What F tuba did Gene Pokorny play on

[tubamaster2005]

I am listening to the radio where Pokorny is doing a live concert, and does anyone know what F tuba and mouthpiece he is using?

[eupher61]

in the past he's played B&S F tubas.

What I want to know...did Rex play the other York on the Bach Double??? I wonder if those two were ever used together?

[The Deep End]

I had the great privilege of hearing a rehearsal for this recital. The playing and music making was just out ot this world !! Gene was using the York - at least for the Prokofiev, VW and Bach double. Rex was on his Besson EEb. I thought the sound match for the Bach double was spot on. Their pianist, Yoko, was excellent and totally supportive too and deserves a mention. Well done guys !!

[wrobotuba]

my guess....

F tuba- FIrebird (5 valve)

Between rehearsal breaks (and other things) a few weeks ago, Gene gave me a taste of this stuff and, it was the Firebird he was using then. Of course, it could have just been what he had on hand at the time...

Heart, mind, and chops, I can't think of a better example in our little world of what we all should aspire to.

It aired at 5am here in Beijing and it was the perfect way to start my day.

[The Big Ben]

Pokorny posted in another thread that he was using a Firebird.

[Roger Lewis]

It is very possible that the mouthpiece he was using on the Firebird was a Bruno Tilz M2 that I gave him a while back. He liked what it did for the horn.

Just speculation of course.

Roger

[The Deep End]

Sorry guys, my mind is on another planet right now (must still be on UK time !!) Of course Gene was using the Firebird F for the VW etc but did use the York for a couple of pieces. Sorry for any confusion ! By the BBb he used for the CSO Mahler 2 sounded great too...!

[pedaljay]

Does anyone know anything about this prototype Meinl Weston BBb Mr. Pokorny played on for the Mahler 2? I couldn't find anything on the Meinl Weston website. Thanks in advance?

Jason

[Todd S. Malicoate]

I am listening to the radio where Pokorny is doing a live concert, and does anyone know what F tuba and mouthpiece he is using?

Nice try, James. Welcome back.

Ben Cunnings. That's rich.

[Todd S. Malicoate]

I'm not so sure you're right. And I don't think it's so overly obvious as to justify that.

I might not be correct, but it's very interesting that there is no tuba player in Ashland, Maine named "Ben Cunnings" or no last name of "Cunnings" at all in Ashland (a very small town of about 1400), and that the username tubamaster2005 has a very strong connection to James (just Google it). The music teacher for Ashland Community High School is a nice fellow, though, and a tuba player to boot!

This all started when I read the first post in this thread and thought the poster sounded like James. I checked the post history and it looked even more like him (same punctuation and capitalization tendencies, same types of questions about equipment). Here's the post that really got my curiosity up:

Its the school horn, its pretty old. When I play a low C it is open and D is 4th valve. Its been the only tuba ive played on, i dont think it is b flat

What are the chances that a small school in rural Maine, with a grade 6-12 enrollment of 246(!!!) has a 4-valve rotary C tuba?

But you're right, I could be wrong. Doesn't really matter, anyway, just strange. I'm not sure what you think I should "justify." If Ben Cunnings really is a real person , I imagine he'll speak up for himself. There's no reason for anyone to get incredibly defensive about this...I just find it humorous that someone would find the need to create a fake person to ask questions on a discussion forum.

[Biggs]

I believe Todd to be correct. I only have one piece of corollary support and it is, admittedly, somewhat of a stretch.

When James was still hanging around under his old pseudonym, I changed my TubeNet location to Abilene, TX in jest. I think James has improved his Google skills and has found out that my hometown is Ashland, Massachusetts. This information is listed on both my Facebook profile as well as my school's tuba studio's site. It is abbreviated to Ashland, MA on both. I conjecture that James' research has not expanded to include postal abbreviations and he wrongly believes MA to be the abbreviation for Maine. He now lists Ashland, Maine as his TubeNet location in an attempt to parody my parody.

Again, a little bit of a stretch, but I have a pretty good gut feeling about this.

[Biggs]

Ah-ha! After putting some thought into the name "Ben Cunnings," I returned to my school's tuba studio's website for some additional digging.

The members of the studio are listed, with picture and information, alphabetically by last name. The fellow who is listed immediately ahead of me has a first name of Ben, and the fellow who is listed immediately after me has a last name of Cunningham.

Given the jab at Ashland on top of this, I'd say James is afoot and is impersonating some type of "bizarro-world" version of me. Normally I would avoid conspiracy theories (especially ones regarding tuba websites...), but this seems almost too obvious. Nice try, James!

[THE TUBA]

Why does this matter?

[tubashaman2]

Todd S Malicoate,

I created this username to post only when needed, to buy stuff, or when absouletly needed (which this is one). I am just emailing people to find out answers or spending hours on google.

DO NOT accuse me of making false names, which is not true. Regarding your post about some rural school having a CC tuba, well out here in west texas, there is a school which I have visited that had a CC tuba. It was in poor shape and had not been played on in years, but it was a old miraphone 186 in a town of less than 1000 people. It needs alot of work and its school property. Also in the 1970s Lake Highlands HS in Dallas bought 14 (or more) CC tubas. Several other schools around here have beat up holtons, Conns, etc 6/4 size tubas the poor beginning kids can barely play because they are so big and thats all the school has....

Anyways I have been too busy to post with gradschool applications, school projects, and auditions only a little over a month away.

~James "who was not a bully in school" Green

[Todd S. Malicoate]

So, just for clarification, James...you are saying you're not "tubamaster2005" on TubeNet, correct? It's just a coincidence, correct?

And, also for clarification...it is way, way, way beyond unbelievable that a high school student in the middle of rural Maine in a school of 246 people in grades 6-12 (maybe 20 or 30 in band?) would have to come on here and ask what kind of horn he has not realizing he's been playing a C tuba the whole time, even though the band director is a tuba player. That's what I was pointing out, not that no small schools would ever have any C tubas.

Someone who creates a fake name then trolls for answers to make-believe problems wastes everyone's time...people that have a genuine desire to help posters with tuba-related questions. Whether it was you or not, someone invented this person for some bizarre reason. Pointing out such a person has nothing to do with being a bully...it has everything to do with promoting an honest discussion.

Will the real "Ben Cunnings" please stand up?

[tubamaster2005]

My name is Ben Cunnings, and I do not go to school in Ashland public schools, but I go to a private school, and my band director is not a tuba player.

I am a sophomore in highschool and used google and found something on here about Arnold Jacobs in research for a school project. My band director in that time also told me I needed a new mouthpiece for symphonic band and the Monette mouthpiece yous guys had me buy was entirely too big and expensive. Pokorny said on the broadcast he was switching horns from F to CC and I was just wondering.

[SFAtuba]

Hey Bob,

I bought a Gronitz F from Mr. Pokorny a while back, so unless he has purchased another one I would assume that he does not currently have one.

Hope this helps!

[Chris Smith]

http://www.xanga.com/tubamaster2005" target="_blank" target="_blank

Really?

But on subject I would really rather talk more about BBb tubas. I am wondering if Mr. Pokorny decides that he really loves the BBb tuba for some excerpts that this might become a standard part of every orchestral (or aspiring) player's collection of tubas.

[Biggs]

This is too funny, but likely doomed for a preemptive lock.

People actually interested in discussing GP's tubas may need to start a new thread.

[Todd S. Malicoate]

Wow. Sorry to everyone for hijacking the thread with my little "investigation." It would certainly appear that I've got the proverbial egg on my face.

Good luck to you, Ben...I wish you much success at your private high school with your old, school-owned 4 valve rotary Alexander C tuba. I hope the Monette mouthpiece you purchased works out well for you. I also hope you got a high grade on that high school research project about Arnold Jacobs that you did last year...in 9th grade.

My apologies to you, James. I couldn't for the life of me imagine such an amazing coincidence could really happen. Who could have imagined that a young man at a private school in Maine would just happen to come up with the same username as you and come to the same site where you have been so active. Who could have imagined that he would select the year 2005 for his username, since he would have been in 7th grade at the time...usually people use a high school graduation date or something in a username like that. I imagine that's why you picked it, anyway...no telling why good old Ben decided to use 2005 for his.

Oh, well...sorry I doubted you, big guy! Good luck with those graduate school applications!