Sousaphone "Edgy" Tone Poll

[GC]

Please weigh in.

[David Richoux]

By "Edgy" I am not saying "Blast the F*#k out of it" - but instead try harmolodics. vocalizations, "beats" and "scratching" and other fun things to do with a Sousaphone.

(I know some of this can be done with a tuba, but it is not quite the same...)

[GC]

By edgy I mean the previous thread's original blatfest idea.

[swillafew]

Edge is the sound of unsupported playing. The more a person plays outdoors the greater the chances of playing in such a manner.

Blended sounds actually carry farther outdoors, and the supported, tuned and blended sound carries best of all.

On the other hand, distorted music has been popular for generations.

[Bob Kolada]

None of those answers fit my opinion.

[GC]

By all means, add your opinion if you feel like it.

[sousaphone68]

Having never had the opportunity to play in a large tuba section except for tuba carols in London I would like to try a fanfare as part of a large tuba section at least once.
I think that were a conductor to ask me to play a phrase with edge I would hope that I could oblige him would I want to do it all the time or listen to all the time no.

[bigtubby]

None of those answers fit my opinion.

By all means, add your opinion if you feel like it.

Frankly I didn't care much for the examples of school bands playing in this thread.

OTOH it seems as if they are shooting for the sound of the style used by Banda players. I've always liked the Banda approach.

The difference? In Banda, the suzies are usually played with great skill and musicality. The compressed, overblown sound provides both bass and percussion. The clusters of school players simply never seems very musical to me.

But then I'm an old fart so what do I know?

[Donn]

One of the sousaphone players I play with sometimes is able to play pretty loud, with a tone quality that really isn't very edgy at all, a real boomy sound I guess might describe it. It's terrible. Most of that sound energy goes into what amounts to a lot of background noise, and the percussion, trombones, eventually everyone has to crank up another notch just to reach equilibrium.

That edge we're talking about - and a relatively staccato articulation - allows the banda bass and other highly skilled players to carry all over the place without burying the rest of the band. It's important if you're going to play really loud.