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Two hours of brass band music at home in preparation for our final concert of the season on Sunday, June 8th. Typical summer fare, Broadway stuff, etc. The Holton "Mammoth" was the horn of choice. It is a terrific horn, however as I continue to age, well perhaps something a bit smaller would be more viable. Anyway, I can still lift it on to the drummer's chair so there is that.

An Ewww-Yikes. My small cup chops are toast. I had picked up an alto horn recently just in case that is the biggest need in the brass band but -- for some reason I cannot hold pitches well enough, while I am having no problem on tubas. I will have to get the "real" horn out tonight and see how that goes. Its resistance is quite a bit higher than an alto/tenor horn and maybe I will be stable. However, none of those allowed in a British style brass band, and I pretty much gave up that instrument a couple years ago.

Oboe is going well. However, the key of Db major has a number of sequences where "you can't get there from here fingerings" and I think I'm going to have to track down a teacher to find out the allowable workarounds. Holst Suite #2, first movement, from letter J to the DC, is one note at a time. One note at a time. Why am I doing this at 76 in three weeks?

Played (music) at a volleyball tournament today... it was a fundraiser for the Ronald McDonald House of Central Ohio. 1 hour set... nothing fancy..

My son has the BBb sousa at a BOA camp... and I didn't feel like dealing with the 20J and a harness in this heat... so I brought the Eb sousa. The only problem is it a full circle Holton and only has about 1.5" of pull on the main tubing slide... so in the heat and humidity I was super sharp and had to work hard to lip things down. To be fair I want the only one... It also meant I had to read and pay attention on a lot of pieces I usually play from memory...

Yesterday I blasted a few pitched out of a King contra using a rough off brand 24aw to make sure that the thing worked before I put it back in the case.

I worked on the Broughton again, as I was invited to play it (for no remuneration) with a local "ringer" band who can play the snot out of the original accompaniment. (The orchestra that invited me to play it recently had a great deal of difficulty with their parts and I had to take the finale much slower than I wanted to, which created all sorts of unexpected breathing issues because some of the overly long phrases became overly overly long. They also made some pretty distracting missed entrances. I was more or less happy with this opportunity but the winds in this band will likely eat this piece up. Not ungrateful to the orchestra by any means, but I suspect the band will make me happier as most of it is professional players, and I have an additional year to practice and memorize the solo. (I did not get the memorization down to my satisfaction in time for the orchestra concert, but this will not be a problem at all for next year.) Also, it gives me a whole year to get the outer movements up to Tommy Johnson's unreal 1987 tempi. And the band accompaniment is the original and is what Broughton wanted in the first place. Only the commercial idiocy of the instrumentation caused him to add strings and water down the wind parts.

So yeah, I'm on that old pathway again…

Say hello to our mutual friend over there on the trombone, and say something smart aleck and insulting to him for me.

Played with him the other night in a concert band.

The Mikado.

(I perhaps should clarify... i didn't play the role of the mikado, i just was a nameless volunteer pit orchestra member for a sing through)

The little list was modernized somewhat, the punishment fitting the crime was not.

Pooh Bah remains a favorite character.

Blazhevich etudes. I've been alternating lately between those an the Bordogni.

Yesterday's concert:

Danzón no. 2 – Arturo Márquez
Roma – Valerie Coleman
Four Scottish Dances – Malcolm Arnold
El Salón México – Aaron Copland
Peace Dancer – Jodie Blackshaw
Huapango! – José Pablo Moncayo
Aldridge - On Parade (ed. Bove)

All this talk about bass tubas in the other thread... prompted me to actually read some stuff on the Eb. Normally I just play Eb for Dixieland and Jazz jams.

Did some Clarke studies 1 and 2... Found I didn't hate the sharp keys as much as I thought I would. Missing low E was kind of a pain... wish I had a 5th valve... was able to do it as a 2+3 false tone. Biggest problem was that on the old Holton is so saggy on D, Db, and C below the staff with normal Eb fingerings (30 to 40 cents) I have to play the with 4+3, 4+2+3, and 4+1+2+3... and I kept confusing myself with the left hand 3+1 valve setup.

Played through some Bordogni Rochut... both as written and 8VB. Badly both ways...

You know, your E-flat tuba is already a 3 + 1 orientation instrument.

I realize that several people who post here have bought (or put together) E -flat instruments with five front action valves - whether rotary or piston rotary combo... but (to me) the most useful E-flat tubas are set up like yours - but are compensating, whereby all the white and black notes in the low range are playable. After all, tuba is a low instrument and missing pitches or hard to play in tune pitches in the low range seems like a hard row to hoe.

Even the cheapest Chinese compensating E-flat tubas seem to be pretty darn good. ... just saying, and I'm not trying to sell anything either.

I wonder if this place would accept 1500 bucks for one of these things...

https://jimlaabsmusicstore.com/store/sc ... n-eb-tuba/

I thought about one of those Schillers.. srone I know plays one in a brass band and sounds good on it... but I had the Holton in it's original low pitch 3-valve configuration around already (Basically got it as a thanks for a favor for a friend... so free). That same buddy had a replated, but never installed, valveset that would work in his shop that he sold me for cheap... so I took a gamble on having it put together. It worked out OK... It is a blast to play and I am glad I did it... but it still has all the intonation challenges of an old American Eb.

It's great fun to honk along with Struttin' With Some Barbeque or Cakewalkin' Babies .....or to pretend I'm a real tuba player and noodle on solo stuff.

Yesterday I played the Reiche Abblasen fanfare on my old BBb King for a senior center open mic, followed by a rubato Amazing Grace. I first heard Abblasen on the Canadian Brass "High, Bright, Light, and Clear" CD and later on the CBS Sunday morning news programs before church. This may be blasphemous, but I don't like Wynton's take on it as much as the original baroque trumpet or the CanBrass versions.
I downloaded a PDF of the music earlier this week and transposed it to F to sit well on the old BBb. I could have done it up a 4th in Bb but I didn't want to come off sounding like a euphonium. I also doubled the length of the notes to make it easier for my aging eyes to read Half note is now 72 instead of quarter.
Remember to start the trill on the note from above

.

' sort of caught up and it looks like the last big secondary school system's repairs (just starting on it) is going to be done in time for their band camp.
I think I just might pick up the tuba tonight and play some before I get too sleepy...
"What did I play?"
I haven't found out yet.

Tyrell 1 and 4, getting my chops back on familiar stuff. This will be my third time through the book. 1st time on CC, 2nd on F, 3rd back on CC.

I lied to myself and said that I didn't miss the tuba and would never play again. I teared up while playing. The tuba has been very good to me, and as my kids grow and I will hopefully (I lie to myself with the farm) have a little more time in the future want to volunteer in community groups wherever I am. I played in two community bands growing up, and I miss it, maybe on a longshot, a very longshot, I could play in a community orchestra someday, but it is worth working towards.

I noticed some "visual dystonia" as in I had a hard time reading the notes from the vibrations, hopefully I'll get over this soon with practice. To quote Tom Cruise: "Well Mav, it's been a minute."

Any other recommendations on method books? I'm trying to find all of my old stuff.

Quick 1 hour set at a block party for an upscale neighborhood... Raised a nice bit for charity... this year the focus is a Children's Mental Health Foundation... We have a goal of $35,000 for the year and we are will on the way.

Had plenty of coverage.. 3 Sousaphones there today for 30 musicians total. Could hang back and go off book more than usual. Fun playing fills and collective improv while others kept the bass line going... and vice versa..

Pretty standard crowd pleasers...

Take on Me
Sweet Dreams 

The Way You Make Me Feel
Just the Two Of Us

Sweet Caroline
Take Me Home Country Roads
Hang on Sloopy

What Makes You Beautiful
Bang - Are You Gonna Go My Way 

Take it to the Street

Here to Stay

Ain't Nothing But a Party
I Want You Back
We Got Whatcha Wanna (We got that fire + Do Watcha Wanna)
Thrift Shop
Uptown Funk

Scales. I played lots of scales in keys with lots of flats and lots of sharps. And then I opened up the Bill Bell solo book and played the Gavotte, because it's light and fun.