brianggilbert wrote:Actually a drum corps moment...
We were performing at a preview prior to our tour send-off, and in the rain (the cats and puppies kind) I accidentally let my weight transfer onto my front foot during a direction change. The drill sequence was right up against the front of the field, and I completely wiped out and slid on my back (contrabass on my belly) into the concert bass drum stand. The drum popped off of it's stand and fell on top of me.
It was right at the end of a tune and right up close and personal with about 500 spectators
brianggilbert wrote:Actually a drum corps moment...
We were performing at a preview prior to our tour send-off, and in the rain (the cats and puppies kind) I accidentally let my weight transfer onto my front foot during a direction change. The drill sequence was right up against the front of the field, and I completely wiped out and slid on my back (contrabass on my belly) into the concert bass drum stand. The drum popped off of it's stand and fell on top of me.
It was right at the end of a tune and right up close and personal with about 500 spectators
Alright, I'll bite.
Was the horn ok?
Yeah - the horn in question was one of those first gen Yammie convertables in G - YBB 201 with a removed third valve assembly. They were paper thin and really got beat to all hell on the road, however this little incident didn't cause any damage.
Chesapeake Silver Cornet Brass Band
Aldersgate Brass
Besson 982
Mouthpieces-a-Plenty
brianggilbert wrote:Actually a drum corps moment...
We were performing at a preview prior to our tour send-off, and in the rain (the cats and puppies kind) I accidentally let my weight transfer onto my front foot during a direction change. The drill sequence was right up against the front of the field, and I completely wiped out and slid on my back (contrabass on my belly) into the concert bass drum stand. The drum popped off of it's stand and fell on top of me.
It was right at the end of a tune and right up close and personal with about 500 spectators
Alright, I'll bite.
Was the horn ok?
Yeah - the horn in question was one of those first gen Yammie convertables in G - YBB 201 with a removed third valve assembly. They were paper thin and really got beat to all hell on the road, however this little incident didn't cause any damage.
Nice. I know corp type peoples, I know their philosophy of "the horn comes first" in accidents and such. Although after examing the year-old contra's of a certain corp, I have to wonder...
brianggilbert wrote:Yeah - the horn in question was one of those first gen Yammie convertables in G - YBB 201 with a removed third valve assembly.
Yamaha made a convertible marching tuba (bugle) in G?
Yeah Todd - the drum corps I spent some years with decided to take a shot at converting Bb 3 bangers into G. They were not to totally disgusting, they actually had a nice sound. The problem we faced was color and blend. The corps I was with was poor (I know they all are , and of our 10 contrabass players, we had 6 different makes and models. No two played alike.
Chesapeake Silver Cornet Brass Band
Aldersgate Brass
Besson 982
Mouthpieces-a-Plenty
brianggilbert wrote:Yeah Todd - the drum corps I spent some years with decided to take a shot at converting Bb 3 bangers into G. They were not to totally disgusting, they actually had a nice sound. The problem we faced was color and blend. The corps I was with was poor (I know they all are , and of our 10 contrabass players, we had 6 different makes and models. No two played alike.
Oh, I see. I thought you meant a stock Yamaha horn in G. Very interesting. I was wondering what market that Yamaha was trying to reach with a convertible tuba in G...not much use for them in the "concert" leadpipe configuration, so it seemed like a waste.
I am proud of the tuba sound. Real power.
I don't know if the way it looks is a problem for anyone.
I like to have an instrument I could slide into my back pocket, forget about it and then whip it out and light up Madison Square Garden or a larger venue.
Unfortunately, such a tool has not yet been invented.
I danced a softshoe (shuffle ball change) to "Tea for Two" with one other sousaphonist (60 piece bamd) in a football half time show. Things went rather well. Jim and I were tight in our dance and neither of us fell out or down.
We appreciated the humor and appeal of sousie guys dancing. Neither of us felt silly at all.
After 60 years of tuba tooting, I may feel frustrated, fatigued, or exaulted but never silly.
I have spent 45 years playing guitar and singing silly songs as I could find. I KNOW silly.
(Example) "You are the Wind Beneath My sheets"
Strange, I have never felt silly actually playing the tuba as I remember. However I have done some silly things in the course of my tuba playing. One which comes to mind was heading off to play a concert in a church in Southampton, without taking details of which church. On arriving in Southampton I tried to phone to find out and my mobile battery died before I could get a reply! I visited a dozen, or more churches looking for the band without success and eventually headed home without playing. I did feel silly
Our high school football team for the 2007 season was undefeated in the regular season, and a "Breakfast Bash" was being held before school on Friday to serve as a kind of pep rally before the last regular season game. The pep band was ordered to perform. I didn't have to come, but being a band nerd, of course, I did.
First of all, we were supposed to start playing at 6:00, but there was hardly any band members there, so the director didn't want to go out yet. Finally, around 6:50, we had enough people to go out and play. When we got there, we found a bunch of half-asleep students sitting at their tables, looking like they wished they were in bed. We immediately started blasting our stand tunes. In the gymnasium, where we were, it was incredibly loud, and the sleepy students that were there looked like they wanted to shoot us.
When our duties were finished, it was around 7:20. I grabbed some breakfast and ran. Of course, the rest of the band stayed behind and ate their breakfast and hung out for a bit before leaving, but I just took off. That was dumb. Here I am, walking all by myself through the crowded school hallways with my sousaphone on my shoulders. You can imagine the looks and the laughs that I got. It was incredibly embarrassing. You must understand that being in the band, let alone playing the tuba, automatically makes you a loser, dork, etc. in the high school world.
People can laugh but is it really funny?
Everybody is a name - calling victim on occasion. The tuba players I know are generous enough to hold the orchestra on thier shoulders and do it from the back row.
The difference may be that tuberists seldom overdo beer. We don't underdo it either.
I sympathise with those who grew up in schools where the band program was ridiculed. In that regard, I agree totally with bloke. The firing squad is too good for them, but occasionally you do just have to waste a few bullets.
OTOH, my posts are of my on faux pas. I was lucky enough to grow up in a band program that routinely brought home more and larger trophies from contests than any of the sports teams ever did, and had more players recognized as all-district and all-state than any of the sports teams had until recent years.
In HS, during a football game, I went to the bathroom and, strangely, there was a kid from the other team's band wearing a souzy while doing business on the john--I could see the bell over the stall wall. Must not have wanted his fellow band members tinkering with his instrument while he was away? Anyways, there was a lot of snickering from the fellows in the bathroom about it.
Easty621 wrote:In HS, during a football game, I went to the bathroom and, strangely, there was a kid from the other team's band wearing a souzy while doing business on the john--I could see the bell over the stall wall. Must not have wanted his fellow band members tinkering with his instrument while he was away? Anyways, there was a lot of snickering from the fellows in the bathroom about it.
Note to self: Don't touch that sousaphone.
My freshman year in high school, we were working on some drill in marching band. The woodwinds were towards the front of the field, with the sousaphones in the middle and the rest of the brass behind. Well, I unfortunately decided not to wear a belt that day...and needless to say, it was incredibly awkward trying to pull my pants back up from around my ankles with a sousaphone on...
Note so self: Wear belt.
Colby Fahrenbacher
Principal Tuba, Danville Symphony Orchestra
Associate Tuba, Civic Orchestra of Chicago
iiipopes wrote:I sympathise with those who grew up in schools where the band program was ridiculed.
I play at a school where football is all anyone cares about.They have been National Champions for the past 3 years, so the only thing the district and community cares about is sports. There is very little funding for our 350+ member band compared to the football team. I still can't understand why they choose to by a 15 million dollar stadium and cannot afford to buy some new tubas which are desperately needed.
So a couple friends and I are going to an ice cream shop to visit a friend who was working at the time, and as we're getting out of the car I realize that my horn is in the back of the car! Need I say more?
Pictures to come, when I figure out how to get them off my phone.
Well, I'm probably going to regret saying this, but... Yesterday evening at Brass Band rehearsal we started with a full complement of basses but were short on cornets. I played second cornet for the first half of the rehearsal. By break the cornet section had filled out and I went back to my EEflat bass. Within about five minutes I had made the following observations.
-My cornet's valves are silky smooth and dead quiet in operation. My tuba's valves constitute an adjunct to the percussion section. There's probably a reason other than bad Karma that I sit next to the drum kit.
-My cornet plays in tune with minimal effort; an occasional goose to the third valve slide for 1-3 combinations is required but that's it. No alternate fingerings, even at the eighth partial and beyond. My tuba requires about five "normal" alternate fingerings. It also is happier when I make some adjustments based on the key signature (i.e. second valve slide out about 3/8" if the key is Dflat or flatter). Our section contains some pretty fair players but if we are all playing concert Gflats there is going to be a bit of adjustment going on.
I enjoy playing music on both instruments. I guess sometimes I feel a bit silly that I have to "negotiate" so much more with the tuba to make it happen.
-By the way, my cornet has no equivalent to the Besson combination strap holder/demasculator protruding out of the bottom bow.
, and of our 10 contrabass players, we had 6 different makes and models. No two played alike.
