Posted by Rick Denney on January 03, 2001 at 11:20:38:
In Reply to: Re: Re: F Tubas??? posted by Joe -agreeing- S. on January 02, 2001 at 21:08:35:
Actually, even now I feel about as much a tourist in the District of Columbia as you did. I live about 35 miles northwest, on the shoulders of the first big Appalachian ridge, where the only thing we share with the Mall is the cold. A meeting downtown is cause for much gnashing of teeth.
(That said, next time you are there, show up at the National Cathedral on any Sunday afternoon--usually at 5--and enjoy the free organ recital on the Skinner organ. That will pull me downtown when the weather is nice.)
But I must present contrary evidence to your assertion of the consistency of the Yamaha 621 sound. I would like to think that my best sounds could match those of Sam Pilafian on the day he crawls out of bed with advanced pneumonia and happens to wheeze in the direction of the tuba on his way by. But I fear not. Lee Hipp and I had identical 621's right after I bought mine, but Beethoven in his deaf old age could have told us apart, even from the grave.
Nevertheless, the horn does have a distinctive sound. It seems to me that it has a lot of character and occasional brilliance that works well in all sorts of musical genres. I would not say that I think I sound particularly beautiful on the instrument, but it is appropriate for many situations. The Musica had a sweeter sound in the upper register, and even my old Missenharter project horn can be more "beautiful." But the Yamaha has a sound that will get people to clapping, if the right energy is pumped into it.
For the difference, listen to Pilafian, who makes my blood run hot, and compare the sound with Cooley (or Lind), who to me exemplify the pinnacle of German F tuba beauty.
I knew an oboe player back in Texas who played tenor sax in a swing band (where I played valve trombone for a while). His sound on that tenor was all that we don't like about saxophone, but it is full of energy and vitality and *music*. He strives for (and achieves) beauty on his oboe, but has a different objective on the sax. You could make the same observation about someone like Bob Stewart--no orchestral tubist he, but his music overflows with energy. Have you ever decided a sousaphone was more appropriate (think: Dixie) than an orchestral horn?
Rick "not always in search of mere beauty" Denney