boring bloke updates (do not read)

[bloke]

- first Nutcracker rehearsal, tonight…I used “Stubby”, the bloke-assembled Holton B-flat. I have played that ballet many times, but this is the first time ever on a B-flat tuba. I will admit it: I had to think about some of the sharps. No mishaps, but a few “just in times“. (I should’ve taken a look at the book before the rehearsal, eh?) That having been said, it performed wonderfully for me. I’m really fond of this instrument.

- I’m not moving forward with the prototype mouthpiece. After getting past the few “cool new thing” days (that so many run-of-the-mill mouthpieces offer), I came to the conclusion that it’s not much different (nor any better) than an endless parade of expensive/hyped/junk/crap mouthpieces…mouthpipes that require practicing on them a great deal (and daily) in order to be able to use them. That BS is not for me. I need a mouthpiece that makes me sound better than I play, not one that demands that I constantly have to remind myself (via daily drills ) how to play it.
It’s going on the scrap heap. Stuff like this can be acquired from of other outlets. They can put their names on stuff like this. I will not. My mouthpieces are meant to be played, and not just sold…OK…’nuff said.

[the elephant]

I missed something. What prototype mouthpiece?

[bort2.0]

I missed something. What prototype mouthpiece?

THERE IS NO PROTOTYPE MOUTHPIECE!!

[bloke]

I mentioned it in passing in some other thread, and then - as a bit of an extended side bar - Bill/Doc got me to talking about, some.

but you were warned to NOT read this thread.

“Stubby” - so VERY LITTLE obligatory slide-pulling required frees up the mind to (until it becomes more natural again, after all these years) devote the use of some of it to recalling fingerings of sharp pitches on B-flat tubas.

I missed something. What prototype mouthpiece?

[the elephant]

… you were warned to NOT read this thread.

I missed something. What thread?

[bloke]

..

[the elephant]

The excerpt below was my wake-up call to no longer bother with using an Eb in the orchestra, which led me to dump Eb altogether a year later. So my Holton Monster Eb project led me directly to my current F tuba, the tank-like Kurath that became Willi's Willson 3200 FA-5.

[I suffer from dyslexia, and maintaining three sets of fingerings at the level needed was not attractive to me, so I set out in search of a more "Eb-like" F tuba that could serve as a sort of do-it-all tuba. (Man, you hate the term "tweak" but I hate the term "do-it-all tuba" probably just as much.)]

The eight eighth notes in the last line were mind-bendingly difficult for me, personally, with my dyslexia. This excerpt is a breeze for me on my Kurath F or my 186 CC. On that eeffer, though? Forget it! I'm just too dang stoopid for that. There are many other excerpts out there that would be a challenge on the Eb tuba, but this was the one that landed in my lap when I was learning the horn, and it proved difficult enough that I made some mistakes in rehearsal that could not be fixed without a few minutes of practice, which I did not have. The concert went well enough, and I ended up using the Eb on the whole program. Everyone liked the horn, too. But I don't generally make errors at work, so the experience scared me off of the unfamiliar tuba.

[the elephant]

And I still don't see this thread of which you type. And I don't see anything written about "stubby". I did not read anything I was advised to not read. And I *did* take my meds.

[bloke]

As I've posted (two or three times previously), I am not (not really) an E-flat "reader".
I sorta "can" read and play E-flat tuba, but choose to not invest the time required in fully developing that skill-set.
...so I'm an F (best), C (just fine), and B-flat (left over from being a school kid as well as a mercenary-generous-skohlersheep kolij marcher) reader. Somehow...(not certain from where these reading skills came...??) I'm also a 9-foot B-flat reader, as well as a B-flat treble clef 9-foot B-flat reader.
(Also previously posted...) I'm thinking that the only time I ever used an E-flat tuba in an read-notes-off-pieces-of-paper concert was last year...a brass choir concert...A brass choir transcription of "Stars & Stripes Forever" (with the "ha-ha...this is just so funny" piccolo part given to the tuba).
Probably able to play that entire march in any key on any tuba (too many renditions performed too many times at too many places), I actually did NOT "read" my part, but just PLAYED my part...and (though I followed the shape of the piccolo solo line with my eyes) I also just "played" (and did not read) that, either. The reason for choosing E-flat tuba WAS the piccolo solo part - whereby c. 98% of the pitches played were produced with valves 1, 2, 1-2, or "no valves down".
In summary, as an "E-flat tuba person", my persona could be analogized to that of a "play-by-ear" gee-tar player.

[bloke]

trivia:

The movie - from which your screen-shot/still was harvested - was (more than entertainment and a box office hit - which it WAS, due to Jack Nicholson being hired to portray the lead character) a propaganda movie, which was timed to be released prior to two Supreme Court rulings which flung open the doors of (and shut down) virtually all of America's permanent homes and asylums for the dangerously and/or hopelessly/helplessly mentally ill.

As with any propaganda movie, it portrayed ALL of those (employed by such institutions) as completely diabolical, and ALL of those housed as (not just "completely able to look after their own affairs", but additionally) "happy-go-lucky".

Those of us - old enough to remember - recall (as both of those rulings occurring in the late 1970's)
up to the late 1970's - (though there will always be some) no epic "homeless" problem in America
1980 to date - an epic "homeless" problem in America

bloke "Hey monitors, is this 'politics', 'history', or just 'saying what is' ?"

[Three Valves]

It's as if someone created a problem and has pledged ever since to fix it.

One day I will see Nutcracker again. It would be REALLY COOL (for me) to see it from the pit.

[bloke]

It's as if someone created a problem and has pledged ever since to fix it.

One day I will see Nutcracker again. It would be REALLY COOL (for me) to see it from the pit.

Ballets and Broadway shows really are not visible (at all) from most pits.

Perhaps twenty years ago...a local orchestra performed the Nutcracker ballet in a VERY large (since that time: bulldozed) hall with a VERY small pit.
Rather than trying to use that pit, the orchestra was placed in the BACK of that hall (in some of the floor-level patron seats, underneath the mezzanine). I'm told that it was the WORST that orchestra EVER playing the Nutcracker, because they would begin watching the dancers, lose concentration, miss entrances, and even miss the beginnings of numbers.

[the elephant]

Yes, very true. You cannot really see anything from inside the pit.

I am standing to take this. When seated all you can see are the occasional head. With lifts or leaps you can sometimes see the upper torso of the taller male dancers.



In our pit (which is the front portion of our stage — it raises and lowers, with under-stage access doors and downstairs Green Room and bathrooms separate from the ones upstairs) The chins of most players are about level with the hall floor. You can see this with the woman standing in the front row behind the conductor and the heads of the players.

[Three Valves]

I was speaking figuratively, of course.

Point being, I am envious of your participation.

[bloke]

In the Broadway show, "Annie" (decades ago - when they would parade that wildly-popular show through cities, every two or three years), there was one "poignant" moment where the girl was right up at the stage apron - and supposed to be very sad.

Sometimes, we would try to make her giggle.
Once, one of us stuck some big white oval discs (no "irises") over their eyes...to imitate the appearance of the Little Orphan Annie comic strip characters.
yeah...She lost it.



TMI: During that time (1980's?) I owned a Holton 340 6/4 B-flat. Wow...did that thing make a RIGHTEOUS sound (on the opening overture - IN B-flat major) in that old Orpheum-circuit theater.

[the elephant]

That is a great tuba book. I played it many times while living in NYC/Brooklyn. Most of it is in either B major or Gb major, as originally written. If we had a kid get sick and the understudy had to perform, we would have little notes on our stands when we got to the theater, warning us that, "TONIGHT #15 WILL BE IN Db MAJOR, #s 21, 24 AND 24a WILL BE IN A MAJOR. MARK YOUR PARTS ACCORDINGLY. USE A PENCIL!" And we would have to transpose at sight. With that many kids, this happened nearly every night to some extent.

[windshieldbug]

OK, I have to tell THIS story because I know it’s true (my wife was in the pit).
There was a run of The King and I at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia with Yul Brynner headlining. A part of the show had Mr. Brynner sit on the edge of the stage and reflect. He always stared into the pit at two young, attractive flute players. Once, well into the run they looked away, so the next night he sent someone out to inquire if something was wrong. That night, not only did they return his gaze, but the principal flashed him. True professional that he was he showed no reaction and went on with the scene as though nothing had happened. This became famous locally and I feel obligated to share it though it was a long time ago and I’m sure that anyone that’s still with us will deny it…

[humBell]

There was a fairly standard solution to setting up a black box space as a theater with a sort of pit such that i as the bass player got to look past the conductor at the stage. Ah, those were good times, and i was spoiled as a pit orchestra player...

(I knew the repertoire well enough in general i didn't get caught by surprise/distracted too often, so perhaps i was considered trustworthy or something. Ah, the wonders of amateur theatre)

Never played Nutcracker though...

[Casca Grossa]

trivia:

The movie - from which your screen-shot/still was harvested - was (more than entertainment and a box office hit - which it WAS, due to Jack Nicholson being hired to portray the lead character) a propaganda movie, which was timed to be released prior to two Supreme Court rulings which flung open the doors of (and shut down) virtually all of America's permanent homes and asylums for the dangerously and/or hopelessly/helplessly mentally ill.

As with any propaganda movie, it portrayed ALL of those (employed by such institutions) as completely diabolical, and ALL of those housed as (not just "completely able to look after their own affairs", but additionally) "happy-go-lucky".

Those of us - old enough to remember - recall (as both of those rulings occurring in the late 1970's)
up to the late 1970's - (though there will always be some) no epic "homeless" problem in America
1980 to date - an epic "homeless" problem in America

bloke "Hey monitors, is this 'politics', 'history', or just 'saying what is' ?"

I grew up approximately 3 miles from one such facility. I remember when that ruling shut it down. I had several family members that were nurses there. They were very upset to lose their jobs. More upset that they would no longer be able to take care of those residents. They could attest to the fact that if the place was like the movie, it would have been a wonderland for the residents. The management in that facility would have made
Nurse Ratched look like Mother Teresa. The closure created a boom of group homes in my community. Residents of my community were not happy about it. One such group home was established across the street from the house I grew up in. They lived infinitely better lives in that home where they weren't subjected to regular shock therapy, being heavily medicated 24/7, and being sterilized against their will. That facility is now one of the top ranked haunted attractions in the country during the Halloween season and regularly pops up on those ghost hunter type tv shows.

[Casca Grossa]

- I’m not moving forward with the prototype mouthpiece. After getting past the few “cool new thing” days (that so many run-of-the-mill mouthpieces offer), I came to the conclusion that it’s not much different (nor any better) than an endless parade of expensive/hyped/junk/crap mouthpieces…mouthpipes that require practicing on them a great deal (and daily) in order to be able to use them. That BS is not for me. I need a mouthpiece that makes me sound better than I play, not one that demands that I constantly have to remind myself (via daily drills ) how to play it.
It’s going on the scrap heap. Stuff like this can be acquired from of other outlets. They can put their names on stuff like this. I will not. My mouthpieces are meant to be played, and not just sold…OK…’nuff said.

I personally think you should develop some oversized, heavy-weight, soup can style mouthpieces. Call it the Memphis Masher. It will make you play better.