Posted by Leland on September 25, 2000 at 20:27:19:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Contra tubas? posted by Ryan on September 25, 2000 at 19:05:22:
$15,000?? LOL
Oh my... more deceptions... and, 50 pounds? The heaviest GG contrabass bugle on the market weighs about 25 -- which is a deceptive number because it actually balances perfectly on the shoulder. Some players will even leave them in the up position, hands free, during the time between exercises in the warmup arc.
I was using the term "marching tubas" because, on the field, convertible and non-convertible contra-style tubas and 3-valve GG contrabass bugles might as well be the same thing, apart from the obvious difference in key. Some corps have, for several years, been using a converted version of the YBB-201M by using a slide set developed by Yamaha which drops the instruments down to GG, making them legal in the days of G-only DCI equipment rules. The contras used in drum corps have not always been that big, either -- if you ever see that Janet Jackson music video with Busta Rhymes (with all the chrome liquid-like computer effects), there is a mid-60's contra bugle being marched by a player in the chrome-plated "band" behind Busta. Now THAT is a nasty little horn.
Incidentally, the last time I looked, the Cracker Barrel restaurant on I-80 west of Chicago/O'Hare has a nearly identical instrument up near the ceiling in the gift shop. Believe it or not, a lot of music was played on those things.