Re: Re: My Dillon Music Experience


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TubeNet BBS ] [ FAQ ]

Posted by Matt Walters on September 02, 2002 at 08:53:19:

In Reply to: Re: My Dillon Music Experience posted by Dee on August 30, 2002 at 22:14:12:


Dee,
You would have a great time at our shop. The only people we get annoyed with are the ones with attitudes. Those are the guys who come in saying "I'm a professional musician and play for the Mudwater (Read through it on Tuesday and hack through it on Saturday night at the local community center.) Symphony." Then you listen to them and think they are so bad my 14 year old student has a better tone. Now when that kind of person starts to tell me how ALL the horns we have suck, I get annoyed. The other merchants I have talked to complain of the same thing. Just be warm and friendly when you come in. We want to enjoy your company and have you enjoy ours. If you don't want assistance, just nicely say something like "Is here a place where I can play the horns and not be bothered?" If we have an open room, it's all yours. I may still stop by every 20 minutes or so to ask if I can be of further help.

The answer to your question about intonation is; the human being has the capacity to overide any intontion tendencies a horn may have. Put my mother in Jeff Gorden's car and she'll be wrecked in a lap and blame it on the way the car felt funny to her. And by the way she will complain about the bumpy ride. As good a driver as Jeff Gorden is, he won't win any race in mom's Buick LeSabre. A tuba is even more intimate than a car. If your old tuba of twenty years had a naturlaly flat F at the bottom of the staff and you have been lipping it up since the years before the cheap tuners, any horn that naturally wants to play that harmonic in-tune, will play sharp for you. If you have very little lip control, then any very large bore, free blowing tuba will have the pitch going all over the place for you. Dial yourself back down into a smaller bore horn with a little more resistance and tighter slots to the notes. Time and time again I have seen where a hack player comes in and falls in love with a horn I can't stand, but they love it. Occasionally it actually plays better for them than it would for anyone else. Usually they just wouldn't know a good match if it bit them in the butt. If you don't ask me my opinion, I won't give it. If you ask, I'll tell you what I hear even if it might cost me a sale.

Basically you have the right approach of playing horns until you find the one that makes things easier for you. I have acquired over the years a systematic approach that will let one know conclusively why a horn might work best for them. Just have to ask.

Anyway, this post is too far down the list and nobody will read it anyway.
Matt Walters



Follow Ups: