Re: Re: ArmyBand Conference Ideas?


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Posted by Sean Chisham on February 02, 2004 at 14:54:18:

In Reply to: Re: ArmyBand Conference Ideas? posted by Art H on February 01, 2004 at 23:45:28:

Ken posted the picture of Pokorny in his 1 marching gig for the decade.

Pershing's Own owns 4 Miraphone 4-valve BBb Helicons. 3 have recently been overhauled by Matt Walters at Dillon Music. The 4th one, which I did not know we owned at the time of the repair work, is sitting in supply rotting away and hopefully will also be refurbished soon. The Miraphone helicons we own are 4-valve BBbs and were purchased as a way to allow Sousaphonists on some funerals and perhaps parade dry runs a chance to use something lighter than a typical Sousaphone. Due to their small bells they are also very handy on windy days.

Unfortunatelly, the Miraphones we own also play like $%|#. Intonation tendencies, response, ergonomics, projection, etc suck on them, IMO. First let me state that I never met a Sousaphone I was particularly fond of, but those Miraphones are exceptional dogs to play. We keep them in lou of fiberglass Sousaphones simply because we are hard on instruments outdoors. I would hazard to guess that the Pershing's Owns's Ceremonial Band Sousaphones get more use than any other musical organization's in this nation over the course of a year. I have been told that we tried fiberglass several years ago, well before I got here, and the horns were being disabled at a pace which raised some eyebrows in a few budget offices. Brass instruments can take the dents, fiberglass simply cracks and breaks.


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