Posted by Rick Denney on February 05, 2004 at 11:48:43:
In Reply to: Re: Cerveny and technique posted by Jacob Morgan on February 04, 2004 at 19:30:22:
About 20 years ago, I took a few lessons with Mike Sanders when he was in San Antonio. My tuba at the time was a Cerveny stencil, and I don't know what current model number it aligns to. It had the .795 bore and the slightly under 16" bell.
Mike had his Alexander in the studio where we had our lessons, and I remamber admiring it, saying that I must make it possible to make a really big and powerful sound with that huge bore. A little later in that same lesson (and not directly to rebuke me for such a foolish statement), he borrowed my instrument to give me a quick demonstration of its potential, and proceeded to rearrange the structural components of his house with it. He could effortlessly play five times as loud as I could play at the point where my sound spread.
That cured me of the notion that a tuba like that Cerveny could keep me from making a huge sound. Now, when I seem to go beyond the instrument, it's almost always because of what I'm not doing. Some tubas don't project as well as others, to be sure, but those limits are much louder than we think.
Rick "still working on the things exposed in those lessons" Denney