Posted by Roger Lewis on June 27, 2003 at 09:35:51:
In Reply to: Miraphone posted by 181 F Tuba on June 27, 2003 at 04:24:44:
I just traded my YFB621S toward one of these about 2 1/2 months ago. The Yamaha was too small for the performance of the Brahm's Requiem that we were gearing up for. The Miraphone is a GREAT orchestral horn, blending well without standing out at all and it has a gorgeous dark sound with plenty of core. As a solo instrument it is far and away better than the Yamaha in my opinion. With the Yamaha I had to stay mentally on top of where I was on the horn and what I was doing with it - not really able to put as much into the music as I would like. The Miraphone is kind of like Zen Tuba - think the note and it happens, and it has really freed up my mental resources to allow me to make music instead of making sound. Also the Yamaha sound was just a bit too "white" (meaning lacking color) for me, no matter what mouthpiece I tried I always got shades of the same "white". The Miraphone I can play VERY dark or with a brilliant sound depending on what I feel should be happening. When just playing, it has a very cello like feel to it and it just flows beautifully through the passages, no matter how technically complex they are. There are two slight tuning quirks but they are quite manageable. After 12 years on teh Yamaha it was quite an experience when I first picked up the Miraphone. It took a while to get used to how easy it can be to do this stuff.
Roger