Posted by Jim Andrada on May 16, 2003 at 15:46:42:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Tuba Bells posted by Rick Denney on May 16, 2003 at 14:00:31:
Re the comment about convertibles:
I happened to be "downtown" (sort of an exaggeration here in Los Gatos, pop 28,000)one day when the H.S. Band was playing. They had several convertible tubas, and I'd have to say that the thing that struck me the most was the almost total absence of bass sound at a distance of maybe 50 - 75 feet.
I walked around trying to find a place where the bass sound came through, and there wasn't such a place even standing dead on in front of the band looking right down the bells of the tubas. Made me wonder a) why the tuba players had bothered showing up and b) why the town was spending so much money on horns that didn't seem to produce any sound.
Although since it's the kind of town that's happily spending millions removing parking places on the "main drag" and replacing them with cutesy brick planters and benches in the name of "streetscape improvement" maybe I shouldn't have been so surprised that they would buy horns you couldn't hear!
Not what you'd call exhaustive research, but I was rather puzzled by it. Any thoughts?