Re: Re: Re: Re: Comparing old-timers equipment to today


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Posted by Mark Heter on October 16, 2003 at 08:19:12:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Comparing old-timers equipment to today posted by Mark E. Chachich on October 15, 2003 at 16:22:09:

Older Players? As in years spent on the job? Johnny Evans (this guy was wonderful - ask Harvey) played with the Ringling show for over 40 years. I believe Joe Novotny retired after 25 years+ with the NY Phil. Torchinsky was with the Philly for over 25 years, I believe.

I've worked with several musicians who were playing well in their old age: Wayne Lewis, who played euphonium with Sousa, then Goldman for over 44 years, played concerts with me in the 1970s - sounded great. He spent a lot of time playing circuses and rodeos and ice shows besides the bands.

Joe Tarto played as well as he ever did in his 70s.

When I moved to Florida in 1985, Fred Pfaff was still alive - and playing his tuba pretty well in his late eighties. He had retired, having done very well in the radio and television days in NYC, after playing with Sousa's & Pryor's Bands - in 1952. Outlived two wives, too. Played a Jack Richardson model rotary valve Conn during his Pryor days, later switched to the "new" bell front Conns - all BBbs. He still can be seen (and heard) on old kinoscopes of the Bell Telephone Hour which show up on the arts cable programs. He ws the original tuba player of the Bell Telephone Orchestra on radio, later television, until he retired to Maitland, FL.

Insofar as comparing the abilities of the old guys to the current crop - Tarto and Pfaff, and other older players I was fortunate to know were very complimentary about the younger tuba players they were hearing. Pfaff volunteered that the tuba players currently working at Disney World (1980s) would all have found places of steady employment in the "old days" - during his heyday in NYC. He thought they all played great. I qualify this by saying that Pfaff probably made more money than Tarto and Bell combined. He has the go-to-guy for the broadcast industry from its inception until his retirement.

The unfortunate reality for today's younger tuba players (and musicians in general) is that the music industry is a business that discussed in the past tense. The business model has been in a state of failure for quite a while. The public isn't inclined to pay for live music that much anymore. The internet piracy proves that most people don't wish to pay for the records, either.

I guess the answer is that you're looking to compare musicians who worked in pretty different businesses. The skillsets are similar, but there are probably some differences. My guess is that the best of the old timers would have some catching up to do today, simply because the demands have become greater. To put it another way, the work being ofered to journeymen years ago is now what is now available to masters. So, where does that leave the journeymen of today?


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