of the season we had approx. 20. It was at Fiesta Texas that the "Resident Genius" of TubeNet used to perform with this group. Unfortunately, he moved away and our group was forced to undergo several personnel changes. I believe it was only recently that we were able to get a group of players together that rivals that original group.

[Rick Denney]

Our group was "born" at Fiesta Texas, in San Antonio. At that time, we were exclusively a roaming act. When we started there we had no appropriate music for the German section of the park which we performed in. We soon had about a dozen tunes, and by the end of the season we had approx. 20. It was at Fiesta Texas that the "Resident Genius" of TubeNet used to perform with this group. Unfortunately, he moved away and our group was forced to undergo several personnel changes. I believe it was only recently that we were able to get a group of players together that rivals that original group.

I remember the audition. We were about 12 bars into a nicely Grim arrangement of Folk Songs from Somerset when they stopped us. I thought, well, we at least gave it a shot. But the guy said, "You guys are hired if you want the gig. Do you know any polkas?"

Our response, delivered with a sniff: "We have tried to avoid playing oompah music to push the instrument outside of the stereotype."

They replied, "We need German music. The gig pays $12 an hour."

We replied, "We'll have 30 minutes of polka music by Sunday, and an hour's worth in a month." The arranging machine really got into gear at that time. Even I did several arrangements, which lets you know how desperate we were.

At the time, I was probably as well paid as anyone in the group in terms of my day job, and for me, 12 bucks an hour constituted Real Money. I played the upper tuba part on my Yamaha 621 for that gig, and that remains the only tuba I own that was bought in full with gig money.

(Count again, Ray. We had more than 20 tunes by the end of that season.)

We played 15-20 sets a weekend for the next 35 weekends. And I was promoted from Amateur, Second Class, to Professional, Third Class.

Rick "demoted since then, but still with memories" Denney

[TubaRay]

[The arranging machine really got into gear at that time. Even I did several arrangements, which lets you know how desperate we were.


We played 15-20 sets a weekend for the next 35 weekends. And I was promoted from Amateur, Second Class, to Professional, Third Class.

Rick "demoted since then, but still with memories" Denney

We will perform at least a couple of those Rick Denney arrangements this weekend in Tomball. The ranking system is all Rick's idea. He has a standing invitation to come and play with us on a gig. That offer even includes the coming weekend. And I know he would really like to meet Valina. She's really cool!

[John Caves]

Ray, do you know the times you play on Sat and Sun?

[TubaRay]

Ray, do you know the times you play on Sat and Sun?

Our time frame is from noon to 6 p.m. both days. We have some flexibility built in, and can take breaks. All total, we will play 4-4 1/2 hrs. during that 6 hr. slot.

Be sure to introduce yourself to us. We really enjoy playing for other tuba & euph players.