Posts made by barliman2001

@Niner No, that's just Chinese brassiness at bringing Germany in...

@Kehaulani But that is what is happening with Coronation Brass - every single year! And somehow, it works!

@Bob-Pixley Yes, indeed... but put together a band and play for the public without a single rehearsal, with the players only getting the music and the set list an hour before performance?

@BigDub I'm in again for playing at the European Folklore Festival in Bitburg, Germany, with Welsh brass band Coronation Brass. ssmith1226 knows the routine, and has gone through that; but for every one else, I'll tell of the procedure.
Every year, a scratch band is formed for this event - mostly by word of mouth and b e-mail. Then, from the four corners of the earth, around 25 people gather in Bitburg on a Friday afternoon, have a drink or two together and get handed a folder of sheet music from the Great British Brass Band Repertoire, usually containing two or three big Championship Section test pieces of the past, a couple of marches and a selection from the musical cheeseboard. And then everyone is told to don their black tie outfits and be ready to play (i.e. perform in front of an eexpectant public) within the hour, for two to three hours, and then have a go at drinking the brewery cellars empty. Next morning, after breakfast, play three minor half-hour gigs, then a big two-hour event, then another all-night open air concert... and repeat until Monday evening. In all, from Friday to Monday, Coronation Brass manages to squeeze in more or less fifteen hours performance time.
No rehearsal, just sight reading.
And the crowds love it.

Quite a number of player manage to help out in other bands while Coronation Brass is officially resting...

@SSmith1226 Steve, you're too modest and underrating your own ability. I've sat beside you for many hours of rehearsing and performing, and you were the most reliable second trumpet I've ever had when playing in an orchestra with only two trumpet players in a sea of - let's be neutral and say, Others.

@SSmith1226 That reminds me of the deathbed of Solomon Grinspan. He's in his bedroom, surrounded by all his family. Feebly, he calls the names: "Rachel, my wife, are you here?" - "Yes, dearest." - "Abraham, my son, are you here?" - "Yes, Father, I am here." - " Aaron, my son, are you here?" - "Yes, Father, I am here." - "Rebecca, my daughter, are you here?" - "Yes, Father, I am by your side." Then, suddenly, old Solomon lifts himself up and cries aloud, "And who's in the shop??"

@Dr-GO ...and someone could be a humorous person adept at joining string with two needles - the knit wit...

Yesterday, a blaze that started at Bo'ness Sportsground in Bo'ness, Scotland, destroyed the adjacent bandhall that the members of Kinneil Band erected in 1858 and which served as the band's home ever since. The recently refurbished bandhall was a total loss, with total loss of all contents (percussion instruments, many brass instruments, sheet music, uniforms). Whoever wishes to help or donate can do so via their website www.kinneilband.co.uk or their FB site., or can contact Band Secretary Robert Doherty (https://www.facebook.com/robert.doherty.944).

@J-Jericho A wildly gesticulating conductor gets a viola players eye with the baton. Says the viola player: "If you do that once more, I'l never look at you again!°

@SSmith1226 There is a similar story about a Sultan's wish to see into the future. They brought an astrologer and clairvoyant who consulted the stars and his crystal ball and with a very sad face, came to the Sultan, saying, "Oh plentiful ruler, a sad future awaits you... All your family will die before you and you will yourself die a lonely man." - "Miserable worm! Get him the bastinado! And another soothsayer!"
The new man saw his predecessor howling in pain and approached the Sultan with his findings: "Oh happiest of mortals! I can predict a very long life for you. In fact, you will survive all of your greedy and mischievous relations!" - "A true wise man. Give him a life-long pension!"

@trickg Unfortunately, I don't play it as well. The case is hand-signed as well.

@Voltrane More or less the same, except for the ring on #3 valve slide which mine does not have. Mine is bare brass and has two leadpipes (your leadpipe is not original) as well as an additional longer slide for #4 valve.

@BigDub It's the high G FOR ME. Other players may have other needs. But for my kind of playing, it's perfect. And it's slightly easier to control than a full picc.

@Tobylou8 Actually, it's not a cornopean, but a stop-gap device: It's a right-handed French horn, to be played by a cornet or flugelhorn player in bands where they could not get their hands on proper French horn players... they are still being made!
http://www.flohmarkt.ms/hoerner/meister+hans+hoyer+f+waldhorn+rechtsgriffig+goldmessing+neuware/a/f45e9e5d/?absIndex=20&categoryId=3401000000&keywords=es-waldhorn&rView=gallery

@BigDub I once had a spate of piccs... starting off with an old Selmer, then changing to a Besson Kanstul, then adding a Stomvi Elite, then a Votruba Pro... another, younger Selmer... and then I happened upon a Scherzer high G. And that one very soon told me that for me and my kind of playing, A/Bb picc was simply wasted effort. All the Baroque pieces that I was playing on A picc suddenly became much more manageable when I switched to the Scherzer high G... no more sharps anywhere... and then I got my claws on an old Selmer high G out of the estate of Maurice André... and that was one revelation. It beat the Scherzer and all the other piccs by such a margin that I sold every single one of them.

@SSmith1226
In Vienna, where public conveniences are rare and far between, a man had an urge... no proper location anywhere. When he tried a street corner and a tree in a park, he was chased away. Finally, in desperation, he entered a doctor's surgery. Claiming urgency, he was ushered in at once and explained that he just couldn't... Seconds later, the doc watched an extraordinary performance... "Why," asked he the guy, "did you say you couldn't?" - "Oh, I can," says the guy, "but only if they give me a chance!"

OK, that's Easter Sunday done for this year. Went very well, except for a massive hiccup in the violas - one triolic solo melody, in a slow part, and they make such an enormous hash of it that the conductor has to SING the viola part... and of course, despite all promises to the contrary, the conductor pulled out yet another surprise piece at the beginning of Mass... Haec Dies by Caspar Ett, with the trumpet set in Ab, of all things... no rehearsal, just go... well, the trumpets did it, and were invited to return next year.

Now, yesterday we had our only rehearsal for Easter Sunday. The conductor, when questioned beforehand, had firmly promised, "it's Schubert Mass #3 in Bb and Mozart Ave Verum (which has no trumpets), and nothing else." Accordingly, went there with just my Ganter Bb rotary and a deep cup mouthpiece, as I was supposed to play 2d chair. So far, so good. End of Schubert rehearsal, conductor hands out additional music with the comment, "you should be able to do this as well quite easily." One look... Handel, Messiah, Hallelujah... original pitch... scream, shout, throw grenades... call in the Cavalry (which refused to climb the 84 step staircase to the organ loft...)... tried to do Handel first trumpet part on Bb rotary with flugel mouthpiece... failed miserably, sounded like a goose with hiccups... got out the Selmer high-G at home... that's better...

@BigDub In a local paper: "The inventor of Autocorrect just pissed away. He was an anthole. Restaurant in pieces."

@edfitzvb Mine starts at 10...