Posted by Randy Mac Iver on February 28, 2001 at 11:21:01:
In Reply to: Re: Re: york copy clarification posted by Brian Frederiksen on February 28, 2001 at 00:20:01:
Brian,
With all the speculation of copying horns I was just wondering if anyone was trying to solve the rest of the puzzle which would be to make a copy of Mr. Jacobs. This whole line of inquirery reminds me of a book I read not long ago called, "The Giver". I'm sorry I do not remeber the author but the Basic story line is that one person is entrusted with all the knowledge of things and when he is soon to pass he finds a replacement to pass on all the knowledge to. It isn't about Tubas but does bear relevence to the situation with copying Tubas and the Keeper of the knowledge that basically every one is getting at. I fear that Mr. Jacobs may have taken with him as well as his contemporaries more things about how to play the Tuba than most people will ever learn in their life time. Being a fairly novice parent I am currently on the learning curve of how to instill a sense of independence in my children and that is relevent to this topic. The Atristry that was Mr. Jacobs can't be copied but I am certain that one day far off in the future some one will be able to reproduce a horn that is identical to that of Mr. Jacobs. The only problem is that no one can replace Mr. Jacobs so the Magic that he had is only recorded among the Music he played the people he knew and the students he taught. The only way that that collection of information could be duplicated is to have either Mr. Jacobs back or all those people his life has touched in the same room at once and I must say that you would need an extremely enourmous mouthpiece to put all that into one tuba. I would think and I am speculating here, that the best lessons that Mr. Jacobs taught anyone who listened to him that you must find your own way in the world and be true to yourself and your values. I had the pleasure of listening to a taped lecture that Mr. Jacobs gave on Physical theropy that he gave at a local college. The tape belongs to the daughter of a trumpet player I play in a quintet with. She not only isn't going to be a Tuba player (she is a med student), but she is an accomplished basson player. This is yet another testiment that he was not just a great Tuba player but first and foremost a great human being. My point of this hole mish mash is that if we can use Mr. Jacobs' or any of the information that came before to find our own place in the Tuba world, the choice of horns will become easier to make.
Randy(Rick Denney got me thinking too much) Mac Iver