Posted by Steve Marcus on May 31, 2000 at 22:55:14:
The June 2000 issue of Musical Merchandise Review Magazine (www.mmrmagazine.com) is chock full of features about the tuba, unusual for this publication.
There is a fine article by Stan Gorbatkin entitled, "How to Buy a Tuba." Stan studied tuba with Fritz Kaenzig and Roger Rocco, and, after 15 years of directing bands in public school, currently serves as assistant principal at Still Middle School in Aurora/Naperville, IL (not too far from where I live and work, but I've never met him!). The Editor indicates that MMR grants permission to photocopy and distribute the article.
Speaking of the Editor, his opening editorial is entitled "Buffing the Tubas." It begins:
"You think you have a difficult job? Try a few of the following on for size..."
He then lists several undesirable job descriptions in the music industry, including his own. The final paragraph reads:
"No question, there are some dirty jobs out there, but I've saved the worst for last. Top honors go to the guys in the buffing room at the Cerveny tuba factory in the Czech Republic. How would you like to spend every day wrestling with tubas and buffing wheels? When I visited the factory some years ago, the plant manager said the buffers were easy to spot: they are the guys who take their breaks flat on their backs."
In the magazine are ads for Jupiter tubas and for the Josef Lidl LBB 701 tuba made in the Czech Republic (has anyone played one of these? Impressions?). There is also a full page ad for E.W. Winston Band Instruments of Boston, which pictures 3 different euphonium models, 4 BBb tuba models, a CC tuba model, an F tuba model, and a BBb sousaphone. Who makes these, and where? Anybody know anything about them?