about my new-to-me Miraphone model 98 B-flat. So obviously I’m eager to use it in an orchestra concert…but this first subscription concert is all Latin or in-the-style-of Latin music.
Hey bloke, use a sousaphone – like those Banda guys.
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The music director is crazy about (loves) the contrabass trombone (cimbasso) as does the trombone section, and I’m freely allowed to try it on works designated for “tuba“. (It’s a remarkably good instrument, and easy to play it well and in tune without having to practice playing it all the time.) That having been said, I believe that I use pretty good (and very conservative) judgment when trying out this instrument on repertoire, and – even when I could probably get away with it, but it just isn’t right – I won’t use it.
For this concert, I am tempted to bring it and give it a shot.
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Oddly, there’s a pops concert the very next day on a Sunday with one rehearsal only, but a huge list of tunes. One of them is the “suite” (actually: overture/main title) for/from the movie, “The Magnificent Seven”. I would also (as I have played it so many times on the tuba) like to try out the cimbasso on this piece as well. Additionally, the pops concert has a New York City-themed medley that I’ve used the cimbasso to play in the past, and it works out better than tuba, because it’s basically a fourth trombone part.
In just a couple more weeks we have a big outdoor concert with a whole bunch of absolutely-tuba pieces slated, and a couple of weeks after that is Carmina Burana… indubitably: written just for this giant Miraphone B-flat tuba…
… so it will get its chance.