Posted by bloke on December 10, 2003 at 14:39:11:
Here I find myself again doing my annual Christmas jobs. Its the one time of year that I actually play a lot of (written) "real" (oompah) tuba parts..."Sleigh Ride", many others, etc., and the bass trombone is right there with me (or I'm right there "with him")...
' ever notice (with a few rare exceptions) how bass trombone players "don't get it"? We tuba honkers almost instinctive know that if we have (2-beat bass lines) quarter note/rest/quarter note/rest, that we're supposed to imitate a string bass or bass drum: boom / boom / boom / boom or quoting Bill Bell: "poom / poom / poom / poom..."
yet our drinkin' buddies, the bass trombonists, even those who always play for dough and have done so for decades - always play along with us going "RACK / RACK / RACK / RACK...".
No matter how perfectly in tune the bass trombone and tuba are playing, this just "don't mean a thing ' cause it ain't got that swing".