Posted by bloke on December 12, 2003 at 03:23:50:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Tuba/Euph Doubling posted by Baritone peeking in on December 12, 2003 at 02:07:25:
Your avocation - as well as your sensitivity to remarks not directed towards you - are completely your own choice.
I do risk (without feeling as though I'm risking much) making the statement that:
I - as a tuba player - could stand up in front of an audience and render a decent rendition of Guilmant's "Morceau Symphonique" on the euphonium far sooner than you, a euphonium player, could stand up in front of an audience and render a decent rendition of a Bach Partita on the violin.
Further:
Playing the euphonium, though quite difficult indeed to master to the level of a D.C. service band artist, is easy as crap to learn to play reasonably well compared to the violin or the oboe. If you can't live with this simple fact, go master the violin...
Ron Bishop of the Cleveland Orchestra is quoted (poorly paraphrased here) as being in constant awe of the technical/musical abilities of string players. He's right. His job is EXTREMELY TOUGH...and it will be d*mn hard for someone to play well enough to be selected as his replacement when he choses to retire, but he knows quite enough to know that the skills required to play orchestral excerpts on the tuba are simply not at all comparable to the skills required to play violin orchestral excerpts. Those fiddle guys are the "stars". We unmistakably are the "supporting actors" (if not often merely the "extras"). Can we tuba/baritone players live with this? Ron Bishop apparently can.
You might not wish to read insults into texts where insults do not exist.
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I can see another ridiculous "attack/defend" thread getting started. Get the last word...however many of you choose to do so. I'm ducking out of this one. I've got too much work to do tomorrow.