Re: Re: Shoulder Tension


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Posted by Mark Heter on August 13, 2003 at 14:46:42:

In Reply to: Re: Shoulder Tension posted by Elisa on August 12, 2003 at 13:46:31:

I just finished a short run of Ragtime doubling youff and tuba, and it's interesting nobody mentions CHAIRS in these posts. All of us in the pit were sitting on those sadistic steel folding chairs (you know like in the WWE)on a variety of pads, pillows, etc.. We're not all OLD PEOPLE, either. We were all complaining about back pain; there something wrong with seating which places your butt three inches below your knees - screws up many other things.

I borrowed a Yamaha Youff for this gig, and if I'm going to be frequent flyer on this youff doubling thing, I'm going to look for a side action horn. First, it's like holding my King tuba, second, the microphone is in the same place (sort of), which it sure wasn't with the Yamaha. Third, the Yamaha was a pain to double on in this show. The parts are semi-third horn parts 80% of the time, and the Yamaha was very wolfy-toned, a problem when you had to sneak in under the vocals, or during dialog with underplay playing ppp, and hopefully in tune. I'm not sure the top action set-up is the best way to configure these instruments. I like it on my Martin tuba, but its does impose a whole differnet playing posture (and you can FORGET standing up with a Martin). Few tubas (of the better models) are constructed this way.

It's enough to fight with the bad scoring and most of the conductors - we shouldn't have to fight with how we hold the horns...


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