Miraphone model 98 B-flat playing characteristics and learning curve - VIDEO added on PAGE 10

[GC]

Aaaaaannnndd . . . it only took 3 days for me to realize that XCVIII was referring to teh model number.

[bloke]

I'm not the best at dans l'habitat self-videography...I find it to be distracting.
I play better when someone else is doing the videoing, and I'm not aware.

I see this thing working better than most anything else for Prokofiev (and similarly-written/scored) works and OLD SCHOOL pops applications - orchestrated PRIOR TO the era whereby those who scored such works for orchestra tended to score the tuba as a reinforcement for the basses - rather than as a "defacto 4th trombone" (whereby I will - nearly automatically - employ the cimbasso).

...and sure, I'll be discovering MANY more applications, and will (probably?) tend to squeeze it into other applications - as the resonance (again: combined with the intonation/flexibility "easy buttons") is/are so alluring.

other applications... I was thinking the recent Dvorak was very good on the Holton, but the 98 could be set on auto-pilot and never have to hit the throttle. An easy button. That is, if you need to squeeze the 98 into something. Many similar opportunities will come up - I hope we can hear some examples of it in action!

[Rick Denney]

I'm not the best at dans l'habitat self-videography...I find it to be distracting.
I play better when someone else is doing the videoing, and I'm not aware.

Yeah, I play better when someone else is doing the listening, and I’m not aware.

Rick “used to enjoy the nervous pressure” Denney

[Doc]

Please help those of us out of the loop, but what is it? Looks like Miraphone engraving, and it looks huge; kind of like a bigger brother to my JP 379Bb.

Aaaaaannnndd . . . it only took 3 days for me to realize that XCVIII was referring to teh model number.

Model XCVIII TVBA

[bloke]

Model XCVIII TVBA

TRVE DɅT

[GC]

DVDE.

[JRaymo]

Congrats on the new Axe!

[Pauvog1]

Congrats on the new axe!

I'd name it the "big-un"

[bort2.0]

Looking forward to the classic "bloke front porch on a cloudy day" photo!

[MikeMason]

I’ve always played first page mestersinger on big horn, second page on f. Only performed 3 times and a few auditions. I’ve also been thinking about a euphonium for some stuff. I think I want a front action. Maybe a Festivo.

[bloke]

I'll take a couple of pictures like that.
That's actually next to my BACK porch - next to the drive-through carport.
Due to how the house is oriented on the property (to the advantage of the view) people approach our house from the BACK and enter through the carport. (Thank goodness that - at least - there's a decent entryway, back there.)
They never see the front (all of the windows looking out towards the big pond) until they're inside...

TUNING:
- I BARELY have to lip (1st valve) 2nd-space C (slide all the way in).
Moving that slide out ONLY 1/4th of an inch FLATTENS the pitch MORE - PERCENTAGE-WISE - THAN it already is flat, so that tells me that ONLY shortening the #1 slide ferrules by 3/16ths of an in to 1/4th of an inch will be enough (no "tube-cutting") for a no-lipping 2nd-space C.

- The #3 circuit is an odd design, and (pulling it out all the way (with one side featuring quite a short tuning range) still doesn't quite allow low F-sharp and C-sharp (sorry...I'm one o' them "orchestra cats", so - I don't first think of those as G-flat and D-flat) to be flat enough. Per typical, if I get the upper F-sharp, low F-sharp, and C-sharp in-tune the "middle" F# will be flat...but (as far as the 2-3 combination is concerned) I'd much rather "lip" the middle-range F-sharp pitch up, than ATTEMPT to "relax" high and low 2-3 pitches down.

- The entire instrument is a bit long. It plays R-E-M-A-R-K-A-B-L-Y well and R-E-M-A-R-K-A-B-L-Y in-tune with R-E-M-A-R-K-A-B-L-E resonance and R-E-M-A-R-K-A-B-L-E ease, but - with the main slide all the way in (which - btw - is REALLY nicely aligned from the factory) the tuning is JUST up to A=440. I need another 1/2 inch - for cold days, for A=442 ensembles, and for (well...) playing with groups (I'm very pleased to work anywhere for nice people and for remuneration) that tend to (mostly) play sharp when they're (mostly) playing loud. I'm either going to shorten this main slide OR keep it as-is (for high-temperature rooms or outdoor/summer playing) and have Miraphone send me a shorter (same length slide tubes) main slide - sending Miraphone info re: the precise spacing of the tubes, and asking that they leave one of the socket braces (on the cross brace) un-soldered - for even more precise final-fitting (so that a replacement main slide's alignment would rival that of the original (long) main slide.

- 2-3-5 One expects this to be flat, when other combinations (involving the 5th valve) are in-tune, but - on this particular instrument, and without moving any slides from their default positions - it's "dead on" - both for B and for "low" E.

Further, the "stupid" high range (ie. "stupid" to pick up a tuba this size, and use it to play "up there") is inexplicably secure. Worrisome "licks" - such as this one, in Carmina Burana (scheduled to be played early next November) - are not-in-the-least worrisome, and are all just fine with "beginner band book" valve combinations.

Orff tuba excerpt.png (101.5 KiB) Viewed 1278 times

bloke "This tuba is going to be tons of fun."

Looking forward to the classic "bloke front porch on a cloudy day" photo!

[pjv]

Personally I’d wait until I knew the horn better before operating on it.
Ophicleide parts on Euphonium? You betcha. These were tenor instruments, right? Modern Euphoniums produce more than enough racket to balance the rest of the orchestra, and the parts don’t get muddled up with the extra overtones you get on a tuba.

[bloke]

After a given tuba is warmed up well, I’ve figured out what mouthpiece I have that works best with it, and I’ve played it for a few minutes, I tend to know it. I played this instrument for three or four hours, now.
I will be moving its tuning range up to 442 and lower (rather than the current 440 and lower), I will be altering the number #3 circuit for lower tuning capabilities – while still leaving it short enough to actually push it in far enough for the flattest 2-3 valve combination pitch, and I will be altering the #1 circuit (by simply replacing the ferrules with shorter ones) in order to make it capable of a slightly higher pitched second space C.

Again, I’ve never bought a factory-built instrument - in any price range - that was completely set up properly – at least not for how I approach things. The euphonium that I am currently using is a model that has been chided by quite a few players - due to its intonation characteristics. I made a couple of alterations (neither of which were particularly easy - but were quite doable) and have transformed it into a “push button” Instrument, whereby - as long as I play the two lower G’s with the third valve and add the third valve to the first valve (when playing upper E-flat for more than an instant - similar to many other makes), it’s the most in tune - as well as the most tuba-sounding - euphonium that I have ever played. This Easter Sunday, oddly, ALL of my music was euphonium-appropriate. (I didn’t even bring the tuba, this time.) Usually, I do play several pieces at this particular church on euphonium. This was the - by far - the easiest Easter Sunday I’ve ever experienced, and I credit this instrument - which (model-wise) has been rubberstamped “wretched” by many (surely: most all who are incapable of diagnosing the causes of an instruments’ problems).

[bloke]

Since I had no use for a tuba on Easter Sunday, I took this thing to a community band rehearsal, last night. This is the band that allows me to come and go to their rehearsals. Further, since the director has retired from their day job as a school director (with more time and energy to devote to this enterprise), they have become more serious about pushing the band to become better, and are programming more serious and challenging works… Holst, Persichetti, transcriptions, more technically challenging marches, etc.
There are a couple more tuba players that come and go, but the mainstays are a very good amateur player - who sounds good on one of those unusual configuration combination-parts-of-other-models Jinbao compensating B-flat tubas, and a retired professional bass trombone player - who plays a compensating E-flat JP, and who “does no harm”.
I really enjoyed playing this thing there, last night - though I did have to leave at the break to pick up Mrs. bloke from a meeting.
The director ran the first bar of the March from the Holst Second Suite two or three times. He then said that there’s nothing wrong, but it sounded good and he was just enjoying hearing it.
To his due credit, the amateur player with the Jinbao B-flat compensating was doing a fine job of playing it.
At typical wind band volume levels – pianissimo to fortissimo (with nothing “over the top”) - this big thing reminds me very much of the sound of a large section of bowed string basses - with plenty of “bass”, yet with just enough “teeth” in the sound.
I handed it off to the Jinbao guy to play a couple of tunes, and he really enjoyed it. I also enjoyed playing his Jinbao.

As to tuning adjustments on-the-fly, I don’t see myself moving any slides other than the first slide, and only within about a 1-1/4 inch range. Mostly, that slide can sit in one spot, but the second space C does need for that slide to be all the way in - much like with some of the best of the 186/188 models for C or D.

This is a large tuba, but doesn’t emit “poof balls”. When testing this tuba - prior to buying it, I brought along a trombone-playing colleague of mine who really likes the F tuba - for reasons of clarity. For what it’s worth, he was a Lewis Van Haney student at Indiana. …They immediately bought in to the sound of this instrument.

I’m posting a whole bunch about this instrument, but - were it a run-of-the-mill model - I probably would not even post about having purchased it.
To most (likely: nearly all) tuba people, this model is a unicorn, a myth, and only exists in two dimensions. The few who have encountered this model probably only played it for a minute or two, and in a elephant room - where they really couldn’t hear what was happening. thus: the extensive rhetoric.

[Doc]

After a given tuba is warmed up well, I’ve figured out what mouthpiece I have that works best with it, and I’ve played it for a few minutes, I tend to know it. I played this instrument for three or four hours, now.

So... What mouthpiece combo have you decided on?

[bloke]

I didn’t expect this to be the case, but my (biggest seller/least exotic) “Symphony“ cup, “Symphony“ back-bore, a standard shank, and my regular #2 (narrow rim) profile large-opening rim seem(s) to work the best.
Most anything “works” - and some other mouthpieces will actually play this instrument a bit above A=440 (though this mouthpiece is NOT some gigantic mouthpiece), but this combination seems to offer the best resonance, to my ears.
Being a cheapskate, I pulled my ancient heavier two-piece unmarked prototype out of my sock drawer, and stuck it in the case with this tuba.

After a given tuba is warmed up well, I’ve figured out what mouthpiece I have that works best with it, and I’ve played it for a few minutes, I tend to know it. I played this instrument for three or four hours, now.

So... What mouthpiece combo have you decided on?

[humBell]

...

(Just to clarify, I have no intention of naming it. I don’t name my tubas - just as the overwhelming majority cattleman and chicken farmers don’t name their machinery - nor their stock.)

...

All my creative suggestions wasted?

Sigh.

I'd like ot think i won't get fooled again, but... i would be fooling myself if i did.

Although nothing precludes workers from naming tools or product.

Indeed, one must have names of a sort if one is to communicate, even if it is purely functional, with no emotional investment. This is my tuba. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

Anyway, i will call it bloke's second verse (referring of course to the famous song: 99 bottles) if i ever have an opportunity to refer to it outside of this thread, which does not seem likely.

hum "move the thing! and that other thing!"* bell





"*Fezzig, are there rocks ahead?"

[bloke]

A pair of band directors - at a local middle/high school - grew weary of squinting and reading off serial numbers, so they NAMED all of their bass clarinets after Sesame Street characters. The names are in large white print - on the cases.

Of course, there's nothing to prevent students from mixing up cases (as students routinely do).

[iiipopes]

Name: how about "Girthy"?

[bloke]

Name: how about "Girthy"?

Girtha…Girtha Gutz…one o’ the Gutz sistahz…