Re: Re: Why do old instruments blow so good ?


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Posted by Klaus on September 10, 2002 at 14:42:38:

In Reply to: Re: Why do old instruments blow so good ? posted by GC on September 10, 2002 at 13:28:15:

I might agree with you, but a capacity beyond ours, at least beyond mine, named Denis Wick has made another point.

In a masterclass/clinic at our royal conservatory back in 1973, to which I had the good fortune to be invited, DW outed the thesis, that we can not know anything at all about the quality/playing abilities of historic instruments.

According to DW everything worth playing, when it comes to brass, was worn out and then thrashed. What we see in the museums is the unplayable spill, that was lofted into the attics.

My fairly comprehensible collection of mostly high class pro level brasses (50 pieces spanning from a gold brass Selmer piccolo to a gold plated Conn 40K, both 4 pistoned) is intended to end up as a donation for our museum of music history. That is, if my lawyer can bypass the claims of those maintaining to be my legal heirs, as my collection is worth even more than my condo.

I have just a few older instruments, as the threshold to be passed before entering my collection is the one of being playable. My 1919 and 1922 Hawkes bones in G and Bb could be better slidewise, but they have a response beyond belief. Especially the G bass has had its fair share of beating due to the slide extension handle ramming the bell. But they are some very alive elderly ladies.

My 1928 Conn 26K Eb sousa was my entry into the world of tubaing. It has been treated extremely badly during its duties in the US school system. I count it #4 among my 4 tubas, even if I respect its abilities, in my hands, as a high range solo instrument. But it is the one that makes me fight off the pros, that want to buy it from me. It has been on a stage, that I never will be allowed to enter. Our best orchestra with our best tubist claimed it, rental only, for a solo piece at its most recent new years concert.

My 1927 Conn 40K clearly has avoided the marching hardships of being a school instrument. Its most recent history until my acquisition of it in the spring of 2000 says 25 years at the loft of s music store and 25 years being owned by a now retired Kansas low brass professor. My guess is, that it started out a pro dance band instrument.

My 3 other elderlings are out of the Czech/German tradition. The Zelenka flugel and the Cerveny Kaiser Bariton being confirmed Czechs, the no name C flugel being bought out of Germany as they have been all the 3 of them.

My 1995 YEP 641 probably is my forever favourite, as it takes whatever I abuse it with of air and converts it into sheer beauty. But the inherent elegance and lightness of the elderlings with their repeatedly beaten and restored tubings hardly is replicable.

Disclaimer: The elephantastic Conns defy any terms of elegance and lightness. The stay the monsters, they always were. Only they are very, very playable.

Klaus


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