edfirth wrote: ↑Wed May 31, 2023 10:09 am
What has always struck me about the British Brass bands in the homogenous blend of their sound. And if I'm not mistaken everything is either Eb or Bb....and mostly Bessons. No doubt four great players can play the different bass parts on anything and make it work just fine but the Black Dyke and other top band's bass sections are a (to me) unique sound that sets up all of the upper instruments. When they were putting together the Central Florida Brass Band I got about 30 phone calls wanting me to participate but knowing most all the tuba people here and what they would bring to the table, plus, it doesn't pay, I passed and never regretted it. A few years into it the leader who is a good friend, was telling me that he didn't like the way the tubas sounded although they are all fine players and I went into the Eb and Bb spiel and I guess they went out and bought a set(maybe Kanstul) and last I heard everybody was happy. Again though, as stated above since it don't pay, you bring what you got. Happy banding to all . Ed
I’m in agreement with the above but just want to add a little to it. Historically virtually nobody in a Brass Band owned their own instrument, the players were financially poor and if the Band hadn’t supplied instruments then there would have been no players. When I started to play an instrument was supplied for me to learn on and, as long as I stayed with the band, I’d have been able to keep it - and they’d have paid for repairs too. Indeed, without that aid / arrangement I could never have started to play, my parents just didn’t have any spare money and fortunately the lessons were free too. One result of all band instruments being the property of the band was that they were purchased as a purposefully matched set both by section and overall in the band. Another was that we had to do a lot of public playing to raise funds for the band.
These days many players, the bulk of them I would say, have their own instrument(s) and use them in Band. Of course a band, and particularly a higher quality one, might insist that players use matched instruments such that common sound(s) are ‘ensured’ and blend together.
I’m biased but in my view the bass section of a band provides the sound on which the band is supported, the foundation which we lay is important. Bring what you’ve got is what I roll with, but I’m not a high class player in a high class band. My most important task is to play the music well - what really good players do anyway - and the finer details of tone fade into insignificance compared to that … though it’s nice that there’s another Eb Sovereign on the section too, when the part isn’t split we can sound quite good, blending even, in unison. Indeed that’s what’s needed of the whole section, that we are not individuals but rather a team who make a blended sound - apologies but that blending and team concept might not come easy to others.
