Posted by Bill on July 13, 2001 at 08:40:08:
In Reply to: Book question posted by Klaus on July 13, 2001 at 03:05:31:
Klaus, I have here, beside me, both the newest editon of the Arban Complete, etc., method for cornet and the first Arban for tuba. They have about the same number of pages. The historical information in the cornet book is not in the tuba book probably because it does not apply to the tuba student except in an archaeologic sense. The second editon of Young's Tuba Arban is somewhat thinner but it was made so by redoing the layout of pages and making them more efficiently used.
I suspect, Klaus, that you, as I, are a literalist. This is, indeed, a psychosemantic illness from which there is no revcovery except irony and humor. The attempt in the titles of both books is to encourage that Edwardian English traditon of overstatement, rather than classical understatement. A sporting goods catalogue from a Belgian-American company (Herter's) was notorious for this hyperbole to the extent that it kept the company in business ten years after they could no longer supply their wares. The catolgues' sales kept them in business. If we don't laugh so much, we cry too much.