Posted by Doc on May 11, 2003 at 02:52:46:
In Reply to: Non-brass music for practice? posted by Dragomir on May 10, 2003 at 13:57:07:
You are not strange at all. Smart, I'd say. I think you'll find a lot of good players that do that. If you've ever listened to/read any of Arnold Jacobs' comments, you'll understand that the focus (in our context here) is about the making of music. He talked about hearing a beautiful melody played by one of his colleagues (on violin, trumpet, etc.) and he would go home and work it up on his tuba. He would play that same beautiful melody, but in his medium (the tuba). We limit ourselves if we just listen to tuba music and just play tuba music. Most of "for tuba" music is great, but there is an almost infinite wealth of excellent music from which we may choose. Music written for all of the different instruments over a span of several hundred years, not just a few decades. I don't want to be confined just to my "tuba box", I want to get outside the box. Who said we have to stay in our place? Why should violinists, horn players, trumpet players, and cellists be the only ones allowed to play all that wonderful music? You need to listen to great players on different instruments. It will help expand your abilities and overall feeling for music. Besides, playing the same old tuba/brass stuff can get boring. A little spice goes a long way. Ask anyone who's been married a long time. They'll tell you the same thing.
Honk on!
Doc