Posted by Randy Mac Iver on February 14, 2001 at 09:37:18:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: FF/EEb in Band? posted by Rick Denney on February 14, 2001 at 00:38:31:
I have been using my 1918 Eb Conn 4valve top loader in our Community Band for two years now and it works out great. The horn is very similar in shape and size as the much newer Yamaha model YEB 321 Tuba. I use a Besson G91 mouthpiece and I get a very big Euphonium sound with the horn. I usualy play the second Euph, Bassoon or top Tuba parts and it helps bridge the gap between the bass and middle voices. I also use my Mirafone BBb 186 4U(soon to be 5U I hope)when the Tuba section lacks in numbers. I usualy try to play like a larger size Euph than a small Tuba in sound concept. Our band is young and growing and we usualy have six players and occasionally in the summer concert season grow to eight or nine. The horns are quite an eclectic bunch of brass to include: Cerveny 693 BBb 4MR, 2Mirafone BBb 186 4Us, Cerveny BBb 681 4MR, Conn BBb 12j, Sanders BBb 3valve front loader, Weril BBb 4v, King BBb 4valve front loader(not a 2341 but similar to a Conn 4v 12j) Conn Eb 4v and occasionaly we have a Mirafone C 186 5U and a very German Hess F 4U. When these horns show up the whole band goes in to a tuning frenzy. Our band doesn't really play in tune as much as we end up playing out of tune in a unison fashion. Out of the bunch of brass listed our best ensemble sound is when we have the 2 Mirafone BBb the Mirafone C the Conn Eb and the Hess F. The section,when tuned properly has a homogeneous sound that we never can get with just all BBb horns. We are a community band and definitely not a professional group but we love to play and that makes all the difference in the bands ensemble sound I think. There is alot to be said to having a matched set of horns in a group but most of the blend come from the players themselves. Tone color is just that,(color).