Prototype Miraphone piston F tuba

[imperialbari]

Does this tuba have the same short-throw valves as the 1291?

Does this imply that the 1291 has Conn 20K-style oval ports? Or how is the short throw obtained?

Klaus

[bort]

You know, I've had this tuba for years, and I completely cannot picture the valves in my head right now. I'm out of town, so someone else will have to answer.

[Alex C]

Ive heard Bobos recordings, yes some fracked notes if you listen closely, but he has a name and is a great tubaist....and I will probably never be able to outplay him.....

Roger Bobo is more than a name in the music world: he is a recognized artist of the very highest caliber. And I concur with you in that few brass players will ever play at his level (outplay? never), so I don't think I would be brave enough to say "yes some fracked notes if you listen closely." I'm not a fan of the LA Phil from those days but the recordings I have listened to were because of Bobo... and what a player he was! I don't think there is a fracked note in his recording history. It's probably not even in his vocabulary.

However, we are all human (exclude Bud Herseth) and everyone misses a note sometime. Still, when I asked Mr. Jacobs if he'd ever taught Bobo he said, "Roger came for a lesson when he was in his late teens. Every note was a pearl, he didn't have anything to learn." High praise indeed.

I just couldn't leave the put-down of Roger without comment. Back on topic:

Boy, that Miraphone prototype F tuba is great but it doesn't turn your face blue, it blows it up like a big blue balloon.

[tubacrow]

I enjoyed playing on the horn. I cannot speak to the intonation. I did not have a tuner with me, but it seemed to play intune with itself. When I played my first Miraphone back in the eighties. I thought I would love this horn with piston and I was not disappointed. It was one of the highlights of the show for me.

[ubq]

Just one word to the Roger Bobo discussion: As tubaplayer - artist he was one of the GREATEST!!! He's isnt just a technican but an ARTIST of the highest level. Just listen to the Bydlo solo on his blog site! This is the greatest music making you can imagnie. Full of dynamics, contrasts, feelings, etc.....and all this CLEARLY articulated!!! And of course this is only one drop from his "musical ocean". He always does something new, something different, something exceptional but ALWAYS with MUSIC in his mind as the main goal!

I would be so happy if I could once reach that level. He is one of the BIG examples.

Happy musicmaking!

[grahamroese]

I am looking for this Bydlo you speak of.
Would you be able to post a link to this?

Thank you very much for your help.

[imperialbari]

The music plays automatically, if you go to

http://bomaestro.blogspot.com/

I have been advocating the use of euphonium for this solo. That hardly is what Bobo uses, but that doesn't matter when it is so superbly played as in this sample.

Knowing a tiny bit about his Bobo's instrument collection I would imagine the instrument used being a rotary Bb tenor tuba likely by Alexander. And the tutti portion of the tuba part being played on a larger instrument by another player. The experts will tell me how far off my guesses are.

Klaus Smedegaard Bjerre

[Todd S. Malicoate]

Ive heard Bobos recordings, yes some fracked notes if you listen closely, but he has a name and is a great tubaist....and I will probably never be able to outplay him.....

to further clarify, I think Bobo is a wonderful artist and musician, but my ears are somereason prone to clean/technical perfection

Great music though

This seems to divide opinions

I find this to be a strange criticism of Roger Bobo as a player. If you read his writings in professional journals and his blog, you will realize his obsession with the most minute details. Attacks, intonation, interpretation...all facets of musicianship are keenly analyzed.

I have no idea what you are trying to say with "my ears are somereason prone to clean/technical perfection," James. Can you please clarify what you mean by this? Roger Bobo is one of the most recorded tuba players ever, and I can't think of enough fracked notes to count on a single hand in all of those recordings. Listen to his recording of Kellaway's "The Morning Song" (on Gravity is Light Today - the original) and tell me he's not one of the most accurate and technically perfect players you've ever heard.

[joshwirt]

Knowing a tiny bit about his Bobo's instrument collection I would imagine the instrument used being a rotary Bb tenor tuba likely by Alexander. And the tutti portion of the tuba part being played on a larger instrument by another player. The experts will tell me how far off my guesses are.

Klaus Smedegaard Bjerre

I'll have to check with the Maestro, but I remember a discussion after playing Bydlo for him on this particular Alex about the instrument used in that recording (Decca 1967 with Zubin Mehta). I remember him saying he actually used his Miraphone F on that particular recording but later used the Alex in several performances. I'll have to ask him if that is in fact the same recording.

As to the other comment out the valve noise on the Carnival recording.....sit in a chair next to Roger Bobo and have him finger the notes for you in a technical passage. I guarantee your lips have never been so abused once you process the shear energy and precision that comes from that man's hands.

For me, that clicking takes me back to the first time I actually heard him playing live. He was rehearsing the Plog Three Miniatures for an upcoming recital....wow. That's all that needs to be said.

-Josh

[eupher61]

I have been advocating the use of euphonium for this solo. That hardly is what Bobo uses, but that doesn't matter when it is so superbly played as in this sample.

Knowing a tiny bit about his Bobo's instrument collection I would imagine the instrument used being a rotary Bb tenor tuba likely by Alexander. And the tutti portion of the tuba part being played on a larger instrument by another player. The experts will tell me how far off my guesses are.

Klaus Smedegaard Bjerre

sounds like the same instrument to me. If it is an F, it is the old tiny Mirafone. What a sound! I just wonder if that's the sound that's really best though. It certainly projects, and is wonderful, but it's brighter than I envision in the scene.
http://www.geocities.jp/tatsuyabanno/Bi ... dlo-e.html

btw, I asked a Polish friend about the pronunciation...she said "bid-row".