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

[bloke]

‘ aware, but I just chose to respond with a somewhat serious comment rather than trying to top your joke.
I’ll tell you what’s fun:
being noticeably prominent (without being the least bit raucous) over an organ - which is cranked up to full board, and being such without having to expend very much effort
@Rick Denney has played this tuba for a minute or two… He knows.
Again, it’s not the most facile instrument, but it produces a sound like I’ve never produced before, and without having to do much to produce it.

Yeah, I'm just messing with you. When I first played my Rudy 5/4 in a big church, it was "oh hell yes." I'm sure your experience -- in a bigger church and playing real music -- was... well...heavenly.

[djwpe]

Trombone player looks upset.
Horn player looks asleep.

That's passing the test?!

PS -- I bet that was awesome.

I know that trombone player. He’s a great guy. I think his face just rests that way.

PS- Joe- say hi to Bruce for me next time you see him.

[bort2.0]

Trombone player looks upset.
Horn player looks asleep.

That's passing the test?!

PS -- I bet that was awesome.

I know that trombone player. He’s a great guy. I think his face just rests that way.

PS- Joe- say hi to Bruce for me next time you see him.

Well, I'm a jerk.

[bloke]

He plays like an angel (alto/tenor/bass) as does his wife (trumpet - who was also on the gig).

She walked away from a tenured position at Ball State because he was hired at Arkansas State, and their marriage means more to her than did her job.

I've been trying to find her as many freelance gigs as I can manage to find for her. That level of talent/ability doesn't need to languish.
Her piccolo playing is almost "too pretty" (ie. doesn't sound particularly high, because it sounds too easy...a bit like Maurice André).

[djwpe]

I’ve never met her. I met him when he was finishing his DMA at Alabama and I was visiting my guys down there. We’ve kept in touch. He’s a killer player and a great guy.

[bloke]

I’ve never met her. I met him when he was finishing his DMA at Alabama and I was visiting my guys down there. We’ve kept in touch. He’s a killer player and a great guy.

I don't know if I'm being redundant in this thread, but I've only had the privilege - so far - of working two jobs with him.

For her to cross the barrier - known as the Mississippi River - to play gigs in Tennessee is something that not many manage to accomplish...

...and - oddly - the same goes for Mississippi, Alabama, and Kentucky as well.



That having been said, there's at least a 50-mile-wide swath of nuthin' - over there - and only two places to cross the River.

[bloke]

OK...

TWO MORE WEEKS of slaving over horns...

- ALL high schools (except for one that dropped off only three or four) horns are DONE/DELIVERED.

remaining are

- TWO somewhat (but neither are "Mt. Everests") formidable piles of univerities' horns.
- TWO somewhat (but neither are "Mt. Everests") formidable piles of middle schools' horns.

THEN that over-a-weekend Wisconsin trip, and

Then....THEN...THEN !!!!

In the "repairs" forum, I'll document tricking out FatBastard.

[humBell]

What is in a name?

Was Fat Bastard really born out of wedlock?

Or is this just commentary on how societal norms perceive a tuba which should be good enough to transcend such things?

It has been a while since i started figuring out eb fingerings on tubas i dubbed (as a pair) laurel and hardy... (european and american made tubas respectively)

[bort2.0]

Was Fat Bastard really born out of wedlock?

[bloke]

Was Fat Bastard really born out of wedlock?

StoutSingleParented

[bloke]

This stuff is probably really boring, and “no responses” will indicate how absolutely boring it is:

————————————-

…but this is a totally new adventure for me:

a huge B-flat tuba with a huge bore size, and not just some old beat-up school-owned Cerveny that I toot on for five minutes after repairing it.

Having spent some weeks on quite a few (easy and difficult) 19th century vocalises and (easy and difficult) 18th century Bach cello dance movements,

I’ve begun playing through and sort of working on some “greatest hits“ contrabass tuba orchestral excerpts.

These rotors’ tolerances are quite close, and seem as though they are moving “just barely fast enough to play fast”, but things such as all of those quick passages in the scherzo movement of Mahler 5 - which must be crisp, clean, obedient to dynamic markings, and musical - are mostly all easier than they’ve ever been before, and - candidly - sound better (at least, to me).

“Fountains” hints to me that it might end up being easier – once the button-mashings are absolutely in place.

The F minor low scalular passage from Romeo and Juliet is much easier, sounds better, I’m not having problems with air, and the first couple of times through the passage sounds as if I’ve been practicing it for ten or fifteen minutes.

I haven’t played the Valkyries passage many times (I actually don’t like playing it very much), but it’s no easier nor no more difficult, and the same goes for Symphonic Metamorphosis: no easier nor more difficult. The legato low phrases from Romeo and Juliet are easier, and I’m more satisfied with the first run-throughs than in the past – versus playing it several times until I’m pleased with the results.

I still haven’t vented the valves, which should make things even easier for passages such as the last one mentioned above.

I have certainly learned that – just as with other shapes and lengths of tubas - a given “kaiser orchester b-tuba” isn’t necessarily going to play like the next one…and - per my preferences and laziness - easy is ALWAYS better.

[bloke]

Those who own a 1960's Ampeg B-15 Portaflex bass tube amp will understand this:

Running through some scheduled barn-burners (a Sunday pops - oddly: the day after a Saturday masterworks, and - next week - an annual outdoor concert), I'm playing these (formerly: would have played them on a C tuba) on this huge B-flat instrument.

It is very similar - in response - to the Portaflex:

It will increase in volume (with incredible resonance) up to a certain point, and - after that - bleeeeehhhh!!!
ie. That's it...That's all it will do. (but who would ever desire or need more...???)
...so I'm learning to not "whack" this thing, because it "whacks back, and it ain't nice.

Simply, it's DELIGHTED to produce BEAUTIFUL sounds up to fffff, and (again) that's it.

[Doc]

Those who own a 1960's Ampeg B-15 Portaflex bass tube amp will understand this:

Running through some scheduled barn-burners (a Sunday pops - oddly: the day after a Saturday masterworks, and - next week - an annual outdoor concert), I'm playing these (formerly: would have played them on a C tuba) on this huge B-flat instrument.

It is very similar - in response - to the Portaflex:

It will increase in volume (with incredible resonance) up to a certain point, and - after that - bleeeeehhhh!!!
ie. That's it...That's all it will do. (but who would ever desire or need more...???)
...so I'm learning to not "whack" this thing, because it "whacks back, and it ain't nice.

Simply, it's DELIGHTED to produce BEAUTIFUL sounds up to fffff, and (again) that's it.

Isn’t that enough?

[bloke]

In back-to-back classical/pops concerts this weekend, I finally DID figure out how to blow into this thing to get a little bit more “teeth” in the sound without “tube-crunching”.

[bloke]

Playing longer tubas requires more embouchure precision, and playing larger tubes (certainly higher in the written range of the instrument - and with more delicate passages) also requires more embouchure precision.

I’ve had to step up to the plate playing this B-flat that is larger/longer than my C instrument. The sound is really making me smile, so it’s absolutely worth it. I’m still not thinking about selling my C instrument. (well… If I wasn’t thinking about it at all, I wouldn’t even post about the possibility, would I ?)

I’m still not quite past the reading issue:
I haven’t really read much music and played a B-flat for about 50 years. So far, I have progressed to this point - as long as I go through this little routine: “ OK bloke, the first note of this piece is D-sharp, and that is 1st valve on a B-flat tuba“, I’m good for the piece, and don’t end up mashing C-tuba valve combinations.

[humBell]

...

The sound is really making me smile, so it’s absolutely worth it.

...

Does that make it easier to play? Or more difficult.

It confess, i hadn't thought of smiling while i play before...

[bloke]

Finally vented the valves.
Suddenly, I don’t have to nurse any slurs.
I’m liking this instrument more and more.

I also changed the title of this thread.

I certainly don't make all of my living playing tubas, but - as this type of instrument is still somewhat of an anomaly in the USA (with even American "symphony cats" - who seek B-flat tubas - mostly migrating towards 90-year-old domestic style large B-flat instruments), I just thought that these experiences might be of interest to some.

Admittedly (with a 20-inch bell) this instrument is somewhat of a hybrid, though there are more than just a few (certainly considering the Czech instruments) "kaiser" central-European B-flat tubas with wide bells. Further, Americans (since the 1980's, certainly) seem stuck on 3/4-inch bore front-action piston instruments (even if adulterated versions of (sometimes) more successful rotary models...so here's yet another (though - pretty much - a requirement of a "kaiser orchestra B-flat tuba") somewhat-less-common-in-the-USA style feature: a 21+ mm bore with rotary valves.

[bloke]

peeps like pics and comparisons...

...so here's a B-flat 98 next to a C 86:

[jtm]

Something about that picture makes me think of big old complicated steam locomotives.

[jtm]

Finally vented the valves.
Suddenly, I don’t have to nurse any slurs.
I’m liking this instrument more and more.
...

What does this mean?