The University of Louisville Music Library just uploaded a number of pictures of the UofL band from the 1940s and 50s onto their Facebook page.
Here's a gem!
The double-bell euphonium is getting restored I believe. A number of the trombone mutes are still in the marching band equipment room - haven't found the tuba bucket mute yet though!
craigpotter wrote:The University of Louisville Music Library just uploaded a number of pictures of the UofL band from the 1940s and 50s onto their Facebook page.
Here's a gem!
The double-bell euphonium is getting restored I believe. A number of the trombone mutes are still in the marching band equipment room - haven't found the tuba bucket mute yet though!
If I'm not mistaken (big if) the attraction of the bucket is that it mellows out the trumpets an trombones to give the illusion that one is listening to conical brass.
This (presumably) being the case, the effect on conical brass would be less than spectacular.
Too bad they don't make these for tuba. The sound on trombone is not unlike the bucket mute when you cover only a portion of the bell. It's a lot cheaper, lighter and smaller way to achieve a similar sound.
Softone Bass Bone Mute.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
I am fortunate to have a great job that feeds my family well, but music feeds my soul.
tbn.al wrote:Too bad they don't make these for tuba. The sound on trombone is not unlike the bucket mute when you cover only a portion of the bell. It's a lot cheaper, lighter and smaller way to achieve a similar sound.
The bell cover from an Altieri gig bag would do the trick - not bad for warming up downstairs/backstage/etc. either. I've never tried it in a performance though.
Thanks for posting this - I recognize somebody in the picture! The band director (back row left) is Ernest Lyon, who was principal trombone in the Louisville Orchestra for many years. He taught low brass at U of L and and I studied with him when I was there in the late 70s.
I assume that they only used one mute for the euphoniums because they were only interested in the euphonium side of the horn. It has also been suggested that due to the bell/throat size of the trombone half, its function (soundwise) was more like a muted euphonium than it was as a real trombone.
I own a really nice Conn 60I and I use the tbn bell sporadically. It doesn't produce the same full sound of a modern trombone (even with it's .500 bore), so I pick and choose the moments I think it'll "due the job" I have in my head.
I agree about what The Elephant says about the buckets. At it's worst its a muffled rag-in-the-bell sound, but it can also be a nice mysterious sound filter when soloing. Its not easy to make a decent mute and often one has to use different brands of mutes on different horns just because one brand works better on that particular type of horn.
-P
