top action in orchestra??

[MartyNeilan]

Here's the thought...
I love my 6/4 Martin and eventually will have an upright bell made for it (sooner if my MW2145 sells). Lee Stofer can make one out of a 5/4 Rudy bell that I know will look and sound killer.
BUT...
It is a top action horn. Lee has actually recommended I keep the original .720 valves to not risk losing that classic American sound and just have them replated / rebuilt when and if necessary.
SO.....
If I ever walked into a hall with that thing for something like Tckaik 6, would I be laughed off the stage (remember that on top action the bell points to the right) or would a top action beast still fly in this day and age???

P.S. Those top action BAT's really do balance pretty well.

[TonyZ]

"If you play it, they will not laugh."

--Kevin Costner???????

[Chuck(G)]

Didn't John Fletcher played his Boosey 3+1 Eb in the LSO? I don't think anyone laughed at him.

[MartyNeilan]

Fletch did immediately come to mind. I just do not want to be stuffing my bell in the bass trombonist's face, either

[TonyZ]

Fletch did immediately come to mind. I just do not want to be stuffing my bell in the bass trombonist's face, either

Don't worry...It could possibly be the best thing that ever happened to a bass trombone player!

[Dan Schultz]

I get bored with narrow-minded conductors and other music professionals who insist that certain horns are for certain things. The issues of CC vs BBb, top-action vs front-action, piston vs rotary really get in my craw. If it works... use it. How many folks other that tuba players have you met who really know anything about tubas, anyway?

[AndyCat]

erm....

Almost every orchestral tuba player in the UK uses a Top Action EEb for a generous proportion of their playing.

Not many of them get laughed at (Patrick Harrild, Owen Slade, Fletch previously etc etc.)

[Philip Jensen]

My only concern is sound loss depending on where you sit. I play a top action tuba in our community band and I prefer to sit on the interior side (back row of course) of the group, preferably far enough in so I can bounce my sound off the back wall and not the curtain that is pulled arround the sides. I know that band can hear me really well, but I am always concerned about how well my sound carries out to the audience. I make a conscious effort to point my bell at that back wall, otherwise my sound does get lost in the lights or the side curtain.

I'm curious to hear the recording of our latest concert where for "Amercian Salute" is was moved smack dab into the middle of the group to play basson II cues along with our basson and our bass clarinet player.

[tclements]

The answer is: IT DEPENDS. I used a Yamaha 321 E-flat on 'Damnation of Faust' once and my colleagues were all over me for playing too loudly (right facing bell). The next night, I came in with my 822 F (left facing bell) and BLEW MY *** OFF, and no one said a word. I attest this the bell on the 321 point INTO the orchestra shell across the brass section, the 822 blows into the wall and reflects out into the hall. Whoda thunk?

[kontrabass]

Mark Tetreault, principal tuba of the Toronto Symphony, frequently uses a top-action Yamaha Eb and I've never heard anyone complain about it.

[TonyTuba]

i just saw one of the naked gun movies, the one were leslie neilson tries to protect the oscars. He throws up in a tuba in the pit from the stage, and that tuba was an upright...and i was certainly laughing.

[Dylan King]

I think all tubas in orchestras should have a microphone with electronic amplification. Then nobody would worry about which way their bell points.

[tubathig]

Honestly, I don't think it would matter what type of action the horn has. I think most people (myself included) are more interested in the sound that YOU make. If it is a good noise then don't worry about it.