Now a Schleppy-sized BBBb - Bumblebee video

[imperialbari]

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =1&theater

[Steve Marcus]

Will the video be archived on YouTube or elsewhere for those of us who cannot see the live performance?

[imperialbari]

[aqualung]

It should be OK once the folks around here figure out how to cut it to CCC.

[mammoth2ba]

Shouldn’t this have been posted on April 1 ?

If meant to be played, the rotor paddles could have been designed the width of one hand instead of two(?)

[imperialbari]

Shouldn’t this have been posted on April 1 ?

If meant to be played, the rotor paddles could have been designed the width of one hand instead of two(?)

Why? I could reach 'em just fine.

Just goes to prove the headline!

[windshieldbug]

If meant to be played, the rotor paddles could have been designed the width of one hand instead of two(?)

These are called "oars", not paddles, and you need a crew to properly use them.

[duderubble]

Been looking at all these pics of monster tubas and I'm not sure I get it. Couldn't you get nearly the same effect just by lengthening the tubing rather than making the bell so huge? I mean I understand the need for a larger bell for darker sound, but isn't there a point of diminishing returns? Couldn't you just make the taper more gradual?

[Steve Marcus]

that thing was in frankfurt

Was it playable...or just a prop?

[imperialbari]

If it is used for solos with band, it must be playable to some degree. Like having real valves as opposed to the wooden ones of an older British BBBb.

But the exhibition element is strongly emphasized as the main frame and the valve placement are determined by a scale ratio of 2:1 rather than by ergonomic considerations. Hence the need for extended tubists like our friend from Amarillo.

Klaus

[Bob Kolada]

If that's Schlep's tuba, here's my trombone-

[David Richoux]

that thing was in frankfurt

Was it playable...or just a prop?

I thought I replied to this thread but it has disappeared - so here goes again: Recently I had a chance to play a BBBb tuba (not quite as massive as the one in the pic.) It was OK in the normal low BBb range but getting enough air to go in to BBBb zone was not easy! I got a few grumbles out but nothing much I could call musical.

So my vote is for novelty/prop. YMMV.

[imperialbari]

http://www.vogtland-anzeiger.de/Vogtlan ... f_sumbit=1

[Steve Marcus]

Hence why he can only reach two valves... you only need two!

When you watch the following:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=UL5od ... HxQdwwmy1c

Prof. Wachsmuth is using all 4 valves, so there must be extended paddles to facilitate this. He uses valve 3 for the note D just below the staff, and 4 for the note C (2 ledger lines below the staff). The video is only 36 seconds long, so it contains only a portion of Prof. Wachsmuth's performance. No subsonics in this example.

At 7:50 of this video:

http://www.mdr.de/mediathek/suche/video ... ba9ff.html

The host interviews (in German) Herr Geilert, the builder of the Reisentuba. The horn is brought outside by 3 people and set erect. Then Prof. Wachsmuth is interviewed. He plays a few notes, going down to the Eb below the 4th ledger line. Then he plays "Flight of the Bumblebee" in the octave we may used to hearing on tuba--going up to Bb above the staff.

[imperialbari]

Great clip. And the other video in the linked-to-loop shows one of the other giant instruments the Markneukirchen makers have made to set records in connection with the 650th anniversary of their town. Not a giant bass, but a violin 7 times longer than standard.

The article I linked to also mentions a huge triangle and a tambourine needing a full calf’s hide.

B&S on their FaceBook wall have photos of the front page of the local paper where the giant tuba is depicted. I had hoped to read a review of the concert in the web version of that paper:

http://www.vogtland-anzeiger.de/

but I found nothing.

Klaus

[imperialbari]

Steve M. gave a link in another context, which reveals the reason the absence of a concert review: the concert is tonight!

http://www.focus.de/panorama/welt/musik ... me_oneline

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =1&theater

[Steve Marcus]

This is a photo of a lecture about the Reisentuba. Does anyone have the video of this presentation?

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid= ... =1&theater

It would be nice to have the German in the videos translated to English, but one would expect that this "event" in Germany would be covered by German media.

[imperialbari]

Americans not schooled in German almost invariably makes searches impossible for themselves by switching ie into ei and vice versa. That likely is because the phonetics are reversed between German and American English. Riesen is giant and Reisen is travels. As there are giant tubas as well as travel tubas, German readers get confused. The best advice for Americans is about reacting against their intuition, when handling German constellations of i and e.

A search on Riesentuba gave two YouTube-hits. The concert fragment already presented. And a longer video from Voigt, who contributed the bell in this joint effort of the Markneukirchen makers, thereby reviving the old working modus, where parts are subcontracted to fellow master workshops and the engraving tells who did the design decisions and the assembly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoRxsyRF6co

Klaus

[Steve Marcus]

Klaus,

That was a very courteous way of pointing out my misspelling. Thank you.

Ian, here, finally, is the source of your dream 36" bell!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoRxsyRF6co" target="_blank

[imperialbari]

No, not directed towards any specific person, Steve.

It really is where many Americans run into dead end searches around German topics.

Klaus