Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Verdi Requiem


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Posted by Tony E on November 29, 2002 at 14:20:52:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Verdi Requiem posted by darktubasound on November 29, 2002 at 13:23:16:

Hi,

(a bit long)

On the dark tuba sound: Well, don't get me wrong. I love the full, dark sound of the tuba...probably more than the next guy. The whole "go small and blend" perspective is, in many cases, unfortunate, because you don't necessarily have to "go small" to blend. I love it when I hear a good player use a large horn with facility and musical taste in settings where smaller horns are usually selected. It's a difference in presence, and it can be very effective (it can also be disasterous). But it would certainly become boring if that's all we heard. Personally, I never learned to play an Eb or F, but I would like to. Currently, my only horn is a 6/4 BBb Holton. Fortunately, for me, the pendulum has gone the other way, and using the big horn in a variety of settings has been welcomed as a refreshing perspective by conductors and my fellow players. On the down side, the only change I can make when going from Wagner to Verdi is to change from a Laskey 130 Hellegburg to a Bobo Solo!! Probably not what Verdi had in mind. But, I'm looking at a little Eb, so maybe soon...

Is the cimbasso a fad? I don't know. I think it has now become the norm that tuba players want to have a varied arsenal of instruments to create different colors, tones, and shapes. I would not be suprised if over the coming years, the cimbasso joins the list of tools a tubist is expected to have in his toolbag. I think the competitive nature of the professional business pushes players to have as many varied sounds as possible.

On the human voice: Why even bother with approximating the human voice? Well, here I do see a trend. And that is, for brass players to expand the body of literature available to them. One aspect of this very positive trend, is to explore period music. In the case of period choral music, the challenge for many players isn't just to score the music for brass, but rather to present the music with brass instruments with as much authenticiy to it's original voicing as possible. How might a tubist participate in this specific type of musical quest? Well, one answer is the cimbasso.

On the other hand, I could be wrong. Perhaps I should simply say, as I've said before, "TUBA'S RULE!!", and leave it at that.


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