...so - looking through my "impressive array of 'tenor tubas' "
, I pulled up the Melton kaiser bariton...man...THAT's a lotta work !!!
Then, I pulled out my Swiss euphonium (which only plays in tune nicely with frickin' large mouthpieces - via design)...
well...LESS work, but still a LOT.
so I got to thinkin', climbed up into the bloke-attic, found a brown, beat-up, buttugly 1970's (YET, back before Yamaha cheap-assed 'em up) Yamaha YEP-321 (with it's old funky black case, but with a NICE older/wood empty Jupiter case sitting right next to it), pulled it down cleaned up up, had Balinda (Yamaha pts./California) send me the right buttons, put the right felts on it, straightened it out (good enough) aligned the slides, soldered the joints, found a SMALL shank Schilke 51 mouthpiece layin' around (with a couple of chips in it) and AWAY we go !!!
The entire thing is middle-range to VERY high, and the .571" (14.5mm) bore + the SMALL shank receiver proved to be the "secret weapons".
I can play the part - WITHOUT running out of gas, WITHOUT riding sharp, and WITH some sparkle in the sound (which will be needed, as top-actions' bells point the wrong damned direction).
bass clef part...?? nah: I am perfectly accustomed to looking at a "C" and not mashing any buttons.
highest pitch...?? "concert" C-natural..."on up there" (bar #132).
If you don't know the part, the whole thing's basically a "solo".
It should be fun.
I'm doing Brahms II (a week earlier) somewhere else, so two instruments which have been collecting dust - my F tuba, AND a (collecting dust for probably fifteen years) euphonium will be given chances to make some noise.
' pretty sure this is public domain, by now...
hee-hee...I peeled the Yamaha insignia off of a trashed trumpet case, and touched it up with silver paint and a Q-tip
