Today was the behemoth Miraphone B-flat and cimbasso gig.
today's reminder:
The things we're most proud of doing are not necessarily/particularly noticed by others.
The postlude was playing (2nd trombone part) on cimbasso. Most of it was around or kinda-well-above the staff with a bunch of 32nd-note double tonguing and 16th-note triple-tonguing. I was sorta happy with the job I did on that tune...
(' closest I could find to a braggart emoji...ie. "hot air")...and then, the trumpet guy (principal in Memphis - a fabulous player) turns around and says "That decending scale [ie. two tunes earlier] down to the tonic (big B-flat tuba) was really great!"
It totally reminds me of one of the (have done a couple of these) sort of Nelson Riddle orchestration big band gigs (playing the bass 'bone book on the cimbasso). Some tuba nerds bought tickets specifically to hear the cimbasso, came up to my afterwards and (having nothing to say about the really zippy, syncopated, and double-high-B-flats part in an Ella Fitzgerald arrangement) said, "That was "GREAT!!!" (me: "what was great?") You know..."THAT !!!" ("...that...??) "The BOOOOW---BOOOOW---BOOOOOOOWWW !!!!!! (moving to the four-chord in the Elvis "American Trilogy" chart ("Battle Hymn")...so it knocked them out to hear me play - at ffff - E♭-G-A♭ (ie. tonic to the four-chord)
.oh yeah: "Variety is the spice of life." (sorry)
I have about two weeks to tidy up mastering the Tuba 1 part to Michael Tippett's (insane) Symphony #4 (F tuba, though someone here researched it, and discovered that the youtube Solti/Chicago performance Tuba 1 part was played on a baritone horn/euphonium. (I gave it a shot after hearing that, but it's just not as "exciting" on the euphonium...so I'm sticking with F tuba.)
...and a week later, John Mueller and I are covering the tenor tuba parts in the encapsulating fanfares of the Janáček Sinfonietta...(mostly open fifths and loud)...
...so (including today and the next two jobs), my four "main squeezes" are getting good workouts...
...I just need a last-minute Sunday brunch jazz combo gig - so I can make a little bit of money with the Besson recording bell compensating E-flat.
