Re: Re: Re: perceptions


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Posted by Rick Denney on March 09, 2000 at 11:52:29:

In Reply to: Re: Re: perceptions posted by Jay Bertolet on March 09, 2000 at 08:57:55:

Please note the tongue firmly planted in cheek, heh, heh.

I would never presume to explain why symphony professionals make the choices they do. They have talents and hearing that leave me shaking my head in awe. I'm barely qualified to appreciate the results.

Of course I would never show up to a stage gig with a sousaphone, but I have to admit that the forward bell is only one reason! A tuba player in a polka band with a sousaphone would look decidedly out of place, no matter what the sound, and how groups look *does* affect the work they get. Otherwise, we would not subject ourselves to lederhosen and funny hats, just as you symphony players might prefer less formal attire for performing than a tux.

While I cannot speak for the choices of top pros, I have had many friends from lower down on the roster. When I started playing again in the early 80's, me and all my friends lusted after Miraphones. They were the pinnacle of desire. We laughed when the former-pro leader of our band's tuba section gleefully bought a new (to him) horn, and it turned out to be a front-action King with a forward bell.

But tastes change. The Miraphone is no longer the object of lust among many amateur players. I heard a fine community band in Maryland last August, and the tuba players in that group had four old Conn and King piston-valve horns (bells up). Nary a Miraphone in sight. And every one of them (me, too, for that matter) salivates over the pictures of Mr. Jacobs's York. (As to this demand preventing these instruments from getting into the hands of symphony pros, I suspect most people at my level think an old American BBb BAT is the closest we'll ever get to the Nirschls and Yorkbrunners and Floydophones that symphony pros can justify purchasing, whether or not they can afford it.)

Now, do these tuba players sound better now than they did with their Miraphones? Maybe, but not to my ears. Therefore I conclude, perhaps wrongly, that they made their choices not solely because of the sound, but rather because of the current popularity of that type of instrument. Tuba players are not exempt from fashion.

I did notice the difference when a symphony pro I know switched from his Alex to a Yorkbrunner. But I'd bet that most of what I heard from that incredibly talented player I could not have produced myself. When I tried out a 2165 at Orpheus, I could barely make sounds on it--I had a similar experience several years before when I tried out a Yorkbrunner at ITEC. Despite that, I feel the pull of the BAT myself.

It must be a guy thing.


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