bloke wrote: ↑Wed Apr 02, 2025 10:22 pm When people went to Sousa band concerts (such as my father as a boy), what did they go to hear...??

marches, or operetta aria accompaniment transcriptions?

I think both, plus the inevitable soloist playing a theme and variations, but they primarily looked forward to the marches.

I'm a march guy. An opening and closing march is always appropriate to me, maybe even a fanfare-ish opening march and a galop to end. But I'm a traditional guy who gets annoyed when young band directors ask "why do we have to play a march for competition/evaluation?", and even more so when an ...

We have people - around blokeplace who speak/read very little English - delivering both mail and UPS/FedEx parcels. It's a combination of two major issues...both of which receive frowny faces, if discussed here, as well as a third issue, being "a general lack of attention to detail", as children ...

In our area, at least, Fedex is notorious for delivering packages to the wrong address. It happened to me, and I read about it happening to others here daily. I received a package for someone who lived 5 miles away, and then got a call from that same person who found my number to tell me he received ...

Interesting. I played upright jazz bass for some 40 years until arthritis in my hands made it too painful. I played in a 30s-40s-50s Big Band for the last 20 of those years. One of our vocalists surprised me when she said she thought bass players were the sexiest musicians in those groups ...

Was held on Dec. 1st at one of the local churches. We had 40 musicians, not bad for a town of 25,000 plus the university. Our youngest player was 12, and the oldest, 93. One of our players drove 200 miles to get here. Unfortunately, the local university (my undergrad alma mater), Tarleton State ...

bloke wrote: ↑Sun Nov 03, 2024 7:39 pm Baritone parts require faster finger-wiggling, but it's easier to wiggle the fingers fast with a baritone than with a tuba.

Especially when said fingers are full of arthritis.

I double on euphonium in both our community band and our low brass ensemble, right now, because I have to do so. My orthopedic surgeon, who is also in both groups, won't let me lift even my little 184 CC until he thinks my replacement shoulder has progressed enough, and I'm only a month out. I have ...

arpthark wrote: ↑Fri Oct 25, 2024 6:41 pm

Reminds me of some of my graduate musicology classes. And they took this stuff sooo seriously.

I used to start my beginner 6th grade tuba students on the Bach 32E. As they grew physically larger, I moved them to a Helleberg 7B.

Posting this for a friend who is a fellow Kentucky grad and Rex Conner student, at the request of his wife. Ed had a major stroke some time back and had to give up playing. They will use the money to help pay a daughter's big medical bills. Description and contact info in the photo. Located in ...

Our formerly-named tuba-euphonium ensemble now reinvented as the Low Brass Ensemble at our first Octoberfest performance of the year. We had a hard time finding 2 euphonium players who were willing to be regulars, and our lead euphonium was a trombonist in real life. The new trombone player on the ...

Many years ago (like 50), I was practicing 4-5 hours a day, 7 days per week. At some point, my lips/ears/brain refused to play the third line D. All other notes were fine, but the D wouldn't go. In talking to the trombone teacher on a Friday, he suggested I take the weekend off from practicing. I ...

During my band directing days in the 1990s, we had a local orthodontist who provided something that did the trick, but I don't remember exactly what it was that covered the "barbs". His daughter was a fine horn player, so he had an interest in helping those kids, including my own two children. I ...

I bought a 184 CC from one of the members here, to be my "old man" horn. Great player, a little "barky" until I found a mouthpiece that worked well (for me) with it. I love this horn.

Definitely my CC Meinl-Weston (Getzen) Model 30. Very nice-playing horn. In the mid 1980s when I was a high school band director, I thought I'd never play seriously again, and children and house payments became a thing, so the money was helpful. But we would have made it had I not sold it. Been ...

bloke wrote: ↑Thu Apr 25, 2024 7:48 pm
I was taught to PUSH the cases with small and not-widely-spaced wheels.

I always push the cases, whether the wheels are large or small. Perhaps I should just slow down. Oh well, not a problem any more. My 184 only has a gig bag, and a wheeled dolly does the carrying.

Most of those that I've encountered have wheels that are somewhat recessed into the case and are way too small. They are hard to keep in balance while rolling. The ones with larger wheels are really nice to roll, but they require more room in the car and in storage.

What I own, the MIraphone 184 CC is exactly what I needed. It's light to carry and takes less air, which has helped a lot. What I wish to own is my old Meinl-Weston model 30 CC. It seemed to take less air (more free-blowing) than the Miraphone 186, and I have never had another tuba with quite as ...