What does a Miraphone 98 Siegfried sound like?
Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2023 10:40 am
I post way too much about this instrument, but but it should be obvious that I'm tickled to death with it. I have to believe these things are semi-unicorns, and I would suspect that fewer than thirty have been made to date. I personally think that the competitive mosels of Meinl-Weston tubas are great, but I held out for nearly a decade to find a used one of these, and - as a C tuba player for 45 years - I currently own no C tubas, having finally acquired one of these.
I would describe it as a hybrid between a "German" kaiser tuba - based on most of the instrument - and a so-called "American" 6/4 tuba, based on the bell profile - from bottom to top.
They had me mic'ed for 1-1/2 of the two run-throughs, but folded it down when they took the annual orchestra picture.
They forgot to raise mine back up, and I didn't remind them, because I really don't like being mic'ed...Of course, that means that there might be times where I'm playing mezzo-forte with the bassoons, and the bassoons are overpowering me (at the sound-guy's discretion), but whatever...
A friend of mine stuck his tablet up in the crow's nest of a large civic center auditorium (not an ideal venue for symphony orchestra, but it is what it is) where we played pops concert last night - mentioned it another thread. So far, The Magnificent Seven movie's main title and The Cowboys movie main title have been uploaded to a private YouTube account. I'm not sharing them publicly, because of all the reasons I don't need to go into.
If anyone wants to hear them - and not share them, I don't think he would be upset if I privately sent links to those files to individuals. Send me a private message request or email.
EDIT:
I just listened to a gorgeous trombone section harmonization - tuba not playing - (Robert Russell Bennett - "OKLAHOMA") of "Out of My Dreams and Into Your Arms"...
...the sound guys buried them with the strings...so whatever on "balance"...
I would describe it as a hybrid between a "German" kaiser tuba - based on most of the instrument - and a so-called "American" 6/4 tuba, based on the bell profile - from bottom to top.
They had me mic'ed for 1-1/2 of the two run-throughs, but folded it down when they took the annual orchestra picture.
They forgot to raise mine back up, and I didn't remind them, because I really don't like being mic'ed...Of course, that means that there might be times where I'm playing mezzo-forte with the bassoons, and the bassoons are overpowering me (at the sound-guy's discretion), but whatever...
A friend of mine stuck his tablet up in the crow's nest of a large civic center auditorium (not an ideal venue for symphony orchestra, but it is what it is) where we played pops concert last night - mentioned it another thread. So far, The Magnificent Seven movie's main title and The Cowboys movie main title have been uploaded to a private YouTube account. I'm not sharing them publicly, because of all the reasons I don't need to go into.
If anyone wants to hear them - and not share them, I don't think he would be upset if I privately sent links to those files to individuals. Send me a private message request or email.
EDIT:
I just listened to a gorgeous trombone section harmonization - tuba not playing - (Robert Russell Bennett - "OKLAHOMA") of "Out of My Dreams and Into Your Arms"...
...the sound guys buried them with the strings...so whatever on "balance"...