Posted by Doug on January 21, 2002 at 23:58:06:
Hey all
I thought I'd just lump all this together cause its kinda related....
I had the extreme privilege of attending the UGA January High School Music Festival this weekend. It was definitely what i needed to make me remember just what I love about making music. Also, it was the first time i got to be in a section with someone else from this BBS. From what i could hear over the noise, Graham W. is really a good player. Anyway, a few things i noticed or thought of this weekend
-I got to play on one of the Getzen CB tubas and they are definitely everything I ever thought a tuba should be. Now i know why i never hear anything bad about them. Theres nothing bad to say.
-The Honor band (which i somehow made it into) was filled with some of the best players i have ever heard. Imagine what things would be like if these guys' level of playing was the standard, not the exception.
-We played Saint-saens' "Marche Heroique"(sp?). Its got a lot of funky little runs in the tuba part, and i dont think any of us ever got it right. However, the guy next to me and I worked it out to where i played the first 4 notes and he played the next four, and that worked really well. Is there any logical reason why 4 sixteenth notes are easier to play than 8?
-Dave Zerkel really is a great teacher and tuba player.
-I noticed that I was the only one in the honor band who did not have what would be considered a "new or really shiny(aka new looking)" tuba. Also, it seemed that the bad looking tubas in the other bands tended to be situated to the lower end of the seating order. Makes one wonder, doesn't it?
-Comparing my miraphone to others in the honor band: Mine has "~~~Miraphone~~~" on the bell ring, engraved rotor caps, engraved nickel silver rings around all the joints, nickel silver slide tubing but a regualr brass leadpipe, and a small logo. The other miraphones (obviously newer) had not engraving on the bell ring, no engrving on the rotor caps (and the rotors all spun one way on one of them), no engraving on the rings around the joints, regular brass slide tubing but a nickel silver leadpipe (and one had gold brass [the more copper colored stuff is gold brass right?] tubing from the valves to the main tuning slide), and a large logo. Every single miraphone there had different linkages; just how many different types does miraphone use?
-I got to honk on a Cerveny horn. Really liked the valves, and the horn was light and easy to hold.
-When i played on the Getzen, the owner looked at me and said "wow youve got a really good sound." First time ive ever heard anyone comment on my sound, which made me feel releived because what i hear while i play does not sound good. While some of it may have to do with the time i ruptured my eardrum from an infection long ago, does anyone else experience that problem, of not hearing what you actually sound like?
-The sight reading in our audition was actually MUSICAL, instead of the abstract junk we usually get for district and all state sight reading. I definitely think this is why I sight read better this time than any audition before. When the music makes enough sense that I can hear it and expect the next note, it is easier to play throught the horn. On the usual stuff its like they just threw in a high note to trick you, and thats what ends up happening, 'cause it doesnt make sense for it to be there.
-If you are ever fortunate enough to sight read for a guy like Zerkel, remember that when he sings a few bars of the song, its a hint on how to play it. If he sings it bouncy like, play it that way.
-Music really is great, isnt it?
Sorry to be so long winded and philosophical. I guess im getting too bored to do anything else but type.
Doug "my fingers hurt after typing this"G