Had a busy weekend. Dress rehearsal Saturday. The concert was Sunday.

We started off with Galop Festivo by Randall Standridge (~3:45)
de Meij's Symphony No 1 "The Lord of the Rings" (~40 min)
And finally some unremarkable patriotic medley with about 2.5 million key changes. Have I mentioned I ...

Years ago there was a brand of bicycle chain lube called "Chain-L". It sold for about $12 for a 4oz (~120 ml) bottle. I, among others at the time, accused the maker of rebottling hypoid gear oil. He swore it wasn't that, but was some magical proprietary oil blend and wouldn't, of course, share any ...

Todd Burdick of Tuba Skinny now uses a susaphone when they are on the road or at least in the YouTube recordings from Europe in the past few years.

I Wonder if YouTube uses a compressor of some sort to reduce the frequency range. The tubas in the above posts seem harsh without the resonance I ...

Well, I did have a TubeNet account. Yesterday, even though the site was down, I could still sign in. Just couldn't see anything. Then I was signed out and couldn't sign in. Now I seem to no longer have an account. Maybe they were purging inactive accounts? I certainly hadn't posted there in years ...

UncleBeer wrote: Thu May 08, 2025 9:11 am Not strictly small group jazz, this is a fun band I get to play with. Plays a wide variety to genres.

That does look like fun! Thanks!

From over four decades ago to this very day, I'm discouraged from playing real book jazz tunes on tuba.

...snip...

All I'm trying to say is that I think you're going to have a hard time finding much of that.


Oh, I'm definitely having a hard time finding very much of it at all.

A little ...

Hi folks!

I've been trying to track down some recordings of small combos playing jazz standards wherein the rhythm section bass instrument is a tuba instead of a double bass or electric bass. They seem to be thin on the ground...

There are quite a few recordings with tuba as part of the horn ...

My son's getting ready to go off to college, and I'm hoping to buy something that will last him so I won't have to ever buy him another one...


My Dad's version of that question, directed at me:
"Why does the one you want cost so much? What's wrong with this cheap one over here? Why can't you ...

I've done something to my left Achilles tendon, couldn't walk yesterday, and called in sick. So I played for a few hours. In honor of DP's retirement announcement I dug out the old "Master Solos" book I've owned since high school and played a few of those. I swear, I could actually play them 30 ...

Went to rehearsal last night for the first time in 3 weeks. There are normally 4 tubas. I was the tuba last night. One of the guys plays in multiple community bands and was at a dress rehearsal. Another guy is a college kid who gave the conductor a list of rehearsal dates when he'd be present. Last ...

Today was the first day in weeks I was able to play without coughing at all. I did my "routine" warm up, played some scales, arpeggios, did some breathing exercises (without coughing!), some Bordogni and a little Snedecor. Then I took a break and did some chores. I came back later and worked on the ...

bloke wrote: Sun Apr 20, 2025 4:23 pm ...but - for the few pieces whereby I needed a "big" tuba - I brought THIS,

Hey, @bloke. What is that? I'm sure there's a thread, or threads, wherein you've discussed it, but my searches have been fruitless. Thanks!

I'm not a teacher, so only consider this as friend advice - to be considered or ignored.


Danke.


First of all, I'm hoping that you're playing a B flat tuba...


Yep. I only have BBb tubas. Well, there's an old Eb helicon, but it's a wall hanger.


Secondly, I'm sure you've pulled out your ...

It looks like we're playing the last movement of this.


We're playing the whole thing for our Summer concerts. It's mostly not terribly difficult aside from counting and trying not to lose my place in 400 bars of rests. But there are a couple passages giving me some grief. In short, my fingers ...

I was reading an old article on Brian Ferneyhough and the New Complexity movement. He was talking about his 6th string quartet premiered in 2010: "If it gets played, that's fine, but that's not the goal."

The description from the article "His scores are hyper-dense, often pushing beyond the ...

I really didn't mean anything by it. But I was reminded of our previous thread about regional colloquialisms. A lot of people around here in PA say it, but I don't recall it much while growing up in MO.

arpthark wrote: Sun Apr 06, 2025 11:53 am hot water heater

Spoken like a true easterner.

Heheh.

Taking Bloke's suggestions for rigging up a hose, I ordered a few parts, including the hose, a spray nozzle with a thumb lever, and the necessary connecting bits. We have an old laundry sink in the basement that gets used almost exclusively for cleaning paint brushes. I lined it with towels, removed ...

I stumbled across a new (to me) program last night called LilyPond, along with an editor called Frescobaldi. LilyPond is an open source music notation application that takes a text file containing markup and produces printable sheet music. The tutorial is easy to follow and the documentation is ...

For the community band I'm currently playing with, the Spring concert is going to open with a galop and end with a patriotic march medley. I hate medleys. Hate, hate, hate. The galop is fun, though.