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I complain about the St Paul TubaChristmas every year, but end up going every year.

Sunday 12/3 at 4pm, Central Presbyterian Church in St Paul.

I'll be there, planning to bring my Martin Medium Eb, but I guess I have a few options (but only the Medium Eb has a gig bag, and is a convenient size and weight -- have I fast forwarded to old-guy-tuba?) Although as @ronr reminds me, none of them will be the oldest in the room.

Vote for the tuba I should bring, but I get the final call. The last two don't belong to me (and I'd ask before taking them out on the town), so they may/not be options. I would like the chance to play BBb again though, and NOT miss out on a bunch of notes you can't play on a 3v Eb.

Take the Martin Eb and play the tuba 1 part. I haven't played the tuba 2 part since I started bringing an Eb back in 2013.

Tubajug wrote: ↑Sat Dec 02, 2023 2:47 pm Take the Martin Eb and play the tuba 1 part. I haven't played the tuba 2 part since I started bringing an Eb back in 2013.

Note to self: Tuba 2 on Eb!

That pedal note is gonna be *so* fun!

Yeah, today i brought a BBb because i promised, and ended up Tuba 1 due to their balance.

Fun, and mostly there, but i wasn't without the occasional finger and partial brainfarts.

(Yes, partial brainfarts are in fact full brainfarts which involve playing the wrong partial... and now i'm just explaining things because i can... what's wrong with me?)

PS. I'm not yet too cool for school and bringing an E tuba...
I am not worthy!

Doh... Sorry for veering so far off topic.

I suggest you bring something you can hear yourself play, then exercise appropriate restraint, artistry, and blending.

There is something mildly disheartening about thinking i can't hear myself, so it almost doesn't matter what i play.

Mind, that is a less strong recommendation if you are really good at hearing yourself amidst the music, as you know exactly what to listen for. My mileage may vary.

bort2.0 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 02, 2023 9:23 am I complain about the St Paul TubaChristmas every year, but end up going every year.

Although as @ronr reminds me, none of them will be the oldest in the room.

You might have a shot this year; Ellen’s not playing so no 1893 double-bell this year.

ronr wrote: ↑Sat Dec 02, 2023 10:44 pm

bort2.0 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 02, 2023 9:23 am I complain about the St Paul TubaChristmas every year, but end up going every year.

Although as @ronr reminds me, none of them will be the oldest in the room.

You might have a shot this year; Ellen’s not playing so no 1893 double-bell this year.

Hrmm... Maybe I'll run through a few things tomorrow AM on the old horn to see if it might survive a full run.

It would probably work
It would probably take work to make it work

Something to be said about bragging rights... but that would be bragging, right?

Bring the lovely one and play the 1st part. The U of M marching kids need someone to balance them.

I moved to Duluth and will be doing Tuba Christmas there this year (same date). Quite a low brass scene here, St. Scholastica has an low brass group that meets every Sunday and the community band and local Orchestra are quite ambitious. It probably helps with two state Universities and a private college in the area. Smaller town, so I get to rub elbows with decent players and I sit next to the director in the church choir.

Should be fun.

My mind is boggled by the possibility of practicing in the morning.

By virtue of poor planning, i seem to be driving 2 hours, and am lucky to get up on time. I was even half an hour late for my home town one, the furthest drive of all.

I guess i'm special.

Taking the Martin Medium.

Tried the 1895 Conn this morning... The F in the staff (1st valve) is so impossibly squirrelly, I could barely figure out how to play that note... Not gonna work today.

Then plugged into the Martin medium... aaah... home again, everything nice and easy.

And here I am back to thinking about how or if I should modify this with a fourth valve. No delusions of grandeur for what it is, but I do think it does a lot of life left in it and it deserves to be heard. Best chance of that might be a big update like this.

And maybe I'll finally start experimenting with mouthpieces a bit too. I've used a Denis Wick 1 The entire time that I have owned it, just because it was the correct shank size, the rim diameter that I'm used to, and the deepest available that I knew of. Which isn't such a bad starting point, but it is something to think about whether I'm picking what works best for me, or what works best for the tuba. Not always the same thing.

Oh, and as usual, I'll probably be the last person to arrive there. I'll be far far far stage left. Depending how big the group is, that could mean sitting or standing up again the wall. I got a pretty decent chair last year, which is nice. Much better than sitting in a pew the year before. Ouch.

Sorry, one more thought --

@humBell that reminds me of college marching band shows where it was a "massed band" at halftime. Basically the college band plus about 20 high school bands. Such a racket of noise, nothing sounded like much of anything, and no, it didn't really matter what you played very much.

The worst example of that, was at the peach bowl in 2002. Both college bands plus a whole bunch of high school bands at halftime gathered around a stage with some rapper. Inside of a dome. The rapper had his own music with his own enormous sound system, so the bands were just for visuals, even though we were told that we would be heard. Yeah right!

So, seeing as how we were all a bunch of goofball college kids, we all switched instruments and screwed around and barely played anything correctly. Nobody noticed. Or if they did notice, nobody cared

Tuba Christmas is usually a bit better than that, but has the potential to be exactly as bad as that. The event in New York especially didn't seem to matter so much who was playing but. I guess that was sort of the original intent of the event, and the arrangements, is that from a bit of a distance it all kind of blends together and sounds recognizable or better.

I do miss bringing a huge tuba though. Both the Wilson and The PT-7 were extremely fine instruments with the potential to bury any ensemble. Even at a 100 plus tuba Christmas events, I could hear myself all too well, and if I wanted to, or if I wasn't careful, I could really be overbearing. So, best to just ease up a bit, except for the last note or something. Very satisfying when done correctly. And I hope I did it correctly.

...so - since they're in a church - do the juveniles who bring sousaphones not stand up in the back and purposely overplay and blatt ?

bloke wrote: ↑Sun Dec 03, 2023 4:21 pm ...so - since they're in a church - do the juveniles who bring sousaphones not stand up in the back and purposely overplay and blatt ?

All around, it seems like an older crowd. Some HS students, but it seems like college and older mostly. I guess Sunday at 4pm has some advantages after all!

bloke wrote: ↑Sun Dec 03, 2023 4:21 pm ...so - since they're in a church - do the juveniles who bring sousaphones not stand up in the back and purposely overplay and blatt ?

Of course they do (did). Especially after finding out they get to take a bus to Detroit for a bowl game! 16 hours! Oh to be young again and look forward to something like that!

ronr wrote: ↑Sun Dec 03, 2023 11:04 pm

bloke wrote: ↑Sun Dec 03, 2023 4:21 pm ...so - since they're in a church - do the juveniles who bring sousaphones not stand up in the back and purposely overplay and blatt ?

Of course they do (did). Especially after finding out they get to take a bus to Detroit for a bowl game! 16 hours! Oh to be young again and look forward to something like that!

Evidently i am not up on bowl eligibility...

And i've learned slowly but surely to appreciate when someone else does the driving.

That said, my mind is boggled by the fact i was the only sousaphone at either tuba christmas i made this weekend!

Curious if anyone knows how many tubas etc participated yesterday in TubaChistmas 2023 in St Paul, loved it SO much

NoraDahlgren wrote: ↑Mon Dec 04, 2023 1:20 pm Curious if anyone knows how many tubas etc participated yesterday in TubaChistmas 2023 in St Paul, loved it SO much

If the website has contact for the organizer, ask them how many pins they have left.

Oh, and @bort2.0 was 1922 early enough? Or were there older instruments in attendance?