playing musically

[bloke]

Does anyone have a good suggestion as to how I can wag my tuba bell around in a elliptical pattern, raise-and-lower my elbows, and - while doing both of those things - manage to keep my mouthpiece centered on my mouth as well as my fingers lined up on the buttons ?

thanks!

[Oldschooltuba]

Can alcohol be involved?

[YORK-aholic]

Perhaps check with Chuck Daellenbach?

[TubaDude]

Check out Lucky Chops on You Tube, Stand by Me, anyone of their clips it's the same routine. The guy on the sousaphone has the horn, shoulders, and arms going while dancing.

[windshieldbug]

Can alcohol be involved?

WOULD be involved, I'm guessing...

[groovlow]

3 must have items.

Sep Jäger / Zurich

[Dubby]

Could probably ask Baadsvik or Brandströtter.

[the elephant]

I suggest you study with any US orchestra concertmaster or principal 'cellist. Those guys have a lock on emoting and wasting energy in order to look "serious" when they play.

[bloke]

I suggest you study with any US orchestra concertmaster or principal 'cellist. Those guys have a lock on emoting and wasting energy in order to look "serious" when they play.

I'm laughing with you...and I'm not trying to be a buh-ho here (ex: arguing both sides, etc.) but ...well..

people do come to our concerts mostly to

1/ BE SEEN

...but also to

2/ SEE

People (since the beginning of movies and television, in particular, but - being more honest with myself - "stage shows" have existed for many-many centuries) like to ~watch~ stuff...so it's probably wise (if we can do it without compromising our product, or being unintentionally comedic or ridiculous) to give them something to watch, so the "attending the concert" is a different experience than "listening to it on the radio".

A per-service orchestra with which I work (formerly: I didn't admit to working there / now: proudly boast it // formerly: pay was .5X / now: pay is X ) has a new music director who strongly encourages (besides demanding that the musicians play far more than is on the page...and dumping musicians who won't/can't) physically communicating the music - and the emotion/joy of the music - to the audience...
...I can't argue with the guy. We are creating a product and very much need to be selling it.

bloke "yeah...but the elbow-flapping and bell-wafting is 'bad dancing', at best."

[Michael Bush]

'cellist.

Yo-yo Ma is the king of this kind of physical playing. On the two occasions when I've been present to hear him with an orchestra, I've found it better to just close my eyes and listen.

[the elephant]

It is a terrible distraction at times. It detracts from the music because it becomes a show. It is silly.

[bloke]

Again, just like dancing, if awkward, it distracts.
Otherwise (if subtle and communicative), it can sell tickets.
We need ticket sales.

tubas in symphony orchestras:
We rarely play musical lines (mostly: foundational), and (as we and our tubas are large and already distract) we don't need to be wagging ourselves around - nor our instruments.

[Three Valves]

Having been a HS and Kollig sousaphone player, what I lack in talent I have always made up for in enthusiasm and volume.



No matter how tightly I close my eyes or more wildly I gesticulate, it does not make me a better player.

I do not consider chicken dancing while playing the Chicken Dance beneath my dignity, however.

(So long as it sells tickets)

[bloke]

Having been a HS and Kollig sousaphone player, what I lack in talent I have always made up for in enthusiasm and volume.



No matter how tightly I close my eyes or more wildly I gesticulate, it does not make me a better player.

I do not consider chicken dancing while playing the Chicken Dance beneath my dignity, however.

(So long as it sells tickets)

tip:
Get a piece of black forest cake after the FIRST break.
If you wait until the end of the gig, it will be sold out,
and all that will be left will be red cabbage and American beer.

[TubaDude]

Nothing quite beats dressing in authentic German garb and performing highly choreographed routines in the Orlando sweltering summertime heat while wearing a heat attracting tuba and wooden clog type shoes and doing the chicken dance 6 sets a day, talk about easy money, lol!!!

[bloke]

Nothing quite beats dressing in authentic German garb and performing highly choreographed routines in the Orlando sweltering summertime heat while wearing a heat attracting tuba and wooden clog type shoes and doing the chicken dance 6 sets a day, talk about easy money, lol!!!

There's the chicken dance, and then there's THE Chicken Dance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuPolWVxzYQ

[UncleBeer]

= every clarinetist ever.

[bloke]

serious post:

I suspect that all of those classical musician physical gestures may possibly increase (or at least, sustain) concert ticket sales.
Everyone has become (via media) extremely accustomed to musicians (various genre) moving all over the place when they perform.

Porter Waggoner was a HUGE star. Compare Video #1 to Video #2 (and the second one is SITTING DOWN )

[bone-a-phone]

I've always wondered how the motions people make with instruments enhance the music. Then I remembered freshman year at music school. We had a class called movement. This was in the 1980s, so low brass players weren't yet expected to be effeminate. Someone played waltzes on the piano and we all pranced around like fairies. This was a mandatory class we got grades for. Twice a week on a big stage, freedancing to random music.

I suppose its the same thing as moving in your chair while you play. Its supposed to be expressive, although I m still unsure what it expresses.

[bloke]

From what I have been able to ascertain, my education ended just when nonsense curricula were being introduced, and just at the tail end of sanity.