Posted by Rick Denney on April 15, 2003 at 14:16:50:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: How to stuff a PT-6 posted by Joe Baker on April 15, 2003 at 13:51:26:
The problem with these mental effects is that they wear off. Dale has talked about this recently, making some really good points. He is interested not in the first impression, but in the "third" impression after a period of time. After a while, our changed expectations become incorporated into our normal concept, and the effect often disappears.
Ken Sloan offered a different take on this process. When we try a new horn, it offers a different mix of strengths and weaknesses. We are strong where our horns are weak, because we have to compensate for those weaknesses. Suddenly, then, the new horn is magnifying what our old horn had forced us to improve, and we are bowled over by the obvious improvements. After a while, though, our strengths and weaknesses are reoriented to the new tuba, and going back to the old one might produce the same effect. For me, a new tuba really is a winner when it still seems better after a month, when compared to the old one.
Music is mental, but we can fool ourselves into doing something we might regret because of that. Some of us might sell a horn because of a perceived problem and never find one that proves to be as good. Others might engage a series of tweaks in search of something that we should find in our heads.
My interest in these tweaks is purely scientific, and exploring the science of it is quite as entertaining to me as playing the tuba. But I don't believe that many of these things really improve my playing in the long run.
At the end of the day, we have to live with ourselves as players. Real improvements from one excellent instrument to the next are far more elusive than we imagine.
Rick "who loves the Holton but who still has to play the stupid thing" Denney