Re: does marching band messup your sound?


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Posted by David Zerkel on November 04, 2002 at 08:43:23:

In Reply to: does marching band messup your sound? posted by James Tony Rivera on November 03, 2002 at 20:16:56:

I spent eight fun-filled years as a "professional sousaphone player" in the United States Army Band. I chose to look at every time I strapped on one of the band's really awful sousaphones as an opportunity to try to make a really good sound on a really bad instrument. It's kind of like running with ankle weights or swinging a baseball bat with a donut before your at bat.

Even though I didn't love to play these horns, I felt that they did nothing to hurt my sound. On the contrary, I got to the point where I felt as though I could make a pretty palatable sound, and that ultimately transferred to my regular horn.

Now, that's not to say that not everyone approaches the horn the same way. We had one guy, who shall remain nameless, that took out all of his aggression on his sousy. All players have a choice to make. It is up to the player and the director to do the right thing.

My two cents...


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