Kurath — Am I Finallyl Finished?

[bloke]

Your 6-valve (will be short-lived) F unfamiliarity is similar to my (likely, never-will-quite-be-overcome) 5-valve+trigger F unfamiliarity.
When I encounter divergent valve combinations (B with 2-4 + 2nd slide trigger, range just above low F - with low G certainly requiring the 2nd slide trigger, etc...) playing the F cimbasso, I'll still occasionally write in the damned fingerings (along with a "T"). If such pitches are required over-and-over...no, I don't need to do that (ex: Verdi's Va, pensiero chorus from Nabucco...is that ten - or is it fifteen sharps, in the key signature...??), but when "licks" occur once or twice - which encounter those pitches, yeah...I might write the fingerings in...particularly if they are syncopated "rock" or "jazz" licks (where I'm both concentrating on timing and fingerings).

[the elephant]

I'll be performing the Broughton on this tuba on April 27th. Free admission.

[MiBrassFS]

That’s a great picture! Framed poster worthy, for sure.

[arpthark]

Great poster! Yamayork makes a pretty good background.

Good thing to have the rolled up sheet music at the ready, ya know, to ward off unwanted flies during the photo shoot…

[the elephant]

I have this disturbing Frasier Crane vibe going.

Just shoot me now.

[bloke]

I just shot E.M. a message telling him to find him or us any sort of an excuse for any sort of gig that pays anything at all so that I can tell Mrs bloke I need to go down there that weekend.

[the elephant]

After finally getting to give the 5th/6th valve system a good bit of use, I have decided that I need to unwrap one side of the lever springs one wrap to reduce the tension, which is way too strong for me to have any sort of technical facility down there.

Tomorrow.

Also, the upper 3rd slide needs a half-inch haircut to bring it up to pitch.

Later, but soon.

And I am beginning to believe that my 5th and 6th slides are finally settled in where they need to be, and I can take stuff apart and replace the legs with sets of the correct length. I will, at that time, realign the to rotors to allow the slides to fit in their space somewhat better and shorten an overlong brace, which will strengthen it a bit.

Also, I think I will make a new mute out of sheet aluminum that is a copy of my Ion Balu mute. It works well but is not buzzy at all, and I need buzzy, loud mutes for all my horns. If I do this and it works, I will turn the Balu mute into a practice mute. Or at least I'll try to do that. Practice mutes all pretty much suck, so whatever I come up with ought to be at least as good as anything on the market. The bar for practice mutes is set very low.

Finally, I have decided to remake the lever rack and baseplate. I will do this in the summer months. I just ordered a 125" thick 5"x10" nickel silver plate to cut up for this. I used a .125" 1.5"x10" bar to make what I have, and it was too narrow to put the lever rack far enough away from my hand rest to not have my fingers bunched up. What I have is too close to my palm for good technique. I will also use old Miraphone levers as they are just better than mine. The ones I made are very good, but the geometry is weird. (Too short, maybe?) I have ideas about what I need, and I will hack them out of that sheet of nickel silver in a few months.

So before the concerto I will adjust the spring tensions and trim the one slide. If I get around to it I will lengthen the inner legs of the 5th and 6th slides and see how I feel about them. If that is my final decision then I'll tear apart the valve section and install the outer legs to match.

Film at eleven! (That's a lie. There will be no film.)

[prairieboy1]

Thanks for posting! That is a terrific photograph of you!

[the elephant]

My longtime friend and colleague is the conductor of this group, and he needs a current Bio for the program. I sent him this. (Yes, I'll send him a *real* bio later tonight.)

Wade Rackley, a native of the Tamms Federal Correctional Center, was born in a log cabin he helped his father build. He never knew his mother, who left his father before he was born. Wade is a terrible person who is guilty of many felonies. Wade was the governor of South Dakota at some time in the past, under an assumed name. (No one noticed.) Wade appears courtesy of Gold’s Gym and Red Bull Energy Drink because he is such a BAMF. Today’s performance is sponsored by a big-ass grant from Swanson Hungry Man Frozen Dinners.