obscure things remaining on "tenor tuba" list check-off (Janáček - Sinfonietta)

Tubas, euphoniums, mouthpieces, and anything music-related.
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bloke
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obscure things remaining on "tenor tuba" list check-off (Janáček - Sinfonietta)

Post by bloke »

' playing the tenor tuba (fanfare mvt.1 and same fanfare - last mvt.) with Memphis next month...

If I live long enough, I will probably end up playing ALL of the tenor tuba" parts...
This is/one of the few that I've not been previously hired to do.

4 'bones, 2 tenor tubas, 1 tuba

bloke "I wonder who's playing the other tenor tuba part...John Mueller...??"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinfoniet ... 1%C4%8Dek)

B-flat treble clef, so no problem. (C treble clef = "somewhat annoying", but not so bad.)

Last edited by bloke on Thu Feb 15, 2024 3:56 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: obscure list check-off

Post by arpthark »

Too bad you only have a big old baritone and a little old baritone, and not a 'feshn'l tenner tooba.

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Re: obscure things remaining on tenor list check-off (Janáček - Sinfonietta)

Post by bloke »

Mine was (arguably) better'n that one (Melton with 5 valves - no main slide trigger required), but it wasn't paying for itself, so...
(This is what Rich Matteson played, prior to playing Yamaha.)

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If John Mueller is contracted, our instruments should nearly match.
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Re: obscure things remaining on tenor list check-off (Janáček - Sinfonietta)

Post by MikeS »

I remember playing this once. A friend of mine, who was playing the fourth horn part, came up to me after a rehearsal. She mentioned one section where she was convinced that everyone in that massive assembled orchestra was playing except her. We went to check the score and she was right. I have since wondered what was going through Janacek’s mind when he thought, “Well, I have about a hundred and ten people playing here, but if I were to add the fourth horn it would be excessive.”

By the way, I was playing bass trumpet. This was not because I was a gifted player, it was because I happened to have one. Unlike Bloke’s experience with the tenor tuba, the bass trumpet was a money maker. I would get last minute calls to sub for quintet gigs when the french horn player couldn’t make it. I sold it because it was such an unpleasant thing to play. Sometimes it’s not all about the Benjamins.
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Re: obscure things remaining on tenor list check-off (Janáček - Sinfonietta)

Post by bloke »

Someone in the orchestra owns a (wretched, in my view) bass trumpet.

My own eBay King Flugabone (from back before they were going for so much) is a far superior instrument/bass trumpet, and particularly with my teeny-tiny (Bronx, NY) Bach trombone mouthpiece (a very shallow 24, with a super-wide rim - in order for it to feel more like a trombone mouthpiece) when it's used as a bass trumpet.
notice: I haven't sold it. :smilie8:

the Melton kaiser baritone:
My rule is that an instrument is on probation, if only used once a year (for remuneration), and put up for sale (if one year of no use, or three years of probation)...and no cheating...ie. no taking it to a gig SIMPLY to keep it in probation status.

I'm trolling Tuba/Euphonium on fb...

I asked...

I/
playing one of the Janáček Sinfonietta "tenor tuba" parts, next month with Memphis. (John Mueller is playing the 1st part.)
These are treble clef baritone parts...so (I suppose...??) I should use a 12C or 6-1/2AL...
2/
Considering my suck intonation and those exposed opening intervals with the two "tenor tubas", should we run those passages a few times backstage, or should I just use more vibrato?
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Re: obscure things remaining on "tenor tuba" list check-off (Janáček - Sinfonietta)

Post by Bob Kolada »

From wiki-

"Brass
4 Horns in F
9 Trumpets in C*
3 Trumpets in F
2 Bass trumpets*
4 Trombones
2 Euphoniums (as "Tenor Tubas")*
Tuba"

Sweet Calamity Jane. Do you know if they're they using the F trumpets bloke?
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Re: obscure things remaining on "tenor tuba" list check-off (Janáček - Sinfonietta)

Post by bloke »

Bob Kolada wrote: Fri Feb 16, 2024 12:17 am From wiki-

"Brass
4 Horns in F
9 Trumpets in C*
3 Trumpets in F
2 Bass trumpets*
4 Trombones
2 Euphoniums (as "Tenor Tubas")*
Tuba"

Sweet Calamity Jane. Do you know if they're they using the F trumpets bloke?
I don't know, but I know where at least two of those are floating around town. The ones of which I'm aware are Bach, so not rotary.

As I have posted too many times, just about the best B-flat bass trumpets I've encountered are King flugabones.
The reason for all of these instruments is a huge fanfare that happens twice: at the beginning and at the end of the piece.

It's no secret why pieces such as Brahms symphonies are played far more often than pieces such as these: dough
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Re: obscure things remaining on "tenor tuba" list check-off (Janáček - Sinfonietta)

Post by MikeS »

bloke wrote: Fri Feb 16, 2024 9:20 am It's no secret why pieces such as Brahms symphonies are played far more often than pieces such as these: dough
There are, however, some pieces that are seldom played due to logistical rather than economic reasons. :smilie8:

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Re: obscure things remaining on "tenor tuba" list check-off (Janáček - Sinfonietta)

Post by bloke »

Were I to out to point out why tuba concertos are not programmed very often, I would be asking for it, wouldn't i?
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Re: obscure things remaining on "tenor tuba" list check-off (Janáček - Sinfonietta)

Post by eeflattuba »

I recently came across another piece by Janacek that is very interesting.Its title is Capriccio for Piano-Left Hand and Chamber Ensemble that consists of Flute/Piccolo,Trumpets 1and 2 in F,Trombones,1,2,and 3and Tenor Tuba.There is a full score available on IMSLP and some very good recordings on YouTube.The tenor tuba part looks very challenging.
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MikeS (Sat Feb 17, 2024 9:23 am) • bloke (Sat Feb 17, 2024 11:05 am)
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Re: obscure things remaining on "tenor tuba" list check-off (Janáček - Sinfonietta)

Post by bloke »

eeflattuba wrote: Sat Feb 17, 2024 9:03 am I recently came across another piece by Janacek that is very interesting.Its title is Capriccio for Piano-Left Hand and Chamber Ensemble that consists of Flute/Piccolo,Trumpets 1and 2 in F,Trombones,1,2,and 3and Tenor Tuba.There is a full score available on IMSLP and some very good recordings on YouTube.The tenor tuba part looks very challenging.
He had to have been around some people that played well and were in the town band.
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Re: obscure things remaining on "tenor tuba" list check-off (Janáček - Sinfonietta)

Post by bloke »

It's interesting to see a keyboard player with that name.
I have a friend named Koopman who was a young boy during World War II in Holland. He and his friends would have contests seeing who could come closest to the line of fire when the German luftwaffe would scrafe their streets. Correctly, his name would be pronounced "copeman", but he allows Americans to pronounce it like chicken coop. He's in his nineties, has lost most of his hearing, but still plays gigs. He's a jazz musician. He plays fine as long as the band doesn't change keys and not tell him. He was also a professional cinematographer and used to be flown around all over the country to do shoots. He was the pianist on those Hot Cotton Jazz Band LPs that we recorded the first two of in one session back in the '80s at Ardent Studios in Memphis. Every once in awhile, I link to one of those tracks, which are on YouTube.
This was a dance number (rather than a novelty number) which we would play. It lasted pretty long usually, in order to give people time to dance. The reason his intro and the key of the head are different is because we decided that the version that we typically played on a gig was too long for the lp, so we cut out the (recorded) first chorus and went on to the second chorus where a key change occurred. He came back and changed the very end of his intro. There are other key changes subsequently, which tended to keep dance numbers more interesting.

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