I'm a freelancer, so I always owe a hefty amount at tax time.

A friend of mine was in one of those Air National Guard bands. She and her unit were given the option to move over to a local Army band, and many of them took that option. They have to go through Army basic training, but after that they will still be employed as military musicians, playing with the ...

It boggles my mind how Yamaha could make the euph 321 and Eb tuba 321 so good, but the Bb tuba 321 so awful.

The trombones don't have a WHOLE lot more to do than that. I played it in undergrad and it was pretty much just an "I get to listen to all these pretty flute solos" experience, not so much a playing one. There is also a La Mer by a less-known composer named Paul Gilson. That one gives the low brass ...

Personally, I don't like the sound of either tuba or bass trombone in the average brass quintet (the exception being rep specifically written for bass trombone, like the ABQ stuff). Even an F tuba (or at least, the big Fs everyone is using these days) is too big for the group to my ears, while bass ...

I go through a lot of brass instruments. I currently own 29, but have sold 36 according to my spreadsheet. I generally operate under two rules: 1. Instruments are tools, not companions. As much as I've dabbled in collecting over the years, it's never stuck for very long. If I don't use it, I don't ...

Schiller/Jim Laabs is the worst place to buy a Chinese horn from...no quality control, no customer service, and the notoriously awful descriptions. Better to find the same model by another retailer. They're all the same model from the same factory, after all.

So, what horns did you want to buy? The two big ones were the PE523 large bore alto trombone and the large bore soprano trombone with F attachment. The alto was awesome. I tried one at a convention once and it was 90% as good as the amazing boutique altos, for a tiny fraction of the cost. They ...

I like the mini-corps idea, but I also feel that it doesn't really need to have a competitive circuit like the big corps do. What I would rather see is more local mini-corps scenes in place of a national one. I feel like that would be a better fit for the more casual nature of those groups.

If it's not actually B&H-made, Couesnon is a great guess. That taper, flare, and short leadpipe makes me think it could be a bass flugelhorn, and Couesnon did stenciled low flugels a lot (I have a Couesnon alto flugel on its way to me as we speak). They are almost always stenciled B&H/Lafleur when ...

I've read that - around Mozart's time - when trombones were rarely invited in to play (such as his Requiem, that I'll be playing in a couple of weeks), those were C trombones (yes or no, trombone players/historians?) Not always, but they were around. If I remember right, the French got the British ...

I actually wrote a piece for horn/tuba/piano last year, commissioned by a friend. It's jazzish throughout. I'll see if I can track down a recording of one of the performances.

I have been told by someone who knows more about brass taxonomy and history than me that the difference between a solo alto and an alto cornet is that a solo alto has a cylindrical leadpipe (like an alto horn), while an alto cornet has a conical leadpipe (like a cornet, or the DEG 1220). The end ...

Lots of Mexican banda music out here, all with amazing sousaphone players. The sousaphone scene in general is very strong here...every classical tubist I know also owns a sousaphone and gigs on it year round. Otherwise, you're pretty much left with the many good orchestras in town or the occasional ...

DEG/Dynasty had horns made first by Willson, then Allied, then Weril. Not sure if there was overlap, or if there were additional sources. That's just what I know from the G bugles.

In that case I will gladly buy that when you sell it!

I think it is actually a 1948. Elkhart 6Ds always had a very plain engraving (usually saying C.G. Conn LTD Elkhart USA), and some don't say Elkhart. Here's a 1953 with the same engraving. If it is actually a 1948 and the rotors have enough compression left to play well, I will 100% buy it from you ...

This is a DEG model 1220. It was marketed in the catalog as a "marching alto/French horn", but it is really an alto cornet in F (just as it appears). Made by Willson as mentioned, who also sold an Eb version in their Swiss home market. Most of them have the small 6" bell that this one has, but there ...

Personally I think the same thing could be accomplished with a slide that is only one or two positions long. I don't think you need a full 7 positions on an instrument like that I tend to agree with this line of thinking, though I'd probably want 4 or 5 positions just to have a bunch of extra space ...

Don't trust any eBay account with 0 feedback - especially one that only joined last month, and ESPECIALLY one where the price and shipping cost are suspiciously low. That's a good way to have to spend the day with PayPal Buyer Protection, and not getting a tuba.