Posted by Dan Malcore on May 05, 2002 at 00:43:45:
In Reply to: Re: AIR and bouree posted by Jeff Hicks on May 04, 2002 at 23:36:34:
I was kind of nervous today, yeah, and I recognized that when considering the overall performance, but even when I was alone and totally relaxed and warmed up, I still couldn't make it all the way through without problems, air wise.
Yeah, the Conn 20J is certainly huge, I will agree with that. I've been playing on it all 4 years of high school, and this year is the first year I truly think I can really control the sound that I am getting with the tuba--as far as soloing goes, it certainly sucks the air. I thought that might be part of my problem, so that is why I mentioned the horn in my original post.
Honestly though, I love the horn. I'd rather not have enough the air to play a song like Air and Bouree than to sacrifice the awesome sound it can create. I've played on a few other tubas, and the sound is just so pale and thin. I love the rich, full sound of the 20J. As far as concert band goes, I think it is a great horn, but I guess I can see why it might not be the best choice for soloing, especially on a song with few rests.
I'll tell you this, though, next week I am going to pull out one of our school's smaller tubas, a meinl wesson, and see how the song goes on that thing. I'm intrigued to see how much air the Conn really is sucking.
Thanks for the help so far, I appreciate the input.
-Dan