l'il bloke

[Dylan King]

What really sticks out in this photo is the mouthpiece. Nice!

[bisontuba]

Man's horn......

Mark

[Cameron Gates]

Joe, is that thing hafazzed useable? Can one find the partials and produce anything of value?

I have always wanted to try one of the monsters we have all seen pictures of. Where was this one?

Also, I assume Allied has replacement parts, right?

[Rick Denney]

And all this time I thought Mike had class. But he'll let just anybody come over.

Rick "Hi, Mike!" Denney

[Rick Denney]

Joe, is that thing hafazzed useable? Can one find the partials and produce anything of value?

I have always wanted to try one of the monsters we have all seen pictures of. Where was this one?

It wasn't for me--I could not make recognizable notes on it, and certainly not with any semblance of tone. But I'm sure Joe was able to put a better signal into it.

Rick "thinking Joe too a side trip about 90 miles north of San Antonio, if that gives you a hint beyond my previous post" Denney

[MartyNeilan]

That's the posture I see most trombone players using...

[imperialbari]

I note bloke’s personal bookmarks on top of this screenshot.

[imperialbari]

And he even broke the Bell curve.

[mbell]

I thought Bloke got a very good sound out of that big 'ol horn. Maybe this would make a good ad campaign:

"You can play any horn with a Sellmansberger mouthpiece!"

mike (but not that one)

[imperialbari]

Here's l'il bloke playing a CCC tuba.



bloke "the Penderecki Capriccio..."

Pam says I can't have one.

Because it isn’t a Pam American model?

K

[hup_d_dup]

Can you tell us something about this tuba? It has a striking appearance (quite apart from its size), and appears to be expertly fabricated ... at least to my eye.

Hup.

[Rick Denney]

Can you tell us something about this tuba? It has a striking appearance (quite apart from its size), and appears to be expertly fabricated ... at least to my eye.

Hup.

It is the Gerard Hoffnung tuba:

http://www.musicweb-international.com/h ... /biog6.htm



It was made by Paxman. It's the same tuba, but a bell attachment point was added (maybe Mike knows when) to make it possible to move it through doorways.

Rick "a centerpiece for quite a collection, to be sure" Denney

[hup_d_dup]

It is the Gerard Hoffnung tuba:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/h ... /biog6.htm

Thanks. This is all totally new to me (I haven't been a tuba player for very long).

Hup_

[tbn.al]

What no false tones?

beat ya to it , Bob

[imperialbari]

I was disappointed that it was only outfitted with three valves - limiting the low range of the instrument...

But then it has this preset octave valve.

Klaus

[k001k47]

Definitely something I'd want (assuming I'd ever play it) to haul in to play those huge (rare) low brass orchestral excerpts.

EDIT: or Ride of the Vakyries

[Rick Denney]

EDIT: or Ride of the Vakyries

Yes, then the 32nd notes, instead of being too long as they are normally played, can be nonexistent.

Rick "gone by the time the sound wave gets back from the bell" Denney

[k001k47]

It must be the tuba. has to be the tuba

[Steve Marcus]

Hoffnung.jpg

The piece that was written specifically with this subcontrabass tuba in the instrumentation was "Variations on Annie Laurie." In the 1956 live performance recording, Gerard Hoffnung himself played occasional low notes on this horn throughout the piece, and then played the full "Annie Laurie" melody in the key of C at the end.

That melody is still very playable on that 3-valve tuba at Mike's; I just had to take more breaths than good phrasing would normally dictate. The first note of the melody is the lowest CCC on the piano; the high note is an octave above that. Since the open partials in that octave are CCC, GG, and CC, (one octave below a standard CC tuba), no privileged notes were necessary.

As a "grand finale" for my wife, I played "Edelweiss" in the first key in which that song was ever publicly performed (Theodore Bikel): F Major. So the melody began on the lowest AAA of the piano. Yes, you can play these pedal tones on a standard CC tuba. But they really sounded...unique on the subcontrabass tuba. Ummm, how romantic.

Sorry, no Ride on that beast.

Thanks, Mike, for a truly one-of-a-kind experience.

[k001k47]

Very cool story. Thanks for sharing